Oddity (formerly Mother 4) - Winter 2014

[Rotollo]

So awhile a go a friend happened to send a blast from the past to me causing me to look into some weird development drama:

it might look familiar to you if you have looked at the fan game community for a while

Yes this is the rebranded mother 4 project that has been Vapor Ware for over a decade. The rebrand was announced around the same time other projects such as AM2R and some pokemon game got C&D'd but also when a composer for the project, Shane Mesa, fell out with the Group and a couple years later actually went on to post leaks of the game

Spoiler: Initial post

/v/ - Video Games » Thread #450412940

arch.b4k.co

https://archive.md/WjRyG

image from post
later on some other dev, Pascal clarified alot of the shit was outdated and apologized for the release schedule

he then went onto reddit to say that they went too quick with showing off the game and establishing a web presence

https://archive.ph/X4G2C

r/mother4 - Comment by u/Pastellian on ”4chan Leak Megathread”

334 votes and 106 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

Spoiler: reddit response

Morning, everyone! Don't be nervous.

While a lot of this stuff is outdated - from around the time we parted ways with Shane - some of it isn't. I wish this wasn't how you got to see it for the first time. This is a project that means a lot to us. We put a lot of ourselves into what we do when we have the time to do that. It's hard going - a lot of us work or study full time, but we're still doing our best to give everyone an experience that's special and heartfelt.

And it's taking a while! We know how hard it is to wait, because we have to wait too.

So why not just relaunch? We want to be ready. Years ago when I joined the project I brought a lot of changes and everything moved very rapidly. We took on staff, and part of that included creating a web presence. We did that way too soon! We aren't looking for a repeat of a launch that we weren't ready for - One that I take full responsibility for. I was, and still am, new to this and there is a lot to do. As much as I wish I could just slap on a couple new names and draw over some sprites, there are entire arcs of the game that need to be rebuilt from the ground up without the Mother identity.

Be that as it may, the support you've shown over the years means a lot to the team and I. Your patience means a lot. I do understand those of you tired of waiting too though! We only get one chance to relaunch a new game with a new identity. We want to be ready, and we will be.

I appreciate your understanding, and your support genuinely does mean a lot to us. If you have any questions or need some game recommendations in the meantime I will be in and out today.

as for why they fell out, quite a long and confusing story but TL;DR Mesa is bi polar, went crazy asking for music rights when the team wanted to re-brand and wanted to get the full IP rights via a publishing arm he owned. eventually they worked out the M4 team using his tracks but not after much resistance

Spoiler: the Shane Shit

Imgur

Post with 382 views.

imgur.com

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

archived 2 Jan 2020 23:39:01 UTC

archive.ph

The one good thing I guess we got from this was the fact that Shane's part of the sound track got released early, which did have a ton of good tracks.

Mother 4 Soundtraaaack!! - YouTube

www.youtube.com

I'm sure all I have cataloged is just the tip of the ice burg since I have been in and out of following the project throughout it's life but from what I have seen, everything that can go wrong with fan projects seemed to hit it with a multiplier or something.
The game still looks promising but whether it's good, bad, or just meh, I'm sure complications will follow in its wake and that by the time it will be released to the public I will start to get gray hairs.
Addendum- They nuked all the old M4 trailers so if you want any of that here's a working archive channel

M4Preserve

www.youtube.com

 

[Marissa Moira]

Why the fuck would you want an Earthbound Sequel when the Trails series exists?

 

[Frank D'arbo]

I just want another girl like Kumatora is that too hard to ask?

 

[Roy Earle]

Why the fuck would you want an Earthbound Sequel when the Trails series exists?

WTF is the Trails series, enlighten me.

 

[Coolio55]

The mother series was a perfect trilogy like star wars. It didn't need any sequels.
I actually respect it for having the guts to properly end itself unlike SO MANY franchises.

This game is probably gonna disappoint. In the time it's been in development we got undertale which was the closest thing to a real spiritual succesor. Even it couldn't match Mother 3 though and I have predictions that Deltarune is just gonna double down on the bad parts of the first game even if there is still some likability.

 

[Rotollo]

I just want another girl like Kumatora is that too hard to ask?

why would you, can't improve perfection

The mother series was a perfect trilogy like star wars. It didn't need any sequels.
I actually respect it for having the guts to properly end itself unlike SO MANY franchises.

Not only that but also in such a satisfying way, Mother 3 was kinda a favor Itoi did for Iwata to get the work out from it's N64 days in some form, but it feels so natural. It was kinda miracle that it did.

This game is probably gonna disappoint.

It's looks like the classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, the game should have came out around 2014 now it just feels like they over thought everything. hell at this point from just the trailer alone you can tell what was made pre and post rebrand. It feels like its lumbering on at this point by a thread.

Deltarune is just gonna double down on the bad parts of the first game even if there is still some likability.

Deltarune already improved the combat side of that game, the first part's abit rocky for it's story but I could see Toby refining it.

 

[Coolio55]

why would you, can't improve perfection

Not only that but also in such a satisfying way, Mother 3 was kinda a favor Itoi did for Iwata to get the work out from it's N64 days in some form, but it feels so natural. It was kinda miracle that it did.

It's looks like the classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, the game should have came out around 2014 now it just feels like they over thought everything. hell at this point from just the trailer alone you can tell what was made pre and post rebrand. It feels like its lumbering on at this point by a thread.

Deltarune already improved the combat side of that game, the first part's abit rocky for it's story but I could see Toby refining it.

The worst part is probably the dialogue imo. I didn't appreciate it when they had to resolve Susie and Lancer's friendship by bringing out a literal fucking telltale corridoor.
It also doesn't help that at least two trannies were added to the team. Undertale pulled the gay card, will Deltarune pull the gay and tranny cards? Only time will tell. The rest was good though (Except for the vocal song and the fact that the party member joined theme is ripped with permission from a game from a studio that specializes in mentally ill propoganda games. What can I say though, toby has always kept bad company...)

 

[Bungus Scrungus]

ah hell yeah dude i love vapor ware with a new title slapped over it

I'm still spiteful over the rebrand, but even I can admit this looks good. Doesn't mean it'll ever come out, though.

 

[Colloid]

And here I thought this was just quietly abandoned years before Undertale even hit the scene to help everyone forget about it. I really can't put much stock in a game that's taken this long just to rebrand itself away from Nintendo though. It's a shame too because it does look like a fun game.

 

[Frank D'arbo]

why would you, can't improve perfection

I just want more of best girl

 

[Floop]

I saw this on Twitter yesterday. Everyone’s going “ITS NOT CALLED MOTHER 4 BUT IT STILL IS!” No one in the replies are talking about how it’s actually a genius move naming your fan game something original so you don’t get sued by Nintendo.

 

[AsbestosFlaygon]

A fanmade sequel to Mother I've always found pretty stupid honestly, outside of the obvious Nintendo ban hammer the games are all isolated stories so it's not like you're continuing a story. I also feel they're very creator driven, without Itoi's voice I feel like you've lost the core of the series. At that point you should just make your own thing inspired by it instead, that allows you to be more creative by not being restricted by Mother's limitations. And you can do shit like, you know, sell it and actually make some money back from the time you've invested into the damn project.

 

[left arm]

Watch the drama behind this be more interesting than the game itself.

 

[Hideous K]

it looks like they finished the game but I think they doing a clean up over mother/earthbound references that got stuck in. "it'll be out when it ready" sounds like an Duke Nukem Forever mess behind the scenes.
best to wait untill what happen if it gets release or ends up vaporware

I have predictions that Deltarune is just gonna double down on the bad parts of the first game even if there is still some likability.

Deltarune already improved the combat side of that game, the first part's abit rocky for it's story but I could see Toby refining it.

That shoe-in deer character is literally Alphys 2.0 and you can't tell me otherwise just replace "weeb" with "lonely rich kid" , I saw that preview on Toby's twitter with her replacing Ralsei and it can only get better from here (the funny thing is that undertale/deltarune fans actually predicted her and Susie's relationship from the get go, it was obvious with her dialogue)

Still, the gameplay is a better updated version of undertale's combat

 

[Pissmaster]

I don't really wanna be down on Oddity, but every fan game that ends up taking ages never turns out well. This actually sounds similar to some of the drama that happened behind the scenes with the Mother 3 translation - something about an unstable girl helping translate dialog... causing some flavor of shitstorm? I can't remember. But at least that turned out fine, eventually.

Why the fuck would you want an Earthbound Sequel when the Trails series exists?

Because anime RPGs are degenerate and have no place in my Christian household

 

[MightyBiteySnake]

Trailer looks good.
Game looks good.
Drama looks good.
As long as one of the last two remains true I'm happy.

 

[AsbestosFlaygon]

I don't really wanna be down on Oddity, but every fan game that ends up taking ages never turns out well.

If that were the case no fan game would ever turn out well, pretty much all take ages to come out given the small part time teams that do them. I guess if you count the shit flash games you get when you type in shit like "free super mario online no virus" then I guess those are made in a timely manner, but do you REALLY want to count those? I'm not really concerned with the time frame, obviously taken forever to release, but in general fan projects just don't have high success rates regardless of how long they go on for. If anything the longer they've been in development the more likely they'll actually stick to it and complete it.

 

[ScatmansWorld]

This game has apparently been in development since at least 2008, so it’s likely to be another case of Duke Nukem Forever syndrome. I kind of wish they would of just released it in 2010-2012 as a quant Mother fangame instead of a spiritual successor with 12 years worth of content hastily stapled together.

Mother 4 Fangame « Fan Games and Programs « Forum « Starmen.Net

forum.starmen.net

 

[ZehnBoat]

A fanmade sequel to Mother I've always found pretty stupid honestly, outside of the obvious Nintendo ban hammer the games are all isolated stories so it's not like you're continuing a story.

yeah it's not like a character from 1 shows up in 2 and a character from 2 shows up in 3

, I saw that preview on Toby's twitter with her replacing Ralsei

huh
what's that
that's the sound of me not caring about deltarune anymore

edit: clarification

 

[Overcooked Raccoon]

I'm totally okay with Mother 3 ending as it was, because I fucking bawled my eyes out and got over it. I'd rather not have a fan game masquerade as a numbered sequel which will lessen the impact of it, unless it really shines how fucking good Mother 3 was to people.

Glad they renamed it something else but hearing people refer to it as Mother 4 makes me kinda sick.