Lucas (Mother 3)

Lucas
EarthBound series character
Lucas, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl promotional artwork.
First game	Mother 3 (2006)
Created by	Shigesato Itoi
Voiced by	Lani Minella (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) (2008)

Lucas (リュカ, Ryuka) is a fictional character in the EarthBound series of role-playing games published by Nintendo and created by Japanese video game designer Shigesato Itoi. The character serves as the main playable protagonist of Mother 3, the third and last game in the series.

Lucas is depicted as a young boy with blonde hair who resides in the fictional Tazmily Village located on the Nowhere Islands. His family consists of parents Flint and Hinawa, his twin brother Claus, and his dog Boney. In Mother 3, Lucas develops psychic abilities referred to as PSI, which he uses in order to battle the Pigmask Army, forces led by antagonist Porky Minch that take control of the village and islands.

Lucas appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl where is voiced by Lani Minella.

Creation and conception

Lucas was created by EarthBound series creator Shigesato Itoi. Lucas and his twin brother Claus are based and named after the twin characters from Agota Kristof's novel The Notebook.^[1] Though Lucas is one of the six "main" playable characters featured in Mother 3, Itoi has stated that Lucas is the most important.^[2]

Characteristics

He has blonde hair, a red and yellow striped shirt, and is capable of using PSI, a magical ability found in other games in the series.^{[citation needed]} He is characterized as a crybaby during the first few chapters, but matures once the game reaches Chapter 4 and after he aides in fighting the Pigmask Army.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances

In Mother 3

Mother 3 is the only title that Lucas stars in. The game begins with Lucas and his brother Claus as prepubescent children, visiting their grandfather with their mother, Hinawa. Upon leaving, it switches perspectives to his father, Flint. During the first chapter, Hinawa and Claus are killed, owing their deaths to a mechanized Drago, a normally gentle creature. The game's perspective switches between other main characters at this point.^{[citation needed]} He later gets over his crybaby nature when he assists four allies, namely Duster, Kumatora, Salsa, and Wess, against the Pigmask Army, becoming the main character for the remainder of the game. As Lucas and Boney reunite with Duster and Kumatora, the four of them battle the Pigmask Army and attempt to pull all seven needles, which will revive a Dark Dragon resting under the islands. He must race with a mysterious person called The Masked Man to do so.

In other media

Lucas was featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a newcomer playable character.^[3] He has unique physical moves, while his special moves are based on Ness', the protagonist of Mother 3's predecessor.^[3] He was originally going to replace Ness in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but due to the delays and eventual cancellation of EarthBound 64, Masahiro Sakurai decided to keep Ness.^[4] There was debate whether Lucas would replace Ness in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or if they would be playable together due to the similarity in their movesets^[5] and the fact that he was going to replace him in Super Smash Bros. Melee.^[4] Ness was eventually confirmed to be playable as well.^[6] He received multiple trophies and a sticker.^[7][8]

Reception

In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 19th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games, stating he is not "brave, or strong, or courageous" in the beginnig but Lucas "grows into an incredibly strong-willed protagonist capable of standing up to foes others simply don't have the capability of defeating."^[9] UGO Networks remarked that he is "cool" because "he may look cutesy, but Lucas actually possesses a powerful array of psychic abilities."^[10] Before he was revealed as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, IGN editor Lucas Thomas commented that he hoped that Lucas would be included.^[11] Jeff Gerstmann commented that "it's sort of hard to be excited for Ness or Lucas, both from the Mother series that hasn't been seen in the US since the SNES days."^[12] Gay Gamer editor Asterick attributed his increase in excitement over Super Smash Bros. Brawl.^[13] Amongst the characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Joystiq editor David Hinkle called Lucas "one of their favourite characters to hate" due to his moveset, owing to what they describe seems to be an annoying shield technique.^[14] Similary, Thomas East from Official Nintendo Magazine ranked him fourth on his list of "Smash Bros characters who need to be dropped for Wii U and 3DS", explaining the reason he is the list is because he is too similar to Ness. East also pointed the fact that he is from "from an obscure game" as other motif to it.^[15]

References

v t e EarthBound video game series Titles Mother EarthBound Mother 3 EarthBound 64 characters Characters Giygas Ness Mr. Saturn Lucas People Shigesato Itoi Keiichi Suzuki Hirokazu Tanaka Nobuyuki Inoue Related articles Music of the series A Kappa's Trail Super Smash Bros. series Book:EarthBound series