Part 28: Battle Against the Masked Man
Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make their way through a long passageway deep underground. Porky has been neutralized, and there is only one person left who can stop them.
The Masked Man is found kneeling in front of the seventh Needle, about to pull it. He feels a psychic sensation as Lucas walks up behind him. Without saying a word, he turns around, takes out his sword, and attacks the team with an immensely powerful lightning strike. Kumatora, Duster, and Boney are knocked out, but Lucas remains unscathed, thanks to his Franklin Badge. The lightning is reflected back at the Masked Man, and he fights Lucas, one-on-one.
Here is a refresher on how battles in this game work: you have a turn, and the enemy has a turn. Each turn, you can choose to attack the enemy, heal yourself, or defend against the enemy’s next attack. When you get hurt, your Health Points (HP) are slowly reduced. To keep your HP from reaching 0, you can heal yourself. Even if you take mortal damage, you can heal yourself back to perfect condition. You will need to keep that in mind for this battle.
It may be long, but I urge you to watch this video to the end, without skipping any part of it:
Lucas tries to fight back, but he can’t get himself to hurt his twin brother. The Masked Man relentlessly attacks Lucas, shooting him with blast after blast from his arm cannon. The only thing Lucas can do is endure the pain; he will never hurt Claus. After shooting Lucas multiple times, enough to completely deplete his HP if he doesn’t heal himself, the Masked Man tries PK Love Ω. This is his strongest attack, which is enough to kill Lucas twice over.
The song that plays as the Masked Man fights Lucas is an anxiety attack audiated. You can barely call it a song; it’s more of a track of sounds than anything. You can hear a heart poignantly pounding against Lucas’s chest. A sharp drone slowly rises in pitch, as a synth plays in frightening staccato. Suddenly, an electric guitar aggressively comes in with powerful drums! As suddenly as they appear, they disappear as a gong is smashed. The bass comes in, tensely playing the same note, occasionally jumping with Lucas’s heart.
Disturbing noises are played, such as strong gusts of wind and sirens. It may not be intentional, but the sirens remind me of the soundtrack that played when Ness went out to investigate the meteor in EarthBound. This marked the beginning of Giygas’s conquest, and The Battle Against the Masked Man is where it is now. More probable, though, is that the sirens represent those of ambulances, which play when death is imminent.
A piano plays a threatening chord, before fading away. The bass beats along in isolation for a short moment. Then, another piano plays a tune that falls down and tries to come back up. It does this multiple times, rising in pitch each time. The rising drone makes a reappearance, as the piano continues its disorienting melody. Drums start to kick in along with additional percussion, making way for the electric guitar to jump back in; Lucas’s life flashing before his eyes. A scary synthetic noise plays. The melody of the Mother 3 Love Theme feebly goes along. This is the toughest thing Lucas has ever done in his life.
“Lucas…”
Lucas hears his name being called, as the beginning of Sunflowers and Illusions plays. The Masked Man is indifferent. He persists his assault on Lucas.
“Claus…”
Hinawa calls for the Masked Man, but he hears nothing. He releases several more blasts, as Lucas grips tightly onto his life.
“Claus… Stop this… You aren’t Porky’s robot. You’re our son!”
The background becomes hazy. The Masked Man hears something, and looks around. But he sees nothing and continues his onslaught. Claus readies PK Love Ω and sends a mighty attack towards Lucas. Flint rushes in to take the blow, suffering major harm. “Claus… please remember… I’ve been looking for you for so long…” The Masked Man stares into Flint’s soul, and he uses PK Love Ω again, crippling Flint. This is no longer Claus. The Masked Man returns to fighting Lucas, who endures a weaker form of PK Love.
“Claus… You and Lucas are brothers!”
The Masked Man has no response, but the background of the fight in-game becomes less consonant. He resumes his rampage on Lucas.
“Can you hear me? You’re Claus. Your name is Claus! You’re our son!”
The Masked Man still has not stopped.
“Please… Remember! Lucas… Claus…!”
The screen takes us to Flint and Hinawa’s home, just as it did in the Sunflower Fields, except this time, two infants are in beds.
“To think we would be blessed with two children at once…”
“I bet they’ll accomplish things together that they couldn’t alone.”
“I’m sure they’ll argue a lot, too.”
“And I can see them helping each other out when they need it.”
“Claus…”
“… and Lucas.”
“I bet we’ll mix them up a lot until they get bigger…”
“Claus…”
“…and Lucas, huh…”
“How do you want them to grow up to be?”
“To be kind, just like you.”
“Oh, I was going to say… to be kind, just like YOU.”
“Great. Then it’s decided.”
“Claus.”
“Lucas.”
“Make us proud.”
We are taken back to the fight. Lucas isn’t sure what to do anymore. The Masked Man’s attacks are now ten times weaker than they were before. The Masked Man gazes at Lucas. The Masked Man covers his ears. He shuts his eyes. Lucas wants to cry. The Masked Man takes another look at Lucas.
The song that plays at this moment portrays a pivotal moment in the fight; the Masked Man is beginning to question why he’s even hurting his brother. It starts as a washed out and slower version of the Love Theme, symbolizing his return to humanity. The synth that’s used represents the will to fight that he is losing. The second time the melody plays, the instrument is clearer. The third time it plays, a music box, the instrument of intimacy, is the only one being played. Lucas’s brother has been found.
“Claus… Claus… Claus… Come to your mother. You must be so exhausted. Come here, Claus.”
The Masked Man looks around again; he knows Hinawa is calling for him. The Masked Man removes his mask. His face looks just like Lucas’s. It is Claus.
Claus, his armor removed, takes out his lightning sword and strikes Lucas’s Franklin Badge. Claus suffers mortal damage. He staggers toward Lucas and embraces him. Lucas still remembers Claus’s scent.
The battle is over.
“I’m sorry it turned out like this. I’m really happy you could be with me just before the end… Thanks. Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I’m going to where Mom is now. Lucas. I hope we meet again someday. Bye. Thank you. I’m sorry. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
Claus gives his final breath in Lucas’s arms.
Flint says,
“Lucas… Thank you. Claus was just hasty, that’s all. You’ll forgive your hasty brother, won’t you? …Alright. This is it. The time has come for you to pull the Dragon’s last Needle. Are you ready?”
If you say no, he responds,
“You’ve made it here. You’ve made it this far. You’ll be alright. Believe in yourself, and pull that final Needle. Nothing needs to be sealed away anymore. Let’s make the Dark Dragon sealed underground our new friend. Pass your heart on to the Dragon! Pray to it from the bottom of your heart. Ask it to protect all life in this world. Me, and everyone else… We all believe in you. So now you need to believe in yourself. Now go. The Dragon is waiting to wake up.”
The fight with the Masked Man is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of all video games, and among the strongest in fiction. The line that hit me hardest was, “Claus. Lucas. Make us proud.” The scene where you’re taken back to the family’s home really rubs it in your face how much Flint’s life was derailed after the arrival of the Pigmasks. He and Hinawa had such great hopes for their newborn children. Instead, Claus was forced to be Porky’s slave, his life preserved just so he can grant Porky’s malicious wishes. Lucas had to live in Porky’s world, fighting for his life just to put things back to normal. This was not what they had in mind for their children; perhaps they would help Flint with the sheep or do chores for Hinawa. Instead, Claus and Lucas were smothered by the darkness of evil.
In one sense, though, Flint and Hinawa can’t be any prouder of how their children turned out. By the end of the video, Claus defied his Chimeric engineering and found his humanity again. Even though he was forcefully indoctrinated into the Pigmask army for such a long time, The Masked Man never completely forgot who Claus was. Lucas was confronted by the face of evil countless times, tempted, attacked, and tormented. Yet, he refused to give in, and grew in character with every challenge. Now, his heart is entrusted with the fate of the world.
In the moment, though, you probably weren’t thinking that when they said “make us proud.” This is where the game tries hardest to pull at your heartstrings. Itoi really, really wanted you to feel bad for what happened to Claus and Lucas. In fact, the whole basis of Mother 3 was that it would tragically end with two twin brothers fighting. However, I do think this scene leaned too heavily on the emotional side than the philosophical side when Claus committed suicide. Just when Flint rediscovers his missing son, just when Lucas saved his brother, he kills himself out of remorse. Flint says that it was done out of hastiness, asking Lucas to forgive Claus. Personally, I think that’s a rather sour note to end Lucas’s story; it was a message that promoted strength in the face of adversity, and it ended with his brother giving up. It could be interpreted that Claus’s fate is meant for you to compare with Lucas’s, but I believe Itoi went too far in the prospect of making the scene as emotional as possible. It’s more probable that this part was intended to upset the player, like I was. Is it a noble pursuit in art to make something for the purpose of offending the viewer? That’s for you to decide.
Philosophy aside, everything in the entire game led to this moment, including the battle system itself. The fact that the Masked Man faces toward the camera makes it feel so much more personal. The background dissolved as Claus returned to his humanity and began to feel more. Additionally, the background itself was identical to that from when Ness fought the Mani Mani statue, a tool used by Giygas to further the spread of evil. Was that not what Claus was to Porky? However mechanical the Masked Man had become, though, he was not a statue. Though he may only be able to move because Porky roboticized him, his soul remained. Nothing can replace the soul, and deep down, Porky had to have known that, as Claus was the only one other than Lucas who could pull the Needles.
I think the use of “video game language” was really interesting here. During the battle, the narration only spoke in factual truths, immune to the emotions the player may be feeling. When Claus committed suicide, the game only said, “Claus fired an intense bolt of lightning! Lucas’s Franklin Badge reflected the lightning back! Claus took mortal damage!” It was said unemotionally, rather than being overly descriptive like this analysis. Why is it that way, though? That’s how the battle narration went throughout the whole game; it just bluntly stated the facts, and nothing more. This is something that can only work in a video game. Itoi wanted to tell a story, and Video Game Language was the form in which he wanted to tell it. Even though the battle narration in-game was so dry, it still tore at your heart, didn’t it? This is the biggest example of how Mother 3 gets its emotions from the essence of the situation rather than the portrayal of it.
This concludes part 28 of the analysis. In part 29, we will watch as Lucas pulls the final Needle and awakens the Dark Dragon.