During today's Nintendo Direct stream, the developer revealed that Mother 3 is coming to the Wii U Virtual Console in December. However, they didn't show that on the Direct presentation you were probably watching, this announcement happened during the simultaneous Japanese version. The news was then reiterated on the Nintendo's Japanese Twitter account.
Mother 3, a follow-up to Earthbound, is a cult classic Japanese RPG that was never released outside of Japan. Both because of the enduring popularity of Earthbound and through a terrific fan translation of Mother 3 from the team at Fobby, the franchise's fanbase has continued to grow well after the initial release.
NE: "EarthBound fans got lots of news in 2024, but a Mother 3 localization wasn't part of it. We talk whether it's possible with pros and cons."
Pro: More people getting to experience a game they weren't able to before.
Con: Hearing either Lucas or Ness yell "PK fire" ever again.
IGN writes: Mother 3 is one of the most hotly-desired RPGs ever, having never received an official translation in North America despite the cult popularity of its predecessor, Earthbound. But over all these years, series creator Shigesato Itoi has never weighed in on the discussion - at least until now."
A translated version of this game on Switch Online would be nice, and it would add a lot value to the Expansion Pak service.
I would love to see an Earthbound game just redone with 3D-ish models and characters. Just having a remaster for Switch Online would be awesome!
Did you ever see the Earthbound 64 concept/materials? That actually looked really good, but I'd also take a HD-2D remake as well.
Nintendo seems very whimsical about what they give they're fans, sometimes they'll give them a bone (e.g. Mario RPG, Thousand Year Door for the Switch), and other times, they just give them little to nothing (agh, the Zelda anniversary).
When you consider the cost of gaming back then and even now, no excuses when costs are involved.
From VGC: "Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has cautioned fans not to expect further releases in the Earthbound series in the near future.
Mother – or Earthbound, as it’s known in the West – saw its third instalment released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan over 15 years ago, but despite persistent requests from fan groups it has never received an official English release.
The Earthbound series received renewed attention in February after Nintendo announced that both Earthbound and its predecessor Earthbound Beginnings (aka Mother) would be added to Switch Online’s SNES and NES apps."
He would happily suggest buying a NFT of Ness though. Thank God he is a semi-retired mouthpiece.
Earthbound was one of my favorite rpg on Snes. I habe never played mother 3 to be honest but I would like to. Why not a west release for that game?
Lol!