17/03/2024, 18:12 Part 4 In terms of MOTHER 2 | No matter when the world might end – Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun

hinbun | Yuzuru Hanyu | ほぼ日刊…

It all started when Yuzuru Hanyu said he was a MOTHER 2 fan on a TV

program. This brought about the kind of discussion you only dream about.
Not in a cliche way, but really and truly an amazing thing. Last
December, Yuzuru Hanyu and Shigesato Itoi met in a studio in Sendai and
talked about all kinds of things for two hours. We’re pleased to be able to
bring you that discussion.

＞Yuzuru Hanyu’s Profile

This article is available in Japanese, English and Chinese.

＞ Japanese（日本語）

＞ Chinese（中文版） weibo／REDBOOK

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Prev Index Next

Boyhood／Mirror Neuron／Heaven and Earth／Mr. Saturn／

Ballet／Timeline／Homesick／Universe／Johnny Weir／

Reset／Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami／Picasso／Sprain／

Parallel Universe／Heroic Sword and an Evil Sword／Produce／

Astro Boy／Music／Ness／Fifteen-year-old／

Romeo and Juliet／Goldfish／Nap／Athlete／Millennials／

Elder sister／A Beatles song, XXXterday／

Score／Vinyl／Death／Youngest child／

That／Hip hop／Mozart／Dilemma／Ice Show

Itoi If there was a “Story of Yuzuru Hanyu,” it would be about a boy

with strong mirror neurons that made him more like the people
he looked up to, and whose skills quickly powered up. What

about his personality?

H a n yu His personality.

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Itoi Main characters grow up in their stories, and their personalities

tend to change alongside their skills. What was it like for you?

H a n yu Hmm, well, if I were to explain it in terms of MOTHER 2...

Itoi That’s a lovely example, thank you.

H a n yu (Laughs) In terms of MOTHER 2, Ness for example gets

homesick.

Itoi Yes he does.

(*The main character of MOTHER 2, Ness, is afflicted with

homesickness once in a while and is unable to fight in battle. It’s

cured by visiting or calling home.)

H a n yu But as he gets stronger and stronger, there’s a certain level at

which he no longer becomes homesick. I think that’s an

incredibly astute way to portray the way that people grow up. It

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starts by recklessly plowing ahead, but you make friends along

the way, you get to know more people, and it’s in that

environment that you’re able to fight on. Once you realize that’s

happening, it seems clear that the main character’s personality

would also be changing as he goes.

Itoi That’s true. So in other words, no matter how much strength a

person has, if they only go along life with their own power,

they’re going to lose sight of their goal along the way.

H a n yu Yeah. And for Ness, that was during the time he got homesick the

most easily.

Itoi Yeah, for sure. As you explain that, I’m kind of thinking that

you’re someone who might have the strength to fight with your

own power. But strength alone won’t keep you on the right path.

I’ve heard it explained in terms of swords before, with a heroic

sword and an evil sword.

H a n yu Yeah.

Itoi They’re both incredibly strong, but in the end, a holy sword

would prevail over the evil one in some way. So it’s more than

just strength and ability—you have to change as a person, too.

H a n yu That’s true. If you only focus on getting stronger, you’ll end up

getting careless. In MOTHER 2, you level up so you can beat

some enemies you weren’t able to beat before, and that makes

your level go up even further. At some point you get strong

enough that the battle automatically ends when you run into that

enemy.

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Itoi Yeah, that happens when you’re a certain level above the enemy.

H a n yu As a player, that’s really satisfying, but speaking from a sense of

character, that doesn’t seem quite right.

Itoi Ah, I can see that.

H a n yu Until that point you’ve been coming across laid back guys and

middle aged ladies and gang members and aliens and fighting

various characters, but after a certain point you start to look at

everything in terms of experience points. I think that same

distorted perspective could happen in real life, too. For example,

say I train and win first place in a competition. I’ll be really

happy at first, but then I get better and better, and winning

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competitions becomes a given. That would start creating a

distance between me and everyone else. That’s not necessarily

the path taken with an evil sword, but it does start to feel that
way.

Itoi I think humans inherently desire stronger and stronger things, but

if something were to have strength and really nothing else,

there’s something dull about that.

H a n yu Yeah. So the games in the MOTHER series end with final battles
that involve a strength different than the standard strength that

had been relied upon until then. The commands in the battle
system aren’t even the same anymore.

Itoi Yes, that’s very true.

H a n yu It’s not about inflicting damage, it’s about a heartfelt appeal that
extends beyond the characters and actually comes from the
player. I think that’s why, to this day, the games have so deeply

touched each person who has played them. It takes more than
strength to move someone to their core.

Itoi Definitely, yes.

H a n yu This feels similar to how people that cheered me on after the

Tohoku disaster had their own individual stories, and it wasn’t
something that could be measured in numbers. I think the reason

I feel this way is because when I was little, I had the experience
of facing a pitch-black TV screen in the final battle of MOTHER

2, and seeing myself reflected there.

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Itoi I made that game in the hopes that some kids somewhere out
there would be moved in that way, but hearing that it really did

hit the mark makes me very happy. Of course, that’s not the only
thing I wanted to get across, and I think part of why people were
able to get it was because it was presented within a fun thing they

were playing.

H a n yu I think so too. I wasn’t only moved when playing MOTHER 2, I

also had a lot of points in the game where I thought “now that’s
just ridiculous.”

Itoi (Laughs)

H a n yu The script and the puns and stuff struck me as so ridiculous as I

played through the game. (Laughs) That cockroach that was in

the cave was named “That thing” like you didn’t even want to
say what it was.
(*Violent Roach in the English version)

Itoi And “That other thing.” (Laughs)

H a n yu I was like, oh jeez, it evolved. (Laughs)

Itoi And the bad guys that keep showing up and each one says “I am
the third strongest.”

H a n yu Yeah, the moles! (Laughs)

Itoi Those kinds of things are more for scoring artistic points when
making a game, rather than technical points.

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H a n yu Ah, yeah. (Laughs)

Itoi No matter how strong the framework or technical setup of a

game, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to express what

you want. Even outside of games, when I’m making something, I

enjoy seeing to what degree I can flesh out that framework with

interesting things. In your case, too, no matter how fast you skate
or how high you jump, it’s about performing something that
others enjoy. It’s more than simply getting stronger.

H a n yu Yeah.

Itoi Man, I had no idea you were such a good MOTHER 2 player.
(Laughs)

H a n yu (Laughs)

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17/03/2024, 18:12 Part 4 In terms of MOTHER 2 | No matter when the world might end – Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun | Yuzuru Hanyu | ほぼ日刊…

Boyhood／Mirror Neuron／Heaven and Earth／Mr. Saturn／

Ballet／Timeline／Homesick／Universe／Johnny Weir／

Reset／Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami／Picasso／Sprain／

Parallel Universe／Heroic Sword and an Evil Sword／Produce／

Astro Boy／Music／Ness／Fifteen-year-old／

Romeo and Juliet／Goldfish／Nap／Athlete／Millennials／

Elder sister／A Beatles song, XXXterday／

Score／Vinyl／Death／Youngest child／

That／Hip hop／Mozart／Dilemma／Ice Show

（To be continued）

2024-03-04-MON

次へ

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Photography: Toru Yaguchi

Clothing: tk.TAKEO KIKUCHI

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