PK Yomega

Ness for best Mother series protagonist.

 Mother 1, eh?

Aside from Giygas/Giegue/Gyiyg being the final boss of both Mother 1 and Mother 2, Mother 1 has absolutely no plot bearing on the rest of the series (some Mother 1 enemies show up in Mother 3, but they're all insignificant)

Gameplay-wise, Mother 1 is essentially just Dragon Quest/Warrior with a modern setting. There's no rolling HP/PP bars like in 2 and 3, and battles are random encounters instead of the now-standard Mother tradition of every enemy existing on the overworld prior to battle. It's also really hard.

I can't really say I swing either way when it comes to recommending the first game.