Ninten

"Well, now that the Earth's crisis is finally over, I think I'll just lay down for a moment and Zzzzzzzzz"

— Ninten Ninten (にんてん) is a character in Mother. He is a boy from the suburbs of Mother's Day, and is the older brother of Minny and Mimmy. He usually uses common-place items such as baseball bats as his primary weapon, along with boomerangs and slingshots. Ninten is the only character in the Mother series to suffer from asthma during battle. This is similar to Ness's homesick status effect in that it is unique to their characters only. Unlike his counterparts Ness and Lucas, Ninten has yet to appear as a character in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Biography
Ninten lives in a small house north of Mother's Day with his mother and father (although the latter is rarely at home, and does not appear in the house in-game), and his two twin sisters. Ninten's adventure begins when a phenomenon causes houshold objects to attack in his home. After the event is ended by the slaying of a possessed doll, Ninten begins to investigate the origin of these strange phenomena, which are also occuring in the rest of the world. The cause is later revealed to be the evil influence of Giygas.

Like most protagonists of early Nintendo games, Ninten is generally a silent character, having no speaking roles beyond "yes" or "no" responses, with the exception of a speech he gives at the end of the game. In-battle, he can deal damage using his primary weapon, usually a bat, and learn to use various PSI abilities. As the game progresses, Ninten and Ana develop feelings for each other, which culminates in a scene in which the two dance in a cottage on Holy Loly Mountain. In the English prototype and Mother 1 + 2, it is implied that the two maintain a relationship after the events of the game as the final cutscenes show Ana recieving a letter from Ninten.

Ninten is asthmatic and is the only character in the series who is. When his asthma is out of control, he is not able to fight, making his condition similar to Ness's homesickness. Ninten's exclusive ability is 4th-D Slip, which lets himself and his party escape almost any battle. Ninten's favorite food is Prime Ribs, and his favorite animal is the penguin.

PSI Abilities
Throughout Mother, Ninten can learn a variety of different PSI ablities. Among the Assist abilities are 4th-D Slip, DefenseDown, DefenseUp, Hypnosis, OffenseUp, PowerShield, PSI Shield and QuickUp. Among the Other abilities are Telepathy and Teleport. Finally, among the Recover abilities are Healing and LifeUp. Ninten is the only Mother protagonist that doesn't know any offensive PSI. However, it is interesting to note that in the commercial for Mother, Ninten and Ana are seen casting the offensive PSI, PK Beam to destroy a robot resembling R•7038XX. According to the commercial, Ninten is capable of casting PK Beam when Ana is casting it with him.

Etymology
Ninten's name is derived from the name Nintendo (only without the "do"), the company that published and developed the Mother series. The name 'Ninten' was used by Nintendo as a placeholder name in guides and suchlike for many games in the 1990's. Among the other generic titles the characters received in the instruction manual, Ninten himself was referred to as 'Boku', Japanese for "Me", to show the player was meant to name him. Screenshots and player's guides used "Ninten" as the main character's name, and it has since been adopted as his official name. In the Japanese Mother novel adaptation, however, he was called Ken.