A new fan-made "Mother 4" project announced!

Ever heard of a fan game titled Mother 4? It entered development back in 2008 and was planning to be released back in Winter 2014. As most EarthBound/Mother fans know, the game ended up getting delayed, and is still being worked on. In 2017, it was announced that they would be removing all of the EarthBound content, as well as change its name to "Oddity" in an attempt to avoid a potential C&D from Nintendo. Much later in October of this month, a few disgruntled fans who were helping to make the game would anonymously leak a couple of the game's assets, as well as a few playable demos, while also revealing that there was a lot of production trouble behind the scenes.

Well, a new game is now stepping up to the fray, and if you couldn't guess, it's also has the title of "Mother 4." Being in development for at least 2 years, this new Mother 4 fan project follows a group of teenagers as they journey across a "rose-tinted America."

Our heroes! From left-to-right, Maggie, Aaron, Troy, and Trisme.

The story, as described on the official site, has three young men discover an unwelcome guest hiding deep in the woods, turning America on its head. Our protagonist, Aaron, must tour the United States to deal with the aftermath of that meeting, as well as uncover the mystery behind the "Rift Shells," ancient artifacts of awesome PSI power and dubious origin. Along the way, Aaron will be meet the overconfident mechanic Maggie, the reserved yet proficient Troy, the dense but kind hearted magician Trisme, along with many other loyal allies and oddball foes.

Gameplay is similar to previous installments. You make your heroes run around and explore various areas and locations, where you can interact with various characters or find helpful items. Sometimes there will be enemies lurking about. If you run into them, you enter a battle against them. If you sneak up on them from behind, you'll gain the advantage over them, though if you allow them to attack you from behind, the they'll gain the advantage.

Battles are similar to how they are in EarthBound with the series iconic rolling HP bars, which slowly tick down as you take damage, which can allow you to take fatal blows and either keep attacking the enemies, or quickly heal your characters before their HP hits zero. The game also has Mother 3's comboing system, which allows you to deal extra damage to enemies if you press a button in time to the battle music.

The developers of the game also have an official website set up, along with a FAQ which should answer any question you may have. (For starters, they aren't worried about a possible Cease-&-Desist from Nintendo) They also have a YouTube account, as well as a Twitter account. (Check out this cool concept art for our fearless heroes! ... and Jared.)

Are you looking forward to Mother 4? You can bet this writer is, and hoping that things will go well for the dev team. Regardless, tell us your thoughts in the comments below!