Mother 3 Finished After 11 Years

reidman writes "The unusual Japanese RPG Mother 2 (later released as "EarthBound" stateside) was a huge success in Japan. Hints about the development of the game's sequel were everywhere (even in the game itself). Originally developed for the ill-fated 64DD, the sequel was downgraded, delayed, and eventually cancelled. The fans, however, were too obsessed to let it be - and the game was quietly picked up again. Earlier this month an official announcement was finally made - the obsessive pursuit of the fans has made Mother 3 a reality (in Japan, at least) - it will be released on April 20, 2006 for the GBA! Now to get it translated..."

What are the chances...

[Gr33nNight]

I dont see much hope in NOA bringing this state-side. Mother 1+2 has been on the GBA in Japan for a long time, with no word on bringing that here to America. They took a chance with Fire Emblem, take a chance with Mother Nintendo. I own the SNES version and it was excellent.

Re:What are the chances...

[shoptroll]

My hope is to see Mother 1+2 released in anticipation of Mother 3, like it was done in Japan (although they released it in Japan to coincide with the annoucnement of Mother 3's continued development on the GBA... which in hindsight really jumped the gun to some degree). They already have a good translation for Mother 2 (although I wouldn't object to loosening up the 90's era self-censoring enforced by NOA), they really only need to tidy up Mother 1 if the prototype NES cart dump that has floated around the net has anything to show for itself. Not really in terms of readibility, but there really needs to be some work done to liven up the script.

Translation...

[saboola]

If not officially translated, it has a large enough fanbase to where an unoffical translation may take place. Much like the 1997 fanmade translation of Final Fantasy 5 [wikipedia.org] for the Super Famicom. I for one seriously hope it does get an official translation.

Re:Translation...

[aleatory_story]

With sites like Starmen.net still active with a strong community, it's very likely that there will be an unofficial translation. I just hope it's a good one; if it's got a lot of quirky humor like Mother 2, I imagine a lot of that is difficult to translate over and still convey the same meaning. I'd imagine a lot of the text was changed drastically in the Mother 2 official translation from the Japanese version to the English version, but I could be wrong.

Re:*ahem*

[reidman]

Sorry about that - Starmen.Net turned on some anti-hotlinking measures between when this was submitted and when it was accepted. Here is the screenshot:

http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/9960/scplanning meeting5ui.gif [imageshack.us]

Sweet...

[mikeisme77]

Earthbound is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. While gameplay-wise it may not be that innovative, the quirkiness of the story and the characters made a unique and memorable experience. Since RPGs (to me) are more about the story and characters any way, this is definitely on my list of must haves... Too bad it'll probably be quite a wait before the translated version.

----
Mr. Saturn

There's some hope!

[chrismcdirty]

That must mean that Duke Nukem Forever can't be too far off!

Re:There's some hope!

[conteXXt]

You beat me to the punch.

But only because I was checking their website to be sure first.

Re:There's some hope!

[slysithesuperspy]

Bah, I've been upgrading my computer for 7 years for duke forever, now i'll have to buy a GBA!

Re:There's some hope!

[Nin10dude]

Actually, Mother 3 was in development longer that Duke Nukem Forever has been in development. I know, it's weird. o_o

Awesome!

[Eightyford]

Here's to hoping that this game comes with scratch and sniff goodness again. Who could forget Nessie, Zombie Flypaper, and Newage Retro Hippy? I skipped class so often in middle school to play Earthbound...

In other news...

[bluemeep]

There is a God.

Seriously though, I think this is another case of showing that fans actually have impact. Us English speaking ones may have to rely on translation efforts rather than an official release, but they made it.

Parking meters! And you're walking around!

[Captain Spam]

Call me cynical, but after eleven years and endless delays and a cancellation, I'm not going to be happy until I've got a copy of it (yes, I mean a US copy) sitting cheerfully in my GBA, waiting to be played. Granted, I WILL be significantly happy once that DOES happen, but still...

I will say, though, that Earthbound remains one of my all-time favorite RPGs. Nintendo's localization crew has a LOT to live up to from that once they start translating Mother 3.

Re:Parking meters! And you're walking around!

[Xerxus]

The localization team did a pretty good job with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario 2. If they retained that level of quality, I will be damn glad.

'Mother' -- the computer from Alien returns!

[Anonymous Coward]

'Mother'!?!? -- the Japanese already built HAL (http://sanlab.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/HAL/indexE.html [tsukuba.ac.jp]), and now they're working on that damndable computer from Alien too!?

I'm waiting it out

[PopCulture]

for Mother 4... it's gonna be AWESOME.

Re:I'm waiting it out

[Lucre Lucifer]

I'll be sure to check up on you around 2040.

Wow they finally released it!

[twilightzero]

What's the world coming to?? Diakatana got released, Mother 3 got released...what's next, Duke Nukem Forever? My god, it'll rip a hole in the space-time continuum!

Re:Wow they finally released it!

[simcop2387]

I think you mean it'll take a hole int he space-time continuum to bring about the release of DNF

So now Earthbound is a cult hit stateside?

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Isn't this the game that had US RPG fans fuming back when it came out, because it was translated and shipped over in place of one of the FF games?

Platform manufacturer?

[sharkey]

Originally developed for the ill-fated 64DD

It was Playboy, right?

On Mother 3...

[slib]

I have been anticipating this game since it was announced a decade ago, but I find it strange that instead of porting it to the DS, whose hardware much more closely matches that of the 64DD, they instead opted to make what I'm assuming to be an entirely original version for the GBA. According to what I've read, they already had developed most of the game - also, a lot of the gameplay was based around the added hardware the 64DD provided (such as the internal clock, the increased RAM, and the larger cartridg