Mother 3/WMG

The Oh-So-Snake is the offspring of the White and Dark Dragon
It's at the castle because of the needle, which is an access point to one of its parents.

Ness caused a time paradox,
Okay, first things first. Ninten defeats Giygas in the 80's. Then Giygas comes back 10 years later to make havoc in Onett, Twoson, etc. now, Giygas is too powerful to kill. So Ness goes back millions of years to kill Giygas. After Giygas dies, this erases the events of MOTHER 1, since Ness is probably Ninten's and Ana's son, he is never born, causing. A few generations later, MOTHER 3 happens.
 * Ness didn't go back in time with the intent of defeating a much younger Giygas. It specifically said Giygas, the Giygas of the PRESENT, was hiding in the past, therefore he is still a product of the present time, meaning his death wouldn't erase things that had previously happened to him. Also, Ness can not be Ninten's son, as the time gap is too small.

Porky's dead, folks
Okay, so, Porky's life kinda sucks. Abusive/neglectful parents, corrupted by an evil alien monster... Thing. Can't see the girl he has a crush on due to time travel reasons. Can't even see the only kid who could even be vaguely considered his friend. Age outwardly due to goddamn time travel, when genetically he's probably maaaaybe in his mid-twenties at the most now, and stuck with a childish mind. Surrounds himself with self-praise, yet is still extremely insecure and is in firm belief that no one likes him, just like in his old hometown. Solution? Operation "FUCK YOU WORLD, YOU'RE BORING." This, obviously, fails, and he is stuck in the Absolutely Safe Capsule, being rolled around by Andonuts. But! Everyone and everything in the world prospers. And really? Up to this point, it seems that the only thing he could prosper from would be death.
 * According to Word of God, Porky is going to be immortal inside the Absolutely Safe Capsule, in perfect stasis, forever, exactly as he wished....
 * On the one hand, you'd think that him being stuck inside the Absolutely Safe Capsule wouldn't keep him alive because he'd run out of air/food, but on the other hand, if the Absolutely Safe Capsule does work as intended, then Porky might as well be dead, since he effectively cannot interact at all with the outside world or be interacted with (aside from rolling him around).
 * Due to his reality-warping/time-traveling Porky no longer needs air nor food. Also there is a significant difference between a Porky that is simply unable to interact and one the is dead. The former is still conscious.

The Empire Porky Building is actually only 20 stories tall
The elevator buttons for the nonexistant floors don't work.

The words to "Theme of Love" are sung by Hinawa.
Grab a seat and get some popcorn, kiddies, this is a long one (also fairly spoiler-heavy). In case you don't know them, here are the (rough) English vocals:

"A dark distant town, with sadness set out. No matter where I am I'll still be your life.

I want to show you warm moments and dreams. I can see the small child smile, when I close my eyes.

If I call out, he'll turn around. Give light to the small one who walks his path alone."

She's singing it in reference to Lucas and Claus. The first verse is speaking of, but is still watching over Lucas as he begins his quest for the Needles ("With sadness set out"). The second verse could be speaking about Claus or Lucas - or both. Hinawa didn't  "I can see the small child smile" is likely in reference to Lucas, as Hinawa can only imagine him being happy, after the poor boy   The final verse is definitely about Claus. This is Hinawa trying to break  ("If I call out, he'll turn around" and the last two lines are Hinawa wishing for Claus to be able pass on in peace. (This is reflected in the final battle when she says, "Come to your mother, Claus. You must be so exhausted.")

Makes sense, hey?


 * I always assumed this. I'd just like to elaborate. First of all, it refers to both of the twins at the same time (which I am about to go into detail about). Second of all, there are more details about than that. The first line, "A dark and distant town", refers to Tazmily. "With sadness set out" refers to both twins. What I mean by that is Claus, and 3 years later, Lucas began his quest. Arguably, that last verse could technically be about both of them,.

The identity of the Dragon
Once the dragon is awakened, you get the chance to talk to the characters as yourself, the player. Conclusion: You are the dragon, $troper.
 * Why does this webpage know my name?
 * All the more proof that you're the Dragon. We all know who you are.
 * This actually makes some sense, considering how the Mother franchise likes to outline the player/characters relationship. Think about it: the fate of the world after the Dragon is awakened is said to be up to the Dragon itself. Those players that want the world to survive eventually stumble upon the extra conversations, and those heartless people who aren't moved by the game by that point probably just turn the game off, resulting in the world ending there. The journey and the pulling of the needles really is passing Lucas' heart on to the dragon. That's why this game has so many Tear Jerkers.
 * Maybe the player-dragon's lightness or darkness depends on
 * This also fits well with the "The Player is the Doorknob" theory, as the doorknob falls into the depths of the final cave in Chapter 8.

The player is a dragon, but not the DARK Dragon
The theory above made me remember that picture in the Church-like building. It has a Dark Dragon and a Light Dragon, just like Yin and Yang. This Troper thinks that when Lucas pulled the last needle, the Dark Dragon was awakend and he destroyed all things. Then, the Light Dragon/the player resets the world, but it cost so much power to remake a whole world, that the Light Dragon becomes blind. That's why you can only hear, but not see all the characters you met at the end of the game.
 * It's implied that the White/Dark dragon thing is entirely fictional, remember the people got there via a the White Ship, so in a way, the White ship is the missing white dragon.

Ness and his friends were ultimately killed by Porky.
Consider the following:
 * Porky has collected numerous items from his home dimension, including the Runaway Five tour bus, Tessie, Dungeon Man, the Sky Runner, the Phase Distorter, and most importantly, Dr. Andonuts.
 * This would also explain why, strangely, Dr. Andonuts makes no mention of his son at all in specific. He could have died long ago. I do sketchily recall a line that implied that Lucas and his friends reminded Andonuts of "them" (as in, the previous protagonists) but I could just be imagining that.
 * Porky has apparently been making sport of tearing apart entire planes of existence for untold decades.
 * In New Pork City, there's a man nearby the Pork King statue who says a "bunch of brats" once attempted to attack Porky.
 * Not Porky himself.
 * Midway through the game, Lucas finds the "Friend's Yo-Yo" in one of Porky's playrooms.
 * And the "Real Bat" in the caverns beneath the Empire Porky Building.
 * The New Pork City theater shows an unsettlingly positive tribute to the four kids who ruined Porky's original plans. From all of this, it's apparent that Ness and company traveled through time to take down Porky once and for all- and obviously didn't succeed.
 * It could just be that Ness and co. weren't aware of the "white ship" and so died in the End of the World. Porky couldn't save them without screwing with continuity too much or meeting them after they trashed the Big Bad of Earthbound. He doesn't have to stop them, he just needs to not save them. Also, where did we get the Pokey as destroyer of worlds? I thought he only did time travel.
 * Porky did time travel and space (or dimensional) travel. And it's really not known how long the end of the world took place after the second game. Ness and his friends could have just died naturally.
 * They were killed at the end of the Giygas battle. The rest of the ending is just a dream of Ness.
 * No they stopped gygas, otherwise the whole world would be EVEN WORSE off, just a red sky and darkness and corruption everywhere "Shiver"
 * All the more reason.
 * Alternatively, Ness never made it to Giygas at all. The surgery to convert Ness and the gang into robots was an utter failure, and the rest of the game was their collective Dying Dream (possible since it's not very long). This makes more sense than them dying after Giygas since it would explain why Giygas could've gone on to destroy the world. Though, if this were true, that would mean Dr. Andonuts killed his own son, and probably would be messed up in the head when you see him in Mother 3. unless he is.
 * But that said this sure makes a... Oh God. OHHHHHHHGODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 * Actually the film is a tribute to Ness who in a sorta messed up way was one of the three people who ever showed Porky any kindness. Despite the japanese mother 2 translation(Although given his jackass actions, Ness had every right to turn his back on Porky) Ness was one of the few people who played with/Tolerated Porky and would of happily let him come if he wanted too. He actually wanted to be Ness. Plus Pokeys a Dirty Coward:He would never admit it but he's afraid of Ness. And plus Ness never would have went forward in time:the robots were who knows where and andronauts was kidnapped, there was no way for them to do anything. Makes my big noooooo feel a bit excessive but stil....

Ness and his friends caused Pokey to appear in the Nowhere Islands
It's explicitly stated that Pokey was banished from all other times and existences, therefore before time or after the end of the world was the only place he could flee after Ness and Friends systematically hunted down and destroyed him. Because of causality being absolutely shattered by battling throughout time and space, once Pokey had a base of operations and source of power, namely Fassad/Yokuba, he was able to reach into other times and spaces safely with the aid of those who Ness wasn't actively preventing from screwing with time/space. This is how the letter Picky brings Ness at the end of EB arrives, which was the same time Dr. Andonuts was kidnapped.

Lucas is Buzz Buzz
You know it's true. Lucas came back as Buzz Buzz from an alternate Porkey/Giygas future.

Flint isn't related to Ness
That Franklin Badge is just a giant coincidence. Or, maybe it did belong to Ness, but it's been kicked around from person to person for several centuries. Like that doorknob!
 * It is worth it to note that in Mother 1 there were 2 Franklin Badges. Franklin Badges are meaningless, either way.

Porky is
After a million years in the Absolutely Safe Capsule, Pokey is found by some aliens, His shriveled form is mistaken for a baby alien, and he is adopted and renamed Giygas. Cue Mother 1 and Earthbound. Giygas is "H...A...P...P...Y..." to see Ness because he recognizes him, as the only boy Porky was ever even kind of friends with.
 * Well of course. Look at Giygas' sprite in Mother 1. He's inside some strange capsule. And what is he inside of in Earthbound? Another strange capsule. He does all of this from inside the Absolutely Safe Capsule as it is modified by the aliens over the years.
 * And how do you explain Giygas's thin, chalk-white, tailed alien form from Earthbound Zero? And are you saying that Maria's time with "Giygas" happened entirely while he was inside the capsule?
 * This does make sense the more you think about it. After all, Porky is the only boss in the game that uses an indescribable attack.
 * Unfortunately, this wouldn't work. A film in Mother 3 specifically documents the adventures of Ness and his friends.

Giygas is dead, people.
Seriously.
 * He -is- a time traveler, though.
 * Didn't stop Lavos.
 * Didn't help him, you mean.

Nowhere Island is the dragon's Magicant.
When the rest of the world ended, the island remained. It is destroyed when the sleeping dragon is awakened. This follows the pattern of Maria's and Ness's Magicants vanishing after they discovered the secrets of their minds and were awakened. Notice that the Magypsies' houses are identical to the seashell houses in Mother 1 - not to mention the Magypsies themselves, who would fit in perfectly.
 * Problem is, the island doesn't as much 'vanish' as 'explode in a fiery inferno of horrible doom', which I don't recall happening to Magicant in Earthbound. Maybe in the Japanese version.
 * That's because there was a overlapping reality to revert to in the first two games. By giving their wills up to the universe, they'll be reborn; whether via Reincarnation or simply incarnation; who knows? Very Shinto/Buddhist. See: Star Ocean 3. ...or The Neverending Story....or Mario Galaxy ....hmm...I smell a trope
 * Could be explained that before we didn't remain in Magicant as it fell apart. We fanish/leave as there is a white light or such, and assumed it just ended there. In reality, there was still a nightmarish end of the world for the citizens to go through.
 * So, wait, you're saying that the Dragon is the Wind Fish?
 * This troper agrees, and would like to add that she thinks the Dragon is actually Lucas, and the whole game was his "Magicant Dream" in the middle of a bigger adventure.

Porky is responsible for the first death of the world as well as the second.
He's been meddling around in time and space so much, it's certainly possible. We don't know exactly how far technology got before the few survivors decided they needed to start over.

Hinawa is Ness and Paula's granddaughter (or great-granddaughter).
This would probably explain why Lucas can learn PSI powers -- perhaps the abilities are genetic, kind of like how Ness was able to use a tiny bit of psychic power even as a baby (and that in itself probably spawns a whole bunch of other theories.) On a more minor note, it could also explain why Lucas has blond hair, like Paula did, but this is probably the magic of Hair Colors at work.
 * Though I never played it, it's explained somehow or another
 * Actually, in Chapter 2 (as soon as it turns to daytime) you can find the little blonde girl Nana in the west edge of Tazmily Village's center screen. Talk to her, and she'll say "I'm Nana. I'm not sure why, but none of the family members in this village really look alike." It's quite possible that barely any entire families made it onto the White Ship, and that some--say Flint and Hinawa--decided that their new lives would be as parents.

Claus is resurrected by the Dark Dragon
Claus says, before he breathes his last, that he believes he will meet Lucas again, that is, he trusts Lucas to bring him back so they can live as brothers after the world is reborn. The Dragon almost certainly has the power to return the dead to life, and the most fervent wish of the one who pulls the final needle enters the heart of the Dark Dragon. After Lucas has just had his twin brother die in his arms, there is only one thing he could possibly wish for more than anything else... Claus to live again.
 * ... but he Came Back Wrong... very very wrong. Resulting in the removed boss fight.
 * While this is a plausible way to look at the ending, I never liked to think of it that way. I always imagine that Lucas, having come so far from being the weak boy he was in the start of the tale, is now capable of coping with death. It also goes against the whole point of Hinawa telling Claus to come to her in the final battle, and the idea that Claus SHOULD have died ages ago. If Lucas revived Claus, he'd be no better than Porky, keeping Claus alive for selfish reasons, and also focusing too much on his past. Claus died long ago, and I think Lucas would have wanted him to rest in peace.
 * Unfortunately, the "removed boss fight" was much more likely the removed backgrounds for the Masked Man fight, as demonstrated here.

Fassad joined with Porky to get rid of the other Magypsies
One thing I have never understood is why Fassad would turn on the other Magypsies. The Magypsies are fine with their end being tied to their needles, so Fassad must feel differently. Of course, Porky was able to twist Fassad and get him to get horribly injured to give up on life. Why would Porky do this? Porky is a Jerkass
 * I always imagined Fassad was afraid of death and Pokey promised his needle would not be pulled if he aided him in his schemes, while, of course, still intending to pull his needle anyway. His life ended up not being consequential to Pokey's plans, though. Fassad was also sort of a jerkass himself, so that could also be his reasons for joining up. He sort of filled the role Pokey filled in Earthbound as "annoying recurring antagonist". Had he not died himself, I could easily see him filling the role as the main villain of a Mother 4 or something, much like Pokey's transition from lackey to head honcho.
 * Two possibilities I thought of...
 * 1) Fassad was something like the comic book Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow?. The other Magypsies took up primping and cross-dressing just so they'd have something to do. Fassad may have simply gotten tired of it and decided to do something else.
 * 2) It's also possible that he was a Token Evil Teammate all along. (Music Jargon warning) Did you know that the Locrian mode is the only mode that has a tritone rather than a perfect fifth as the mid-interval? And that the tritone was historically associated with evil, and called the Devil's Chord?

The scary backgrounds on the game code were part of the hallucination sequence
The game code includes a few extra backgrounds, such as an angel Claus, a gigantic white-eyed Lucas face, and others. It has been reported that the hallucination sequence used to be even worse than what it is - maybe these were part of it?
 * You mean during the Shroom Trip on Tanetane Island? I was thinking that too. ESPECIALLY after how they saw "Claus" in that forest. The unused "boss" does seem more like something those mushrooms would cause than the "Eerie Smile".
 * This seems to be the most plausible theory, as Itoi already explained that he cut a considerable bit of mindscrew off from the already disturbing Tanetane trip, including dialogs so disturbing that himself was afraid of reading them.

The scary backgrounds are the result of infiltrating Claus's mind
During the final boss(yes I'm sticking with that theory) Lucas, in a desperate attempt to make Claus realize who he is, ends up leaping head-first into his brother's mind with PSI. The horrific things he sees are the result of Claus's heart stirring but still heavily warped under Porky's influence. Itoi cut it for two reasons. 1: The fight would have only served to show how twisted Claus's soul was, therefore drawing it out just to show players something that was already (kind of) implied. 2: The original fight already tore your heart out and stuck it in a blender, and sticking 50 gallons of Nightmare Fuel in the middle would have made it too much for a lot of people.

Flint is Ness, and the residents of Tazmily Village all came on the White Ship from the world of Earthbound.
The reason why some of the townspeople look like characters from Earthbound is because they ARE those characters, they've just had their memories erased, and have crossed space and time so it made them age strangely the same way Porky did. The reason Porky is able to come to the Nowhere Islands is because Ness and company have forgotten him completely, thinking that it would be better to start a new life in a safe place than try to chase him across space and time forever and risk destroying themselves in the process; this is also why Porky practically has shrines to them and their adventure in New Pork City (he thinks he's beaten them, when really, they just stopped paying any attention to him) and why Lucas and Claus are capable of PK Love; it's the same PSI technique that Ness used, under a different name.
 * And then there's the Franklin Badge, which may or may not mean anything; Flint did have it as a kid, after all.
 * This, at least the bit about the Islanders being from Eagleland, was originally explicit. Screenshots of a ruined version of Onett were amongst the first circulated for Mother 3 when it was developed for the 64DD. This was cut from the GBA version along with other material Itoi deemed too dark.
 * This fits with the theory that the heroes all related.

The unused battle sprites were from a section of the game nearly entirely removed.
Dung Beetle and Tent Person look a little too much like a younger Giygas and Giygas going One-Winged Angel. Then you have the a series of nightmarish battles involving Lucas and Claus entering an even more surreal series of thoughts. It was either removed because of time or it was decided that section didn't fit.
 * One possibility that it was intended that No Where Island is the Dragon's Magicant, only there was going to be a reveal the dragon was actually Giygas similar to what happened to Queen Mary. The Claus section of the fight is the prayer section, a test of character or resolve with a mental attack against Lucas using his brother Claus. Dung Beetle and Tent Person being Giygas himself.
 * This may have been removed as it was felt the final Masked Man fight sufficed dramatically, and having another battle afterward as being over kill.
 * Tent Person = Boogie Tent perhaps? After all, why would the game show the battle of Ness, Paula, and Jeff against Boogie Tent in the theater in New Pork City? Besides, it was a weird thing set up by zombies in Threed back in Earthbound, so it could have continued on to meet and fight with Lucas and crew.

Duster is a Half-Human Hybrid.
More specifically, his mother is a Mr. Saturn. His head resembles Mr. Saturns in a way, he has similar whiskers and he gets very well along with them in Saturn Valley. His paralyzed leg might also have something to do with his unusual parentage. Since Mr. Saturns are very strange creatures, their ways of reproducing are probably completely different from ours, and Wess must have been very surprised when a Mr. Saturn he had previously met appeared at his doorstep with a baby, saying that it was their child. (This happened before the destruction of the world and the White Ship, obviously.)
 * Who would have sex with a Mr. Saturn?
 * Wess, clearly.
 * Like said, since Mr. Saturns are so weird, he had no idea he had reproduced with a Mr. Saturn until presented with Duster.
 * Duster and Wess' "relation" is part of the Tazmily Village fabrication, as explained by Leder. Still, someone ELSE could have done it... some... how.
 * Being how completely odd they are, it is entirely possible that a Mr. Saturn can reproduce on the shear basis of a strong emotional connection. That would mean that whoever Duster's "father" is was simply just incredibly good friends with a Mr. Saturn, and that, in turn, caused it to be able to bring Duster in being.

The unused battle sprites have nothing to do with each other.
It's been confirmed by Tomato that the unused enemies simply pull unused data from the files at random. It is entirely possible that the unused sprites are completely unconnected, or were even battle sprites in the first place.

Dr. Andonuts is Jeff.
There's nothing to imply that it isn't Jeff's dad from Earthbound, obviously, but Porky is a time-traveler. He could have kidnapped Jeff as an old man, seeing it as fitting revenge for Jeff's role in the war against Giygas.
 * There's also the fact that many of the pigmasks use items such as ray guns, bazookas, and shield killers, items that Jeff built and used himself.
 * On the other hand, Jeff was present in the final battle against Porky in Mother 2 - what exactly would make him want to switch sides and help the psycho kid who fought alongside Giygas?
 * He Face Heel Turned against his will. Fridge Brilliance, Jeff's last name would be Andonuts!
 * Andonuts DOES say that he 'refuses' to continue helping Porky before the boss fight with him. That word implies unwilling servitude. Jeff wouldn't want to help Porky, but he can't really fight back against Porky and his army. His mannerisms are also slightly different from Earthbound's Dr. Andonuts, which is more evidence toward this idea.

The traveling vendor guy is Ness.
He sells steaks and yo-yos, after all, and looks an awful lot like Ness. Maybe he's watching after Lucas and helping from behind the scenes?
 * I hear this theory in the form of Pokey/Porky's manipulations. Basically, Ness lost and is forced into this job as a sign of his ultimate defeat by Pokey/Porky.
 * Actually originally Ness was supposed to be one of Porky's puppets, brainwashed into being his best friend, forever. He was a bossfight in New Pork City. He later was changed to a robot version of the four Earthbound protagonists, and then deleted entirely and replaced with the porky bots.
 * The musician for a lot of songs on Earthbound made a song called "The Knit Cap Man". This character is the same guy - Even referred to as being "The knit cap man" in the dialogue.
 * Read through this post. http://forum.starmen.net/forum/Games/Mother3/Ness-in-mother-3/page/1/

The Dragon is Mim
Both are incredibly powerful and destructive godlike dragons slumbering beneath the earth. The Needles are pieces of the Crown of Horns, somehow having made their way out of Tanen Gard. To take things further, PSI is connected to the powers of the Dreaming and Kumatora is a descendant of the Harvestars.

Tanetane was a Secret Test of Character
Porky became evil due to a combination of greed and fear, so the heroes would have to show that they couldn't be similarly corrupted. What better way to figure that out than to have them suffer hallucinations that switched between offering mind-obliterating fear and giving false hope and love from people important to them?

Mother 3 is an extended retelling of Ness's journey through Magicant, and Ness is the Dragon.
Each playable character represents an aspect of Ness's identity, while NPCs reflect Ness's memories and thoughts -- remember, two of the villagers looked suspiciously like Jeff and Paula.
 * Lucas and Claus are both Ness's heart, and Claus being corrupted was Ness's Nightmare.
 * Kumatora represents Ness's brash, violent side -- she's female because he distances himself from those traits.
 * Duster is both Ness's logic and creativity, whose handicap is from someone -- probably Pokey -- constantly insulting and ignoring Ness's ideas, leaving him short on confidence in those areas (which is why Duster is frequently insulted and berated by his father).
 * Boney is Ness's sense of loyalty and duty, and Boney is always by Lucas's side through thick and thing.
 * Flint is Ness's courage, determination, and paternal instincts.
 * Salsa is Ness's sensitivity -- his trust, love, and capacity for friendship. It's the part of him that was willing to remain friends with an ass like Pokey, and the part that can be manipulated most easily.
 * Hinawa, while not a playable character, is Ness's conscience and embodies everything he considers good and sacred.
 * Porky is Ness's image of the Ultimate Evil -- a monster in the form of his (former) best friend, Pokey, who has no regard for life or sense of value for friendship.
 * The race to pull the seven needles and make sure the Dragon takes on Lucas' heart represents Ness fighting the evil that lurks inside, and not let himself be corrupted by the influence of Giygas. The final moments of the game, the world isn't destroyed -- it's reabsorbed into Ness's mind and adds to his power. The characters are all alive inside of him.
 * The doorknob, which has been considered to be a metaphor for happiness by some other fans, could also represent Ness's happiness or it represents the mission he is taking, especially since it keeps popping up wherever the protagonist of the chapter is. In addition, it would explain why there is no world of the subconscious in this game although that idea has always been an important theme in the Mother series. The melodies still exist despite the seeming destruction of the world because the world is all in Ness's mind and he learned the melodies. The islands can be explained as a test for Ness, which works with Tanetane Island and if the doorknob represents Ness's development, it does flow better, especially since it can be found at the castle, which Itoi said was meant to represent the flow of time. However, the problem is that is that Itoi explained that the logo was intended to show the earth going back to its natural state, but it can be resolved if it is assumed that he means Ness returning the world to normal after going through Magicant, time traveling, and defeating Giygas.
 * Also, the "end of the world" as it is described in Mother 3 could be in Mother 1 when that game's Magicant disappeared, and all that remained was the part of Magicant contained in the only other individual able to go there: Ness.

Possibly, the Dragon is Malefor
After all, upon summoning the dragon,. Upon that happening, we get another world in which Lucas gets to grow up, but over time, dragons start populating the world along with some other odd creatures and soon the humans get driven into extinction, which soon leads to the creatures wanting to battle each other suddenly and lead to a lot of chaotic events. Besides (if you're wondering), Malefor can expose creatures to darkness, and possibly corrupt and transform humans into dragons if need be.

At the end of the game, Porky is mocking you.
Not Lucas, not Claus, not Flint, not anyone in the party.

You.

He knows about the last, unknown person who prayed for the Chosen Four back in Earthbound -- and he knows it was you. He suspected you would return to guide Lucas through his journey and made a point to flaunt the fact that he went back and warped the timeline to make it all meaningless. That was the reason behind the Memory Boat Ride. Hey, look, player -- he has the Sky Runner, the Phase Distorter, the Helicopter, the Submarine... all unscathed. He has the Pencil Eraser -- an unique item that only Ness had. He has Ness's yo-yo. He has pretty much every plot-relevant item that Ness needed on his journey to defeat Giygas... meaning that he robbed Ness of the opportunity to use them. All your hard work twelve years ago amounted to nothing.

Ness still failed. And Porky made damn well sure he got the message across.


 * It's more likely that they were all replicas made for the sake of nostalgia. Remember how he enshrined the "Friend's Yoyo"? They could even be new originals; he had Professor Andonuts (who had worked with Apple Kid, the maker of the Pencil Eraser), and the Mr. Saturns under his thumb. Why couldn't he make another Sky Runner, Phase Distorter, et al.?

EVERYONE IN TAZMILY is a Time Lord!

 * Prior to the Gallifrey  Tazmily's villagers and the  that Leder spoke of late in the game was the Time War with the Daleks. The White Ship carried the last few survivors to a new world. The catastrophic deaths of the Time War put life into perspective for the Time Lords, and they collectively decided to  and live a peaceful, simple life to prevent another war and ensure their survival.
 * And the Fob Watches...

If Pokey has a phase distory in the room of memories
Which means the characters could go back and put everyone from a different timeline in the right timeline. Or other crazy stuff. I'm running out of tinfoil.

Due to the events in Mother 3, Mother 2 was erased from the timeline and Mother 1 happened in its place.
All right, kids, sit down and get comfortable. This one is complicated.

In the original timeline, Claus pulled the last needle. The power of merging his own heart with the Dragon's drove his already damaged mind to insanity. Dragon-Claus began blindly calling out to Lucas, but being unable to think clearly, the pronunciation became garbled. Those that heard him thought he was screaming Giygas, and that became their name for him.

Porky then manipulated Giygas into attacking Eagleland 10 years after Giygas' defeat in Mother 2, to catch Ness off guard and flaunt his inevitable victory. Porky was successful in this attack. But Lucas managed to follow Porky to Ness' home planet and place in the timeline, and aid in the battle against Porky and Giygas. When Lucas & the Chosen Four are defeated, Porky turns Lucas into a bug. Lucas manages to escape to 10 years in the past as Buzz Buzz, and is the catalyst for the events in Mother 2.

However, when the player is there to aid Lucas during Mother 3, it all changes. Lucas pulls the last needle and merges with the Dragon, and Porky is locked away for eternity, meaning Giygas never came to exist -- at least not the Giygas in Mother 2.

Let me say here that even though Lucas is comparatively less corrupt than Claus, after the events of Tanetane Island, you can't deny that Lucas has issues. And when Lucas merged with the Dragon the troubles in his heart were magnified a hundredfold. Lucas craved the love of a stable family. He kidnapped George and Maria (leaving behind their son, Ninten's father) and regenerated himself as baby Giegue so they could raise him. But of course, George learned the power of PSI and tried to escape with Maria. Giegue went nuts and stole Maria back, trapping her in Magicant, He then used the reality-warping powers the Dragon gave him to threaten the Earth with an alien invasion in retaliation. It took years to manipulate the Universe in such a way, though, which is why the invasion doesn't become apparent until Ninten starts off his adventure.

Salsa and the Girl-Monkey are Ness and Paula
We never see any other monkeys on the Nowhere Islands, only those two. Porky had his scientists use their chimera technology to transplant Ness and Paula's brains into monkey bodies, and also inhibited their PSI abilities. To torment Ness, Porky gave Ness to his right hand man, Fassad, as a pet and had Fassad make sure to use Ness as a tool to warp the people from Tazmily Village.
 * Sorry, but there is an enemy monkey although the enemy in question does seem to be robotic. It's called the mystery metal monkey. I see where you are going but there is no clear supporting evidence.
 * What? This Troper thought that it was pretty sound. The mystery metal monkeys are just chimeras.

Flint searched the mountains because he was afraid for Claus
Flint may have been ready to give up searching, when he saw the Chimeras made by the Pork Army. Fearing for Claus (since the Pigmasks have shown themselves as completely immoral), he continued searching, in the hope that Claus wasn't found by the Pigmasks.

By, pulling the seven needles, Lucas caused Third Impact.
Or maybe it's the fourth.

Heaven and Earth were merged in the end.
Lucas wished that all the people who died during the course of the game would be resurrected, and that no people would ever become evil again. The Dragon couldn't do that, so it merged Heaven and Earth instead. This way, everyone who was dead could be with the living and the goodness of Heaven would stop all evil.

Alternative theory: Heaven and Earth were merged because Lucas was alive and Claus was dead. The Dragon had to grant the wishes of two people, one in Heaven and one on Earth, therefore it merged Heaven and Earth so it could grant both wishes.

Everyone dies in the end.
Lucas was in a bad mood after Claus's death and wished that everyone would die so they could all exist in peace in Heaven.

Think about it: The world was destroyed at the end even though Lucas (who was supposedly good) pulled most of the needles. We then see that everyone is "fine", and then we see a cast roll in which all of the characters of the game, dead or alive, appear.

The Dragon is or was originally going to be Giygas
Simply stated, Giygas and Love are the two recurring themes of the Mother series. As evil, destructive, and devastating as Giygas is he's the being that implies even going beyond the Moral Event Horizon isn't completely permanent. That there is Moral Hawking Radiation, and in this series it is love. Love that burns Giygas in the first two games. The first two games revolved around the idea of a mother's love and it's impact on the adopted son, Giygas, as a side story.

The unused sprites may be pulled from random files, but the sprites of Giygas like beings exist. One golden and angelic. One with a large X scar like a lobotomy. Good, evil. A loving Giygas and the anthromorphing of the Earthbound Giygas who effectively removed part of himself to avoid "love".

My hypothesis is two fold. 1) Either Giygas was meant to have a big/stated role, but either time/theme change nipped that in the bud. 2) All the elements are still there, but it was decided not to expand upon it.

1) means the Dragon usurped Giygas' role entirely. 2) All of Nowhere Islands is a battle between the Giygas who loved Maria as a mother and the evil Giygas. The good and the dark dragon.
 * Going further, one could say that The Seven Needles & The Magypsies were created by all of the prayers made by Paula and everyone on Earth. I wouldn't be too surprised if

"Princess" Kumatora is a boy.
"She" was given to Magypsies to raise her. The Magypsies are a race of crossdressers. Who's to say Kumatora isn't just a boy in girlish clothes? As fair as I remember, there isn't any romance between her and any other characters.
 * Chances are, the people who decided to give her to the Magypsies wouldn't have made that mistake. And anyway, the Magypsies are all men who dress and act like women despite being obviously physically male; Kumatora is tough, and rough-spoken, and generally has the personality of a punk, despite her being a girl. (And I always sort of interpreted her outfit as being a rain slicker more than a dress, anyway.)
 * "Magypsies are all men"? Um, no they aren't. It's explicitly stated in-game (by Alec if I recall correctly) that they are neither man nor woman (despite their appearances). There's absolutely nothing in-game that says that they're just men who dress as women - you're just seeing something that isn't there.

Flint is Chuck Norris

 * But it's impossible! He died a couple of times in my playthrough! Are you suggesting that Chuck Norris could be defeated by a freakin' mouse?
 * He probably made himself less badass to keep the new world from being destroyed
 * Alternatively, once Flint reaches level 101, he will evolve into Chuck Norris. Then, at level 9001, Chuck Norris will evolve into his ultimate form, Wess.

Lucas is Shinji dreaming after End of Evangelion
One of the major themes of both endings of Neon Genesis Evangelion was the "fantasy within reality" (or reality within fantasy?) that fits the backstory of everybody in Tazmily. After everybody in the world was assimilated into one being (and subsequently separated again), they were given the choice of living in eternal bliss, or waking up and facing the real world. The residents of Tazmily shared a similar desire to create the Nowhere Islands as an ideal place to live out their lives, but it ended up slowly reflecting the psyches of their past selves. Lucas (Shinji), in particular, was able to create a loving father figure and rid the world of the Eldritch Abomination technology of 2015 that he was forced to use, but was unable to undo the psychological torment wrought by his mother's untimely death and the murder of Kaworu, who manifests himself as Claus. The Magypsies are seven of the Eva Series featured in End of Evangelion who are keeping EVA 01 sealed in the earth with seven copies of the Lance of Longinus. Asuka might be incarnated as Kumatora; Duster's identity is a mystery to this troper. Pokey is the manifestation of everything Shinji hated about himself. Eventually, the abominable technology of Tokyo-3 manifests itself after Pokey invades; souls of living creatures are once again used to power machines, though they are badly synchronized with each other this time around. PSI energy shares its roots with the AT field. When Lucas murders Claus again and pulls the final needle, EVA 01 is released, the Fourth Impact wipes out the Nowhere Islands, and everybody wakes up just in time for Shinji to break down right at the last few minutes of End of Evangelion.

Flint is Ness and Claus is Giygas
When Claus's heart joins with the dragon's along with Lucas's, the immense power surge may have messed him up further, and turning him into a godlike deity at the same time. While Lucas wished for all the good stuff, Claus may have wished to be able to be loved and have a family again, but his wish was corrupted by his unstable mind. He goes back in time as Giygas and is found by George and Maria, who become his parents, while he loses most vestiges of his past personality through Mother 1's plot, probably having absorbed part of Porky's personality due to the brainwashing, but still wishing deep in his mind to be reunited with his family again. As he's defeated in Mother 1, he carries on with Porky's wishes to rule/destroy the universe, eventually contacting with Ness-era Porky, effectively slowly turning him into what future Porky is like.

Ness, a boy from Onett capable of using PSI like Ninten, goes on to beat Giygas, but fails to defeat Porky, whom he gets the letter from in the end of Earthbound and chases after again. Porky, realizing the chase will never end and that he can't beat Ness and his friends, somehow brainwashes them, and in sadistic glee, throw them in the reality he plans to settle in so they can suffer when his plans come into being. Without Ness and the others to protect their original reality, Porky raids it and collects souvenirs from it.

Ness goes on in his new partly brainwashed self, and fathers Lucas and Claus. All of this insane babble would explain a few things such as:


 * In the final battle against Giygas in Earthbound, Giygas both wishes to be with Ness AND to destroy him. Claus wanted to join his family more then anything after Porky kidnapped and brainwashed him, and he was probably resentful of his father for not finding him and saving him, allowing him to get kidnapped and brainwashed, loving and hating Flint at the same time. Plus he was quite insane by the time he became the masked man, probably even worse later.


 * Pokey talks ,during the final battle against Giygas, about how he absorbed too much power and went completely insane, unable to control himself or grasp his original mind and shape again. The massive power surge of being united with the Dragon while being deranged by Pokey's brainwashing probably only worsened his condition and could most likely cause him to lose himself completely. This would explain the unused creepy backgrounds, which could have been originally used to represent Claus's complete corruption after the fight, joining up with the dragon.


 * As said above, Giygas lost his mind due to absorbing so much power and evil that he does not know who and what he is anymore. Claus went through this after being brainwashed, not being able to recognize himself until the fight with Lucas, when he died instead of being saved.


 * Giygas can also apparently travel through time at will without any technology. This makes this theory at least marginally possible, since if Claus really became Giygas after joining with the dragon, he would be able to travel way back in time by himself. Alternatively, Porky kept a Phase Distorter.


 * The reason to why he went back in time instead of just acting on the present is dubious at best though. Maybe he realized how corrupt he was after endgame events, saw that everyone was happy, and decided to seek solace in a place his insanity could not harm any of his family and friends? His plan backfired spectacularly if he did that though.


 * Flint is said to have the Franklin badge with him since he was a boy, plus, not much else is mentioned about his childhood.


 * Going even further, deep in Flint'/Ness's unconscious he may have realized the true nature of Giygas following the events in his new life, which may have partially awakened his lost memories, which would be translated in wandering for years in the mountains searching fervorously for Claus. Considering this theory, saving Claus would stop Giygas from ever existing, effectively saving both universes and causing Porky to never become the childish overlord of evil he is.


 * Claus words in his fight are very similar to Giygas during the final battle in Earthbound.


 * The "Pokey raid on Ness's universe" part can explain the original screenies for Mother 3, which included a devastated Onett.
 * That was New Pork City. You can see Fourside ruins there too, which suggests that originally New Pork City had a lot more replicas of past places.


 * Hey, lets not forget Itoi's original plot for Mother 3 was changed because it was way darker, and he felt it would be a bit too much. But enough WMG for me, my tinfoil hat is losing its shape.

Salsa is the Bubble Monkey
We can assume that Porky's forces went to Winters to take Dr. Andonuts, so it's entirely possible that the Bubble Monkey was taken. Salsa doesn't seem to have any original home on the Nowhere Islands, so it's likely that he was brought in from another time period by the Pigmasks.

The entire MOTHER series is in a Stable Time Loop

 * Please Elaborate
 * The events preceding Mother take place right after the needles have been pulled, so Porky (now calling himself Giygas/Giegue) has become very young. He needs a mother figure, and so latches on to Maria. Ninten and Company beat him at the end, and he leaves (still in his capsule) maybe to return later. His time away from everyone drives him insane, so when he returns to Earth, he's a very angry god with a lot of telepathic influence, presumably because his muscular atrophy would leave all parts of his brain used for motor functions up for grabs for other abilities. The next iteration of Porky finds him, and the finale of Earthbound happens, he is happy to see Ness because of his resemblance to Ninten of the current timeline, and because he recognizes his childhood friend from a full iteration of the timeline ago. Fast forward to the beginning of Mother 3. Giygas/Giegue has been defeated, but the new iteration of Porky has already set the events in motion to become Giygas/Giegue, by granting himself immunity to death by aging. Then he gets locked in the Incredibly Safe Capsule, but doesn't really realize the implications of what has happened until after the events of Mother. The Dragon restarts the world, and Porky notices that he has gotten younger, but can't understand what has happened, either because his mind has regressed or because he's just oblivious to it. He needs a mother figure. 30 goto 10.

Tessie is Hinawa's sister.
She acts rather motherly towards Claus and Lucas after, and they do look incredibly similar.

Lucas and The Masked Man sense each other when the other nears by,

 * Said  make them unable to act because they are too powerful, which in turn is influenced by their own power. That would explain why Lucas and The Masked Man are always staring at each other when they meet, and also explains Lucas' major Cutscene Incompetence at Tanetane Island. At that point, the Masked Man is getting stronger so he doesn't get affected, or it already happened to him aboard the ship. Why don't they

The "Mother" in the title is referring to Hinawa
Sorta out of Fridge Logic from my part. I was thinking about how usually the name of a series has something to do with what or who it is about. But the name "Mother" doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the game.

That's when it hit me.

Hinawa is Lucas and Claus' mother. She plays an important part in the story and the final boss. Likewise, the "Mother" part in the other games are possibly referring to Maria as she is Giegue/Giygas' "mother".


 * Okay, but how do you explain the first two games? Wait you explained the first one. How do you explain the second? It has nothing to do with Maria.
 * ...we see Ness's mother in the the second?
 * I like to think that it's meant to tie in with the themes of childhood and homesickness.
 * Ness's mother was the first to attack Giygas through the Pray command


 * Word of God says that "Mother" is a reference to a Beatles song that is a favorite of Itoi.
 * He also says that he used that title because he wanted the player to feel the same emotion playing the game as he did when he heard the song.

Flint is Ness' younger brother.
Bear with me, okay? In the first Mother game, there were two Franklin badges that both were given to Ninten. In the second game, Ness has one of the two. I'm assuming that Ninten is Ness' father and that PSI runs in the family. But my next theory is that Flint was born after Earthbound, and he got the other Franklin badge, which became the Courage Badge. Frankly, it's the only way to explain why he has a Franklin badge.

The Dark Dragon is actually the Pokémon Giratina.
Giratina was banish from the Pokemon world and found its way to the Nowhere Islands, where it caused chaos. To stop it, the Magypsy ancestors sealed Giratina away using the seven needles. Additionally, Giratina has the power to travel through dimensions/worlds, allowing the Pokemon to remake or destroy the world it is in, depending on the hearts of the people it has been exposed to. It would do this by transporting objects from one world to another and if the Pokemon was going to destroy it, everything would be cast into the Distortion World, including the Nowhere Islands.

The Dark Dragon was in all three games,
We all know his appearance and purpose in Mother 3. But what about the first two? In Earth Bound Zero, the dragon you fight is either a weaker form of the Dark Dragon or a dream version of him. In Earthbound, The Bags Of Dragonite are bags of ground up rocks powered by the Dark Dragon's energy for thousands of years, kind of like the way sedimentary and ingeous rocks slowly become metamorphic rocks in Real Life, hence their rarity,. It's also entirely possible that

Mother 3 is actually meant as a giant metaphor for mortality in John Donne's sense of the word
It's really not as absurd as it seems. There are two extremely obvious references to John Donne's Meditation 10. The first one is Leder, who rings the bell to remind the villagers about what happened to the previous world. There is also the island, which could be a direct reference to the part where Donne says "no man is an island". Note that Itoi normally never puts in a reference that is accidental and there are several plot points that are comparable to ones in the same meditation.

Flint was originally supposed to accompany you up the Empire Porky Building, instead of Duster.
Obviously, Itoi changed his mind because of: It's pretty obvious that Flint was going to join in chapters other than the first one, but I think he was going to join this one, too.
 * Flint can equip the Mystical Stick.
 * Flint gets to the top anyway.
 * The DCMC get to the top anyway, so maybe Duster was supposed to assist in beating up Pokey Bots.
 * The "Lucas's Nightmare" track that wasn't in the final game, sped up, is DCMC. This would be the sound of the DCMC playing in the concert room after you left to go up the elevator, since Porky never stopped the concert.
 * Inventory complications
 * Flint being severely underleveled
 * Needing a whole ton of Made-You-Looks to get the backsprites of the native enemies.

The recreated world becomes the world of Pokemon, and Porky is currently the CEO of Sylph Co.
Millennia after the world is recreated, the Absolutely Safe Capsule is discovered in an expedition funded by a fledgling Sylph Co. After extensive research, psychic pokemon were used to communicate with Porky, who over the course of a few months, worked out how to escape the capsule by teleporting him out of the capsule using a psychic pokemon.

Porky quickly rose near the top of the corporation after he used his intimate knowledge of the ASC and space-time altering technology to invent the modern pokeball. When the CEO of Sylph Co retired, Porky quietly filled his position. The current culture of forcibly capturing and battling pokemon is this latest attempt at destroying a world, a plot that contains his usual MO of animal abuse, consumerism, and subtle cultural transformation.

Porky also harbored the spirit of the destroyed Giygas. In an attempt to make a familiar vessel for Giygas to reclaim, Mewtwo was created. Giygas attempted to possess Mewtwos body, but was ultimately denied access due to his atrophied state. Without a vessel, but stable enough to exist outside of a body now, Giygas settled down in the waters east of Cinnabar Island for a while, but has since disappeared.
 * That actually sounds pretty plausible, since Giegue and Mewtwo look similar.

The Ultimate Chimera actually isn't so bad.
It is a playful and misunderstood creature at heart, albeit a bit clumsy and with an unfortunate appearance. Also, it absolutely loves greasy junk food. This is also the sole reason it chases you and the other guys in the Chimera Lab. Since you are dressed like Pigmasks, it rightfully assumes you are carrying Bags of Pork Chips with you (note how it is implied that Salsa freed the Chimera, yet there is no sign of it attacking him). It gleefully runs up to you to snatch the snack, but accidentally rips you to shreds while doing so.

The next time you meet the Ultimate Chimera, it has become a valuable member of society and applied for a job at the Empire Pork Building (note how there is no damage caused by the chimera anywhere). However, you run into it in the most unfortunate moment, while it is using the bathroom. Deeply embarrassed by that encounter (it blushes, but you can't see it because it's red) the Ultimate Chimera impulsively runs after you to talk to you about what just happened. When it catches up with you and starts apologizing, though, it involuntarily bites your head off (it's hard to not injure people when talking with such big and uncontrollable jaws).

So yeah, it's all just a big misunderstanding and you call the Ultimate Chimera a scary monster! You Bastard!

The doorknob is a metaphor for happiness.
Allow me to expand upon something that was mentioned somewhere above here. Shortly after the doorknob is accidentally pulled off the door, Flint goes through a Deus Angst Machina. And then it gets worse for Tazmily Village. Later, in the third and eighth chapters, respectively, the main character finds the doorknob, but loses it almost immediately afterwards. It is interesting to note that both main characters that you are in control of at those times are major woobies. The appearance of the doorknob at the end of the cast roll represents the fact that there is finally happiness in the world.

This game is a "sequel" to WALL-E, unofficially.
The backstory of Mother 3 involves the end of the world occurring, and only a small amount of humans and animals are able to survive by taking a "white ship" to the Nowhere Islands, which is still habitable due to a magical dragon slumbering beneath it. The white ship is, of course, the Axiom (this means that not ALL humans made it to the cruise and some were sadly left behind), and the reason that humanity spends 700 years there without finding out that Earth is still habitable is because they don't send a probe to the Nowhere Island until Wall-E gives EVE the plant. Wall-E had already been living on the Nowhere Island, which could explain why he is presumably the only Wall-E left active. Anyway, after the humans come back to Earth, their memories are erased because of their wish to not harm the Earth anymore with technology, the robots all find some place separate from humans to live, and the society of the Nowhere Islands and Tazmily village as seen in Mother 3 is set up, and within a few generations, people learn how to stay in shape.

When Lucas .
It's the only explanation for everybody talking casually to Lucas, and the final picture in the credits showing

Isshu is the world of Mother 3 reborn.
"(from a legend in B/W) "Reshiram and Zekrom were originally one Pokemon. Twin heroes formed a new country together with the dragon where humans and Pokemon could live together. But one day the brothers began to fight over the direction that the country should move in. The dragon began to fight along with them, and its body split in two, Reshiram siding with the older brother and Zekrom with the younger. The two dragons would battle each other until Isshu was destroyed, so they were put to sleep.""


 * That first dragon was the dark dragon after reforming the world and resseructing all those who had died in vain. Claus, wanted the country to be more military oriented, and Lucas want the country to stay peaceful, the Chimeras and animals were changed into the pokemon we know today by the Dark dragon.
 * If you look closely in the area of the Forest Shrine in Mother 3 where someone asks for your name, you'll notice a black dragon and a white dragon pictured on the wall, circling each other. Hmmm...
 * Looks like the Dark Dragon did one heck of a lazy job rebuilding, there's still chimeras roaming loose in Isshu...

The Courage Badge is what happens when the Franklin Badge gets hit by lightning one too many times
It's black in the pictures after all

All the enemies with the song Fate reference humanity's paths to immortality
Note: zombie dog, cyborg mole, and an Energy Being

The planet Captain Olimar lands on in Pikmin is the same one that was "destroyed" in Mother 3.
Moved this from "Grand Unifying Guesses" since only two games are involved. Get ready for a Wall of Text.

Let's start from the beginning. In Mother 3, Porky corrupts the Nowhere Islands and creates a capitalist dictatorship (monarchy?) metropolis for giggles, and screws around with genetic engineering to create biological (see page image/quote) and mechanical chimeras. At some point, the needles are pulled, and the Dragon destroys the entire world in a fiery apocalypse.

...Or does it?

Seeing how deliberately ambiguous the ending is about the fate of the people of Nowhere, it's even more ambiguous as to what happened to the planet that was "destroyed" (though it's obvious that at the very least, the landscape was annihilated). Let's say for the purpose of this theory that the characters have all either a) died and are conversing in the afterlife at the end of the game, or b) been rescued by the Dragon/another "White Ship" to start anew on yet another world/planet/plane of existence/whatever.

So what's left of the wreckage? Perhaps some ruins, some inconsequential artifacts, and some creatures with cockroach-like endurance. Nature makes do with what's left, and a whole new ecosystem forms from the wreckage. New species evolve, and everything is more or less in a state of balance- albeit with undertones of what havoc that Porky has wreaked on nature.

Now let's look at some defining factors of Pikmin. Many have speculated that, due to the familiar human artifacts but foreign animals, Pikmin takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth. (See the Pikmin WMG page for more details, I don't want to waste too much time on that.) Among these strange creatures are bizarre fusions of existing species (Snagrets, Skitterleaves, the Pikmin themselves) and even cyborg-like things that should have no reason to exist in nature (Man-At-Legs, the Gatling Groink). What's more, when these creatures are killed (and this is what lead me to actually think at length about this), you see the big pink ghostly thing in this image (my apologies, this was the best picture I could find). If this image looks familiar, that's probably because it is.

Of course, maybe I'm just pondering too much about the fact that Mother 3 and Pikmin both have bird-snake enemies.

The world wasn't destroyed..
Well, not all of it. In fact, there wasn't an apocalypse at all.

Porky committed some serious crimes in Earthbound and is probably wanted by the national law enforcement agency in Eagleland. The only problem is that he's in the future on a distant island. So what do they do? Turn said island into a trap.

They took a nuclear warhead, miles of cable, and some sort of power source to convert Nowhere Island into a doomsday device. Of course, they needed a way to stop it from being detonated prematurely. So they took seven crystals and started a rumor about the world ending soon...

Porky is Bi.
That's why he has an Oxgen machine.

Lucas' family name is Locke
Flint and Hinawa's names have a common theme, guns. The flintlocke and matchlocke guns, respectively.