Many noted this was a departure from the simplistic graphics of its predecessors.

MOTHER 64 was publicly revealed at Spaceworld 1996, where it was received positively for its ambitious display of three-dimensional graphics and character animations. The project soon switched to the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive as the Super Famicom was no longer viable for the concepts they wanted to achieve. This interest and confidence in Itoi’s vision allowed MOTHER 64 to be greenlit. Shigeru Miyamoto and other alumni at Nintendo found this concept baffling, yet intriguing all the same as a concept only Itoi could come up with. The purpose of this concept was for the player to build personal relationships with the village’s inhabitants.

Originally conceived as a detective thriller where the player would investigate rumors floating around a small village, Itoi was determined to break the conventions of a traditional “road trip” RPG by having a game set in one village that would develop over time.

What the start-up screen for MOTHER 64 looked like.

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