2016 marks the 10th anniversary of Mother 3 – known to gamers in the west as “Earthbound” – Lately, there have been a lot of rumors online, including some started by people from within Nintendo which indicate that we MAY be getting an official English release of the game now a decade after it’s original release in Japan.
Even if the rumors prove false, you can play Mother 3 in English already right now today. You can always purchase the Japanese cart and patch it with the free 100% completed English fan translation which you can get here. If you need help on where to buy the cart for the game, check out Play-Asia who specializes in Japanese import games. There’s also some available that are already “pre-patched” which saves you the trouble of patching it yourself on sites like ebay and amazon here for about $25
But let’s hope that the rumors are true since this is what fans really want from Nintendo, an “official” translation. In fact, the creator of the fan-translation patch has offered his full translation to Nintendo for absolutely free. Though this was years ago now. However, stranger things have happened, Nintendo of America decided to bring out Mother 1 (rebranded as Earthbound Beginnings) just last year which sold better than expected and is much older than Mother 3. And with the success of the re-release of Earthbound on Wii U, it seems quite profitable (and plausible) for Nintendo to give fans what they want.
If you’ve never played an Earthbound (or Mother) game, they are very similar to Undertale with lots of customization and freedom, such as specifying your favorite food, favorite color, etc which all get used throughout various parts of the game, as well as a cute, quirky feeling but also very deep and moving story. The charm of the 2nd game, known as Earthbound to western audiences, made it a cult classic among Super Nintendo owners, and it definitely differentiated itself from any other 90s RPG in a very good way.
You can check out a gameplay trailer of Mother 3 to show off the fan translation patch in the video below:
Check out some of the sources below to read more about the Mother 3 Rumors Online:
http://gamerant.com/mother-3-nintendo-114/
http://dorkshelf.com/2016/02/04/mother-3-could-finally-be-coming-to-north-america/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-02-04-mother-3-will-finally-get-western-release-report
http://kotaku.com/the-mother-3-rumors-are-getting-intense-1757072418
http://www.toonzone.net/2016/02/were-not-telling-you-mother-3-is-being-released-in-english/
