At this point, it looks like Mother 3 will never come out in the US. First released for the Game Boy Advance as a Japanese exclusive in 2006, the third game in the Mother series has since gained a worldwide cult following. It seems like a game perfectly suited for the US video game market: it draws heavily from the American cowboy mythos, and has a universal, if not easily translated, sense of punny, cartoonish humor. But despite consistent player demand, Mother 3 has still never had an official release outside of Japan.
For some, this is old news. The fight for Mother 3 has been raging on for decades, and many have long since given up. However, new information provided by the series’ creator suggests that Nintendo had the opportunity to publish Mother 3 in the US, but declined, and that the moment to do so has since passed. Here’s everything to know about the sad, strange history of Mother 3.
According to an interview in the new documentary Earthbound, USA, series creator Shigesato Itoi no longer has any interest in bringing Mother 3 to the US. If a Mother 3 localization was unlikely before, it’s even more so without the creator involved. While he believes it’d be great for US fans to get a chance to play it, he goes on to say that once he’s done with a project, he’s truly done. And after almost two decades of hubbub over Mother 3, how much more done can a person really get?
Itoi also acknowledges the existence of a fan-made English translation for Mother 3. The fan translation is still available for free online, but requires a copy of the original game to be played. According to Itoi, however, that almost wasn’t the case. He’s understandably vague about this, implying that Nintendo once had the chance to work with fans to create a Mother 3 translation, but wound up turning it down. Itoi says he may have been interested in the project then, but not now - the window for an official release of the fan translation, even in a modified form, seems to have closed.
Mother 3 is the third game in the Mother/EarthBound series, following multiple separate, but intertwined stories all set off by the invasion of the evil Pigmask Army. The most central story follows Lucas, a young boy who gets separated from his brother Claus during the initial attack. It deals with conflicts between the natural and the unnatural, greed, grief, cruelty, and love. It’s at once shockingly funny, profoundly sad, and undeniably charming. It has an excellent, eclectic soundtrack, and a unique mechanic in which characters can land extra hits in battle by attacking on beat. So why has Mother 3 never been released outside Japan?
2023-12-03 20:00:05
Article from screenrant.com
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