What is the Mother Encyclopedia?

The Mother Encyclopedia (MOTHER百科), full title Wonder Life Special: MOTHER Encyclopedia, was published by Shogakukan in October 1989, produced by Ape Inc. as the first of its official guidebook collaborations with Nintendo and Shogakukan. It runs 170 pages and was reprinted in 2003 to accompany Mother 1+2.

Its structure shows what it is for. Character biographies come first, then map and guide chapters, then complete item and PSI listings, then a section of essays and studies of the game world, and finally the cast and bestiary. Woven through it are real-world photographs grounding the game's America, and a fold-out English-language newspaper, the Mother's Day Times, printed as if from inside the fiction.

The book's lasting value is exclusive content. Much of what is known about Ninten, Ana, Lloyd and Teddy, their daily lives, families and favorites, exists only in these pages, material Itoi could not fit into an 8-bit cartridge. Fan knowledge of Mother's world quietly descends from this book more than from the game itself.

For collectors it is the keystone of the Mother print shelf: the 1989 original anchors the era, the 2003 reprint is the easier copy to find, and no English edition of either has ever been made.