- "Tonda Gossa... Thanks, guys..."
- — Duster
Duster (ダスター Dasutā) is a character in Mother 3. A thief who sets out on adventures of his own first introduced in Chapter 1, he later becomes a main character in Chapter 2. Duster joins Lucas at the end of Chapter 4 after being in the DCMC for three years as their bassist (where he was called Lucky); it is also shown that he learned to play the double bass cello after being picked up by DCMC after the event in Chapter 3 when Duster "goes missing" from Kumatora and Wess for three years. He is separated at the end of Chapter 5, and returns permanently during Chapter 7, though in the final battle he is somewhat useless due to the fact that the Masked Man uses a move that K.O.s the entire team except for Lucas. He usually uses shoes as his primary weapon, along with a number of Thief Tools that weaken or distract foes.
While having a leg that he is always seen to limp with, Duster continues to have excellent speed. Not only is he the second-fastest party member after Boney, but he can sometimes "Attack with blinding speed!" to attack the enemy before the start of the battle or jump behind an enemy, which flips the entire party behind the enemy and gives the party a turn to attack before the enemy can. He can also unleash a reverse kick on an enemy that has attacked the party from behind before the enemy takes their turn. Wess alludes to an incident in his past in which he blames himself for paralyzing Duster's left leg. The limp is recognizable regardless of what he is wearing, such as when he is in the guise of a Pigmask. However, he has no difficulty running, kicking, and moving on staircases, so his leg might not be completely immobile. Due to the way he holds his hip to give his leg extra support, he may just be paralyzed from the ankle down, which would make it awkward for Duster to walk but not reduce the effectiveness of kicking with the leg in mention with a good shoe on.
In Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Duster appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker. Attaching this sticker to the bottom of Ness or Lucas's trophies in The Subspace Emissary increases the power of their leg-based attacks by four.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Duster appears as a primary spirit in the new Spirits mode. He is an attack type, novice spirit with one support slot. He ironically has the ability to increase foot attacks. His Spirit Battle represents him as an orange Luigi that prefers kicks on a foggy Battlefield Pac-Land stage representing Osohe Castle.
Trivia
Duster's earlier render for Earthbound 64.
- Duster's earlier render for Earthbound 64 had blond hair and black clothing with a white bag and a green hat. In his later render, he had a blue hat and shirt, red shorts, a brown bag, and brown hair.
- Duster is the only character who can get his "Mystical" weapon before Chapter 7.
- In Osohe Castle, running into the statue holding the steel ball from the right side will cause the steel ball to fall and hit Duster, killing him instantly.
- If the player chooses to name Duster 'Lucky' at the start of the game, his name as part of the DCMC will be Gorgeous instead.
A screenshot of a Pyramid and Duster's second render for Earthbound 64.
- On the note of Duster's limping leg, director Shigesato Itoi explains, "I figure that because there are handicapped people in our world, they would also be part of the world of Mother 3. After all, there's no way that any two people have the same physique or even the same personality. Just like with the Magypsies, I included Duster so we could have someone with bad breath, a disabled leg, and living as a thief. The Mother 3 world is all about having friends like them. Perhaps you could call them symbols of not rejecting such people."[1]
- There exist remnants in Mother 3's game code that suggest that Duster may at one point have been planned to appear as an enemy. Some theories suggest he was supposed to act like Teddy who, when defeated, joins the party. Also noticeable are DCMC members in the internal enemy list, indicating that they may have been meant to be fought in a boss battle instead of Stone-Sheet-Clippers to get Duster back.
- Due to a glitch, Duster's next 'tune' when performing a combo isn't randomized like the other characters. It's always 0, so it always plays the same tune. The bug was later fixed in version 1.2 of Mother 3's fan translation.
- Duster's age was never stated, but various in game clues suggest that he is at least in his mid-twenties. He is as tall as Flint, he has facial hair, his father Wess is somewhat old, and when a Pigmask reported him to Fassad he suggested that he was drunk.
- Duster appears to be something of a twist on the party member archetype established by Lloyd and continued with Jeff. Much like Lloyd and Jeff, Duster is unable to use PSI, and compensates with a variety of item-based abilities instead.
- Duster's possible names when he was in DCMC, "Lucky" or "Gorgeous," are a reference to the Runaway Five, as two of the members are named Lucky and Gorgeous.
