The EarthBound universe, known as the Mother universe ( マザー Mazā) in Japan, refers to the Super Smash Flash series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's obscure cult-classic Super Nintendo game EarthBound, which itself was the second game in a three-game Japanese RPG series titled Mother 2 and is the game starring Ness. The series was created by Shigesato Itoi for Nintendo. The franchise's symbol is the Earth, a recurring theme in the EarthBound series.