Mother 3
| |
| Mother 3 | |
| Developer | Brownie Brown HAL Laboratory |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platforms | Game Boy Advance, Wii U |
| Released | Game Boy Advance Japan: April 20, 2006 Wii U (Virtual Console) Japan: December 17, 2015 Nintendo Switch (Nintendo Switch Online) Japan: February 21, 2024 |
| Added to Museum |
GBA: January 10, 2020 Fan translation: May 30, 2024 |
Mother 3 was created by Shigesato Itoi, and was co-developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory. It is the third game in Nintendo's EarthBound series.
It was only released in Japan on Game Boy Advance in 2006, and was re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2015.
Development
Shigesato Itoi began developing Mother 3 on the Super Famicom in 1994.
Inspired by Super Mario 64, the team switched the development of the game to the Nintendo 64 in 1996 to create a 3D game world.
Their plans surpassed the technical restrictions of the console, so they scaled back the scope of the game and changed the platform to the Nintendo 64DD magnetic disk drive peripheral for the Nintendo 64.
After the commercial failure of the Nintendo 64DD when it was released in Japan in 1999, development of the game switched back to the Nintendo 64. A demo of Mother 3 for the Nintendo 64 was showcased at the 1999 Nintendo Space World trade show. The game was also announced to be coming to North America under the title Earthbound 64, and it was also announced that it would be released on a 256-megabit cartridge, similar to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
In August 2000, Shigesato Itoi announced that the game was canceled, following numerous delays, as resources at Nintendo had shifted to the development of the GameCube, the successor of the Nintendo 64.
In 2003, in a Japanese commercial for the Mother 1+2 compilation cartridge for Game Boy Advance, it was announced that development of Mother 3 had been restarted, this time targeting the Game Boy Advance. While the graphics shifted from 3D to 2D, the game's core story had not been altered. Mother 3 was finally published in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in 2006.
Versions of the game
Mother 3 was released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in 2006. It was then released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2015.
Fan translation
It was never released outside of Japan, however, a fan translation of the game in English was released on by fans from the Earthbound fansite Starmen.net, led by Clyde Mandelin, with the latest release occurring on November 5, 2023.
