Nintendo released Mother in July 1989, after initially being turned down by Shigeru Miyamoto as nothing special, yet later embraced by him. Mother was created by Shigesato Itoi, who had ideas for a game similar to "an American sitcom" and flexible in its interpretation...but, Itoi didn't know how to make video games. He teamed up with some of gaming's greatest to release Mother.

The game is played through a young boy, Ninten, who is trying to save Earth from aliens. Ninten has the secret to defeating the aliens because his grandfather stole the secret while in the aliens' captivity. The aliens were pissed that Ninten's grandfather stole the secret so they launched an invasion of Earth.

Mother was slated for release on the NES as Earthbound, but nothing more than a prototype was ever made. Today many NES collectors play Earthbound on reproduction cartridges.

Itoi has said of creating Mother, "I'm not as immature to try to solve everything by killing people. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to make a game without killings. For example, I used weapons, keeping in mind that this was a cartoon. You know, getting rid of your enemies with a frying pan is very cartoon-like."

Itoi has also said the music in Mother tried to remove itself from classical music, like previous RPGs. The music in Mother was inspired by modern bands like the Beatles, and he attempted to create a sense of resurrection and healing with the score, while ranging the sound effects from "vulgar to sensual."

To this day in Japan, Mother is best known for its many quotable quotes, such as, "Don't cry until the end."