[Editor's note: EarthbounderNess shows us how Mother 3 could have potentially ended. -- CTZ]
-- WARNING: This post contains major spoilers for Mother 3. If you have not completed the game, I advise taking a stoll elsewhere until you do finish it. By "elsewhere", I mean go play the game right now. Seriously, if you haven't beaten the game, go away. I'll punch a puppy while impersonating Chad Concelmo if those who have not beat the game do not leave this very instant.
This post will also contains my opinions on the particular subject. I do not claim to be correct in any way, shape or form. --
Those of us who have beaten the Mother 3 have fully experienced the sorrow filled moments during the final confrontation at the location of the seventh needle. The one on one showdown between Lucas and the Masked Man, Claus, his own brother, was just a step short of tearing the players heart out of their chest. From Hinawa's pleading to the bastardization of the Love Theme becoming pure throughout the fight, every moment in the game had hit exactly where it needed to.
But, what if Hinawa's words never reached Claus? What if Claus had no semblance of humanity left in him to bring out? What if Lucas never had the option to simply take the hits and hope Claus came to his senses and instead, had to completely destroy the Masked Man without holding anything back, without any hope of his brother being saved?
Strangely enough, Shigesato Itoi may have originally planned for the end of the game to make those "What ifs" a reality.
What you see are Masked Man sprites found within the unused game data. Now obviously with something like unused data it's anyone's guess as to what the data was intended for, but obviously this time around, we're going off of what I think.
First off, take note that the animation is not in the order of things happening, but just a compilation of the unused Masked Man sprites. The first animation sequence is the longest, being the downfall and explosion. The second is the short animation of what looks like the M.M. being suspended in air. The last sequence isn't even an animation, but a display of the M.M. being operated on by machinery.
The popular idea (and the one I agree with) of what the Masked Man sprites were intended for is simply more displays of Claus having become inhuman, but having lost his humanity further than what was displayed in the game. My personal take on each of the sequences is:
-Sequence One: The death of the Masked Man without removal of his helmet.
-Sequence Two: The beginning imagery of Lucas' nightmare. I'll go into detail on this soon.
-Sequence Three: Exactly what it looks like, the inner mechanics of the Masked Man being operated on.
With sequence one, the death of the Masked Man while still having his helmet on is a huge deal, as it touches on what I'd spoken of with the "what ifs". The removal of the helmet, revealing Claus, was to display that Claus had been reached by Hinawa's words and Lucas' determination. Claus dying without having been "saved", would have destroyed Lucas emotionally.
Lucas having been crushed by the inability to save his brother in any way would then lead into what is referred to (by many people speculating on the issue) as Lucas' Nightmare. This degenerative state of Lucas' mind is what also is believed to be the actual final battle, after the Masked Man. I believe that sequence two of the unused Masked Man animation is a deathly looking Claus haunting Lucas right before this:
Credits go to MoupiMoupi and yurugu3 from youtube for the video Those of you who played through
Mother 2/Earthbound will recall the battle with Ness' Nightmare, the Mani Mani Statue. After seeing what's believed to be Lucas' Nightmare, it's my conclusion that Ness had it good by comparison.
The question remains though, what manifested into Lucas' Nightmare? Some say that it's the dragon that awakes after the final needle is pulled testing Lucas. Others say that it's Giygas attempting to re-enter the world through the horrifying state of mind that Lucas is in. I like to go along with the simplest of explanations.
Lucas just goes batshit, plain and simple.
After having gone through so much in his life, losing his mother and his brother, his father leaving him on multiple occasions, seeing the town he grew up in become corrupted by an extreme evil and then finding out that his dead brother had been transformed into nothing more than a puppet ... I'd say that's plenty of damage to the poor boy's psyche.
In the first part of the video, you see two odd images distorted. The first being a silver robot-like figure with his left eye covered by some sort of device (looks similar to a scouter), leading us to believe that it's Claus. More specifically, it's a hybrid of Claus' emotions and the Masked Man's inner appearance, as the robot does not look threatening, yet it still holds the features of the Masked Man. The second image is that of a golden angel-like figure, showing Lucas' wish for Claus in the after-life, hoping he can attain peace in death as an angel after his suffering in life as a demon.
The said robot and angel-like figures, undistorted After the first two forms, Lucas' Nightmare takes a trip through Claus' life before he was used as Porky's toy. We see Lucas, then Claus clothed, naked and gray. Lucas saw himself and then Claus, his own twin remembering their bond as they grew up, then at the time of their birth (naked) and finally the horrid machine Claus became.
The last phase of Lucas' Nightmare is by far the most disturbing and also the reason that many people believe that it was Giygas attempting to re-form/re-enter the world. A ghastly image of Claus slowly becomes a red outline and shortly after that morphs into a screaming mass of red. The thought of it being Giygas comes from the distortion and the red. Other than that though, it's completely baseless since he was annihilated completely by Ness and crew. This phase is Lucas coming to the slow realization of what he's done to his own brother, little by little the weight of his actions pushing upon him are what causes the slow warping of Claus' image.
What comes after the battle is more than likely one of two outcomes. The first outcome being Lucas overcomes the guilt and hurt of having just taken the life of the brother he was unable to save and goes on to pull the needle and awake the dragon. The second outcome is that Lucas is so overburdened by his own mind that he's unable to perform a single action, leaving the game with a bleak and desolate end with the world remaining brainwashed in New Pork City and the final needle left to sit there for eternity.
I can't quote Itoi directly on why Lucas' Nightmare was removed from the game, but I do recall it having to do with him wanting to focus on the theme of love as opposed to
Earthbound's focus on the bizarre and twisted. It also had something to do with being geared toward a younger audience as well.
So there you have it folks, my lengthy, more than likely overly-complex take on the missing Claus content and Lucas' Nightmare. There is more content that was removed that was left in the data, but those things I'll save for another day.
I leave you all with Duster being a badass.
Contest:
3:15 PM on 12.06.2008
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Interesting write up.
Also, more Duster being badass:
:D
Did you ever see the sprite sheet of the alternate ending to the Porky boss fight? I'm trying to desperately to find it, as my link to it has expired. It basically shows an alternate ending where the Ultimate Safe Capsule does not come into play, and the class on Porky's mech breaks, killing him.
Thank you! And also, I was initially going to talk about the Pokey death animation and Kumatora's Magypsie outfit but decided to just focus on Claus' stuff for the time being.
I only had the sprite sheet of Porky's death too, so seeing it fully animated is actually pretty sweet.
Heh we sort of fill each others gaps there ;)
Also, you probably already know this, but there's also one of Duster in a Magypsie outfit to the PSI Teleport esque fall out of the sky. I'll try and find it as well!
I actually had no idea that Duster had a Magypsie outfit, if you do find it please do show!
I might actually say something relevant to the article, but I have to read it first.
All I have to say is that I wish the Lucas' Nightmare stuff had made it into the final game. It's just so freaky, and I've always kind of liked how EarthBound went into straight-out nightmare fuel during the last phase.
That's what I like about their games.
My memory failed me, as it was just the sparkle leap, no Magypsie make-up. This and the Kumatora Magypsie (which looks a lot like her waitress disguise) seem to point towards PSI Teleport being included at first, which was probably scrapped due to the lack of a need. All speculation though.
Also, in a couple of the shots of the cut battle, a mole cricket stands in front of the background as a stock enemy. Perhaps it may have also been intended as a background for the final fight? The symbolism could fit: The robot showing Claus as he is now, and the angel showing the true Claus Lucas know is in there, and that Hinawa is trying to reach. Normal Lucas and Claus, and then Naked Claus could be Claus beginning to regain himself, and then the Metal Claus as he slinks back into being Porky's robot.
The last image of the tortured face of Claus could be his own horror, instead of his brother's as he realizes what he has done, and what he has become, and leaves in the only way possible, by killing himself.
It's pure conjecture, and yours seems more solid ;) But it's fun to speculate.
Feels good to know that this "alternate ending" could happen.
I just wished we'd see Mother IV (if it was a possibility)
I love you.
- The GHost
For reals, that's an awesome and interesting dissection of another amazing ending to what became one of my all time favorite games the instant I finished it. Bravo!
Who knows what that one actually was. The third image probably was meant for a flashback showing his creation after Claus's fall/death, but that second image is a mystery.
Also, I think any of the other characters should have been in Smash than Lucas. Lucas is cool, but Flint or Duster woulda been better.
I had that kind of trouble at first, but it's actually fairly easy once you figure it out. The short version: You have Thief Tools for a reason.
Oh and I have seen the unused magic Kumatora sprites before. Just havent found it yet.
Funilly, int he way I found some of a young Kumatora on a thick sweater she almost looks like some purple IceClimber.
Well, who knows?
Anyway: Duster in Smash Bros.? OH YEAH!
Duster X Kumatora? Best. Couple. Ever.
Also: More Duster being badass.
That's actually a possibility that the battle could have been an accumulation of all the party members' nightmares after becoming disoriented from the mushrooms. I say that because the removed music that goes along with it, when messed around with in pitch, you can hear "1, 2, 3, 5!" which can also be heard in a DCMC song, possibly correlating to something within Duster's mind.
Beside, it's nice to have an EarthBound related front page article! The Mother series DESERVE more representation in the gaming community!