The latest Nintendo Direct let down the fans as Mother 3 wasn’t confirmed for an English localization once again.
A few days ago, Nintendo held a showcase for their upcoming games as well as third-party and old titles coming to Nintendo Switch. While it was well-received, one point of the Direct made lots of fans quite sad. One of the most beloved RPG games exclusive to Nintendo consoles, Mother 3, was coming to Nintendo Switch. Before talking about Mother, known as Earthbound in America and Europe, we have to take a look at its past.
Mother is the first RPG to tackle routine life cycles more than any other RPG game at the time. Released in 1989 for Nintendo Entertainment System, the story was about a little boy and his three friends defending the Earth from extra-terrestrial beings trying to conquer the human race. A little boy and his friends trying to save humankind might sound off for an RPG, but it was a very big hit in Japan and the second game was ported overseas, titled Earthbound. The first game was released in Japan and Europe while the sequel was released in Japan and the EU.
Since both of the first games have English localizations, they are easy to market to different regions through Nintendo’s online services. However, the third game, Mother 3, has been only exclusive to the Japanese region. You can find fan-made translations of the game online for emulators, but people really want to experience an authentic version of Mother 3 in English rather than the fan-made translations and going through the hassle of emulators.
This is not the first time fans of the series outside of Japan got the bad news though since it was released all the way back in 2006, Mother 3 has been in this back-and-forth movement where it is expected to be localized, but some deliberate choice made by Nintendo is not allowing it to be translated. Considering the fan-made translation has no language or culture barriers attached to it. Though some implications of questionable behavior, such as suicide or gender roles being heavily stereotyped, could be the main reason why.
Being fed up with Nintendo’s persistent decision, people on X- formerly known as Twitter- started posting about Mother 3 and wanting a full release outside the Japan. Since we don’t live in the early 2000s, people can talk about their problems regarding a game by reaching the creator of it. The series’s creator, Shigesatoi Itoi, was bombarded with requests for Mother 3 to be available in the EU and US, but fans were met with another blockage.
Mr. Itoi suggested fans talk to Nintendo directly about the matter as he had no power to choose which region the game should be released for. Unfortunately, Nintendo is known for its not-so-friendly approach to requests made by players, so it is unlikely that a huge hoard of Mother fans asking for localization will be unheard of, just like in the past twenty years. Mother fans are already on the edge thanks to a canceled Nintendo 64 title in the past. Just like people who really like the F-Zero franchise and never get a new title for it, Mother fans also share the same faith as them.
