Part 16: Storming Thunder Tower
After having their fix of sights, smells, and sounds from the Dur-T-Café, Lucas and company continue their chase after the dump truck (remember, time only passes when you do certain things – just imagine the truck was parked that whole time or something). Inside a tunnel, there’s a secret passageway that leads to a peculiar place. A ‘bad dude’ named Leo-Leo is hanging out, admiring all his presents that girls had given him. In Mother 3, various items such as food or gear are scattered around the world for you to pick up, in the form of neatly-wrapped presents. But since these are Leo-Leo’s presents, you can’t have them. I love it when games mess with the player like this. If you keep pestering him, however, he will let you have one of his presents. No matter which one you pick, it will be a knit sweater with the name “Leo-Leo” on it.
After another detour, you finally catch up with the dump truck, which deposits the Clayman into a pit. But before you can see if the egg is still there, another abandoned Clayman comes to life and attacks!
After the Junk Heap gets scrapped, Duster investigates the other Clayman, finding the Egg of Light! Duster’s memories come flooding back to him.
“Now I see. I really am Duster. I’m Duster. Guys! I’m Duster! I remember now! I really am Duster! Yahoooo! I finally have my memory back!”
It seems like this egg has the power to regain forgotten memories.
Right after that, a Pigmask stops to ask what the Commander is doing in a landfill. He gets everyone out of the pit and takes them to Thunder Tower, showing off his sick Pork Bean driving skills. He tells Lucas to go to the generator room as soon as possible.
Once you ride up an elevator, the first Pigmask you see says, “Hey, you guys! You’re suspicious! You’re here to destroy Thunder Tower, aren’t you?! …That’s what I’d say if any suspicious people snuck inside. So, as you can see, security here is alright.” Either Lucas’s costume is really convincing, or the Pigmasks are really stupid. Inside the tower are some weird Chimeras. They look like a beaver’s head with two robot legs and a protruding brain encased in glass. If you stare at it for long enough, it will become affectionate towards you. If you battle any other enemies, though, it will join in on the fight against you. It’s called a “Whatever.” I don’t like looking at it.
In another room, you find a catfish swimming around in a tank. One Pigmask says Thunder Tower will lose power without it – they’re using nature to sustain the unnatural. The catfish currently aren’t creating enough power, and it’s causing the generator to malfunction. Another Pigmask mentions Fassad is on his way to the facility.
You go through the room where lightning strikes are assigned and programmed. One Pigmask says,
“Yeah, I went to that Tazmily place for the first time the other day. And then, well… I’m not quite sure how to put it, but… charred? People who disobeyed all had their houses charred. We’re doing terrible things here, aren’t we?”
The entire Thunder Tower exists to strike fear into the citizens of Tazmily, but this worker is only beginning to find that out. By the way he puts it, Tazmily isn’t even all that familiar to him. All of these Pigmasks are being used to work to advance the evil schemes of their boss, and none of them think too hard about it. When ‘people’ and ‘places’ are only labeled as ‘things,’ striking them with lightning becomes as naïve as stomping a bug. To these workers, this is all just a day’s job. But to Tazmily, it is terror.
In the next room, Pigmasks are trying to scare the catfish into producing electricity by making funny faces at them. One mentions that the output has been really low as of late, so this is their last resort.
On the next floor, you have to get through the office of their boss, who is a massive DCMC fan. He recognizes Lucas’s crew from when they wrecked on the highway, saying that they only got the best of him because he was wearing his ordinary clothes. He would be an incredibly difficult boss, if only he wasn’t so obsessed with DCMC pamphlets.
After effortlessly defeating the Fierce Pork Trooper for the second time, you hear a “Nwehehehehe!” from somewhere. Fassad approaches Lucas, saying that his disguise won’t fool him. Fassad dealt with much pain and woe after being attacked by Lucas’s Drago – now it’s time to pay in full. As Fassad gives his speech, the gang runs up a ladder to escape. Fassad eats a banana, throws the peel on the ground, looks at the camera, and gives another evil laugh.
Since their disguises are busted, everyone takes them off.
As they run up some stairs and go up another ladder, they encounter a room that looks like this:
Where are we? This is some sort of playroom for a toddler; what’s it doing near the top of Thunder Tower? You can find all sorts of presents and toys lying around. The jukebox will say, “Hello, how are you today, Your Highness? I can select a nice song for you, if you’d like. Would you like to listen to something?” It will then proceed to play songs from EarthBound’s (Mother 2’s) soundtrack. On the other side of the room, there is a robot maid named “Li’l Miss Marshmallow,” who says this is Master King P’s room. The king of the Pigmask army, the one who combines animals into abominations, the one behind all the turmoil in Tazmily, is entertained by teddy bears and balloons? There is also a yo-yo encased in glass. If you even want to take a look at it, Li’l Miss Marshmallow will say, “If you take Master King P’s very precious ‘Friend’s Yo-Yo’ I will be mad. Mad mad! Very mad mad mad mad!!!!!” and initiate a fight with you, most likely defeating you. Who is this friend of King P’s, and why is his yo-yo so special? If you are doing well in the fight, she will activate her “Ultra Ticked-Off System,” becoming drastically stronger. If you do defeat her, she explodes, and you can equip the Friend’s Yo-Yo as a weapon.
After that odd room, you continue climbing your way up Thunder Tower, getting ever closer to the generator. When you reach it, you hear the following: “Suspicious individuals detected inside the generator room! Activating defense system! Repeat! Activating defense system! All personnel, it would be nice if you’d evacuate immediately!” Mr. Genetor, the robot defense system, emerges out of the generator to fight you.
After destroying Mr. Genator, and in turn, Thunder Tower itself, Fassad catches up to everyone. Lucas and his team run up to the very top of the tower, as that’s their only way to escape. Fassad takes another look at the camera, eats a banana, and throws the peel on the ground. Watch what happens next:
Fassad follows Lucas, Duster, Kumatora, and Boney to the very top of Thunder Tower. There is nowhere left to run. Fassad laments that if only Lucas had only accepted a Happy Box, his life would have never been in danger. Fassad eats his third banana in the span of ten minutes as he communicates with the Pigmasks. He begins to detonate Thunder Tower, which will destroy everything in it and everyone standing on top of it. It’s a little much, but the King loves spectacle. Fassad scoffs at our heroes one last time, as he gets ready to climb aboard an airship to safety. The tower rumbles, and Fassad slips on his own peel, falling off the enormous tower. Duster hijacks the ship meant for Fassad with the help of his Rope Snake. However, the snake can’t hold on to the ladder forever. A masked man with the same outfit Lucas had on watches them as they fall from the sky.
Text then scrolls up the screen, summarizing Chapter 5:
“Moving puppets, made from clumps of earth.
A tower that can fire thunderbolts on demand.
An extensive highway system.
Ships that fly through the sky.
The enemy that Lucas and his companions must stand up against has grown to such an enormous scale.
Do they even stand a chance against this vile and powerful nemesis?
No, common sense must be ignored in a situation like this.
Even if there is only a one-in-a-billion chance of victory, that means there is also a one-in-a-billion opportunity of turning the tables completely.
Will Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster be separated once again?
Or will they work together again to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way?
From the flying ship, a masked man looks down upon Lucas and friends, his profile still very youthful…
The tale now moves to its next chapter, with an almost certain promise of battles far more intense than ever before…”
What will happen to Lucas and friends as they fall from the Mother Porkship? Will they still be able to fight against evil? We will find out later.
This concludes part 16 of the analysis.