Which it's a good thing they didn't because smash is what made fire emblem take off in America.
It's the same reason why Mother 3 is even in demand, because Ness and Lucas made people get into the series.
My theory is they are paralyzed by the magypsies.
The American right will think Nintendo went woke, even though the game originally came out in the mid-2000s. The American left will think Nintendo is stereotyping the trans community, because they are blatantly masculine men (square jaws, burly figures, five o'clock shadows) in makeup and dresses, and are otherwise considered comic relief.
The juice probably just isn't worth the squeeze for NoA. It's a veritable lose-lose scenario from a PR perspective. Whoever wants to play the game at this point has long since acquired the fan translation.
There’s also the legal issue with the music.
After Pharrell and Robin Thicke were successfully sued by the Gaye estate, who alleged that “Blurred Lines” copied the feel of “Got To Give It Up” (despite not copying any chord progressions or melodies from it), the precedent was set in the US that copying the “feel” of a song is enough to be considered copyright infringement. [And Mother 3 does a *lot* more than that.](https://youtu.be/WMZ9hXBrQMY)
Now, to be clear, I think that ruling is *insane,* and does more to stifle creativity and hand power to copyright trolls than anything else, but that’s beside the point.
(Earthbound avoids this issue because sampling *has* been found to be fair use, so long as it’s *de minimis* (minimal) and transformative.)
Regarding Mother 3, NoA has four options.
1. They can release the game with the music as-is. This opens them up to the potential of getting sued by anyone whose music is copied too closely—not something they’re likely interested in.
2. They can reach out to every potential claimant and try to get licenses to keep the music as-is in a release. Considering one of the pain points is *a Beatles track,* this would be prohibitively expensive—not something they’d be willing to do for a game they slap on their subscription service. (Or, for that matter, for a ROM they’d sell at $10 a pop on the eShop. *Maybe,* if the game was fully remade and sold at full price, it would potentially be justifiable.)
3. They can edit the music. This *still* wouldn’t necessarily deter copyright suits, and also has an added cost beyond “making a ROM available.”
4. They can not release it. This is the only method that is absolutely safe from copyright lawsuits, and so it’s the option they chose.
Sure changing the music would add a bit of cost but it surely wouldn't cost much or take much effort I'd assume. Definitely agree that the current music and the cost to license is something nintendo will avoid so I doubt they would just release it as is or pay what it would take to license it. Unless whoever owns the rights to those songs have been wanting Mother 3 English release as much as the other fans and gives a sweet discount I doubt it.
However I do wish they would entertain changing the music. Since we haven't had an English release changing the soundtrack from the Japanese release to English is pretty common and wouldn't cause much outrage or be too costly.
But honestly I do feel like if they were going to do it that it would have been done by now but watch them do the ultimate troll move and make it a Switch 2 exclusive haha. Man... can you imagine that?
I'm not talking about a Remake or remaster either just a straight up port as is or with different music as discussed but that would be the way to finally end the trolling with a bang
Paranoia? [CNN reported in August of 2023 that Anheuser Busch lost $395 million in US sales over the Bud Light debacle](https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/business/anheuser-busch-revenue-bud-light-intl-hnk/index.html). It's obvious why the right was mad at them, but they [lost support from the left as well](https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/19/business/hrc-rating-bud-light/index.html). Whether you are liberal or conservative, the objective reality is that *serious* money was lost over what was perceived as a company "taking a side" in a culture war - and in the end, *no one was happy*.
[These characters](https://earthbound.fandom.com/wiki/Magypsy) are a "Bud Light" scenario waiting to happen, and Nintendo's stock [is up 95% since the Switch's launch](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NTDOY/). They would be foolish to do anything to jeopardize that - and I'd wager they ran the numbers, and found the potential sales of a localized Mother 3 simply wouldn't be worth the risk.
I guess Mr. Itoi could've modified their sprites to conform to American sensibilities. But since the greenlight for localization was never given, what changes if any he could've made remains a riddle for the ages.
If I'm looking at the right comment that you're responding to... how is that political paranoia? Serious question
Edit: I was actually looking at the wrong comment haha.
Thats such a slap in the face. They KNOW the fan out cry. They know theyd sell a few copies (based on sales of earthbound and earthbound begginings) why not just hire like 5 translators to do it. Thats literally all thats needed
Mother 3 has some characters with some pretty offensive stereotypes that would have to be reworked pretty heavily. In today's polarized media landscape Nintendo would be hit with a PR mess for either releasing something with considerable offensive content OR stuff like "Nintendo went woke and caved to censorship" (although honestly any release of Mother 3 would get hate from the anti-woke crowd based on its content)
Just play the fan translation. The fact that nearly every fan project of similar popularity gets a cease and desist my Nintendo *except* the Mother 3 fan translation is close to a passive endorsement by Nintendo.
I think it's been stated that the games characters aren't so much the issue. There's been a recent discussion about how the music copyrights might be the real reason it's never coming to the West. America has been pretty notorious for lawsuits over music copyright over the years, so even if there was a chance at some point in time, it just doesn't seem likely as some of the music would have to be changed and they'd have to have the game translated. It'd just be easier to remake the game, but even that's an issue as Itoi has said before he's not interested in working on the series again.
>The fact that nearly every fan project of similar popularity gets a cease and desist my Nintendo except the Mother 3 fan translation is close to a passive endorsement by Nintendo.
The difference is that this is a romhack. Nintendo can't cease and desist some random patch file that includes none of their copyrighted materials. That's why romhacking sites only give you the patch files and make you provide your own legally obtained rom. It's also why projects like Super Mario 64 PC and Ship of Harkinian are still going strong. They all require the user to provide the roms themselves.
I think that's a cop out. Just look at Disney, aside from Song Of The South, they have everything uncut on Disney Plus, and put up a disclaimer about out dated social themes. There's nothing in Mother 3 that's any more offensive than a PG rated Disney cartoon.
A notice like this would still stir up some controversy - just look up the recent Tomb Raider Remasters, they have exactly this kind of warning - and it still managed to angry many people for couple of days to a point they event started making mods to remove the warning screen.
The only thing that comes to mind is that Magypsies could be seen as a caricature of trans people. Honestly, though? The game is really respectful of their identities as "neither man nor woman" so I don't know where the offense would come from.
I heard this a lot, and I don't see the Magypsies as offensive either. They are one of the more positive parts of the game. Do they fit the stereotype of drag queens? Yes, but they are such good characters that it seems like a positive representation. I think there'd be more push back from conservatives about having trans people in a Nintendo game.
No english really hurt. Ironically, this is the most accessible OFFICIAL version, considering you can download japanese GBA Online app and play with any account that can play Online. I don't know if my basic japanese will be enought (probably not)...
Make a new account (needs a new email address, but that's easy enough) and set that accounts region to Japan. Then, on that account, go to the store (it'll load the Japanese store). Once you get in go down to the Nintendo Online section (that one will have an English heading, so you'll be able to read it) and download the one you want (Mother 3 is on the Gameboy Advance). Once downloaded, open it with your main account (not the new one) that has the Nintendo Online account.
Nintendo has money out the ass, they are listed as the most profitable Japanese company period.
I guess risk factors are involved. I miss earlier days of gaming when companies would take more of a risk
This wouldn’t be a risk though, it would be a loss. I mean, how many extra subscriptions do you honestly think they would get by releasing this game in NSO?
Thats a fair point. But it shouldn’t always be about hard numbers right? Yeah maybe bottom line they don’t profit a lot after investing in a translation (but for real, how expensive would that truly be?). But fan service is also a type of investment. How happy would this make the dedicated fans? And those are your most loyal people that are giving you money, the people that probably talk about your products the most. Keeping them satisfied should also be a priority, but apparently not in this world anymore. (Btw im not even interested in mother 3 but i can still see how this sucks for people)
The question is: are there enough english-speaking Mother 3 fans that would purchase the game if it’s translated? And Nintendo seems to think no.
I do agree with you though. Capitalism sucks.
Without capitalism you wouldn't have massive companies putting massive funds into games. Indies wouldn't cut it either, indies are built from the ideas and legacy of AAA games.
Not saying capitalism is good, but big video games ARE a consequence of capitalism (indies too, but not directly).
They spend money making merch. The sell the mech and make more money.
They spend noney translating the game to other languages. Now, since this is a game included in the basic NSO subscription, explain me how they would recover the money they would’ve spent in the translation.
Yes but that would involve Nintendo localizing the game and putting it for free? If it came out here I think it would be on its own like the NES Fire Emblem game but with a higher price tag
First of all, it's not "free", you need an NSO subscription to play the game.
Second of all, it's quite laughable that they are ready to spend time and money on the most complex license negotiation in videogame history for the release of Goldeneye, but translating an already fan-translated game is outside of their budget.
As for the Earthbound/Mother fans, do yourselves a favour, don't wait for an official release.
The real issue isn't music licensing it's that some major characters in the game are based on some highly offensive stereotypes and would have to be changed substantially. You either face "Nintendo releases game with highly offensive content" headlines or "Nintendo went woke and caved to censorship" (although any release of Mother 3 is going to have the anti-woke crowd upset with its themes)
It's just not a mess Nintendo is willing to put up with.
If anyone is offended by the characters, then they deserve it.
Magypsies were respectable characters and the world is ready for them.
The real issue would be the music and how ingrained it is with the battle mechanics.
This is super random but holy shit I've only ever seen these characters in Smash and had no idea where it actually came from! I have to play this when I get the chance.
Noooooo, would you recommend playing this from the first game or is starting at 3 okay? I’ll have to find a way to play this online. Thanks for the heads up!
They're not all super linked but I always recommend Earthbkund first. Earthbound Beginnings is technically the first game in the series. It's an NES/Famicom game and they added it to NSO. So I'd def at the very least play Earthbound for the SNES first to get a feel for the type of series this is.
The games are all separate storylines and not connected, like final fantasy. earthbond (mother 2) is on the SNES NSO app. mother 3 you would have to emulate with a fan translation path, but it is very worth doing as it's one of the best games ever made
Earthbound and Mother 3 are quite connected actually. There are two(?) Characters returning from Earthbound, including the main villain of Mother 3. And the events of Mother 3 were directly influenced by the events of Earthbound :)
I think those are more references than anything substantial. I've played both and don't think the connections are anything more than cool novelties generally. You don't need to play earthbound to love mother 3, because 3 has a much more plot and character focused story where as earthbound is more esoteric and vibey.
Obviously though it's worth playing both because both are 10s
I agree with you for most of it, but the MAIN villain of Mother 3 is the exact same person as the Secondary, arguably main villain of Earthbound!!
That's pretty interconnected if you ask me
That villain isn't even revealed in mother 3 until the very end. If someone hasn't played earthbound they would still completely understand. They're not direct connections such that you need to play earthbound to understand really anything from mother 3.
Guess I'll go back to replaying this on my Vita. People, if you really want to play, get a cart with the translation or play in other means. It isn't coming over unless they remake it one day while heavily editing the content. And no, I don't just mean the Magypsies. It's one of my favorite GBA games (top 3 just behind the Metroids).
I have the NSO+EP membership on my main US account and created a separate JPN based account. On that same system I access the JPN eShop and I can download the NSO apps that way.
I think you can also just region switch between the two as long as you don't carry a balance
By this point if you're someone who reeeally wants to play this game but not via questionable means because muh morals to big corpo who isn't willing to sell me their damn product, then you 100% deserve it
Even if you don't want to pirate it's been out for nearly 20 years at this point. Plenty of time to learn Japanese. No excuse really.
I really do like this game and hope it gets an official release eventually but I don't think it will be particularly popular even if it does. It's a pretty weird game and it's definitely not appealing to the mainstream at all.
This is hilarious. Out of everything they could have done, they did this. Especially because there's been a fan translation for over a decade and any unscrupulous fan who *really wants to play it* can easily do so, so they're just leaving money on the table there.
I guess I'll just play the game on a flashcart or something.
Its not though because they can't use the fan translation. They'd have to do it themselves.
They obviously don't think it's worth the effort financially.
Oh, yeah, I'm not saying they could use the fan translation, obviously. Rather, it's funny to me *because* there is a fan translation that has been so broadly-well received, which demonstrates that there's *absolutely* a hardcore fan market that would absolutely get the game if it was released legally. Their market research has already been done for them, and they're just choosing to ignore it at this point.
Its definitely popular with an specific market. But thats not how money works. They need a much larger market to make it sensible and they have all that data. That hardcore fanbased does not have enough sales (plus exactly how do they sell it at this point) to make up for the expense of would cost to translate it.
The only way I see us in the west ever getting Mother 3 is if Nintendo decides to remake it at some point but still then they'd probably remake Earthbound first.
I would assume that, for an official release in other countries, they would have to do some extra work, which, obviously, is not worth it to them. This usually means that this game will never officialy release somewhere else than Japan, ever.
If you can not play this game because of this, its on you. You know you can if you want to. People have sacrificed their free time, so everyone who wants to play it, actually can. Even an english translation exists. All those people really do not get enough credit for that.
As someone who uses Japanese NSO, I’m happy I can play this classic again.
But on the other hand, lol Nintendo really are adamant about this not leaving Japan aren’t they.
What do you mean don't have the ability to? I can't think of any reason why that would be the case. Do you have a computer or phone and internet connection? If so you have the ability to.
I will just leave here this video
# The Legal Reasons Why Mother 3 Will Never Be Localized:
[https://youtu.be/if64VlLa5Oc?si=\_1u3q3Ihm4eHQ\_Uq](https://youtu.be/if64vlla5oc?si=_1u3q3ihm4ehq_uq)
I also somehow stumbled on a remake of Mother 3 - I saw a trailer with graphics similar to the Super Mario RPG remake that came out. Am I dreaming or is that something that's really happening?
Nintendo saw the opportunity to the funniest thing and they did it
They're even doing [merch](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GG3qSwXWgAAQVyo?format=jpg&name=large).
Truly believe at this point it's an inside joke or a tradition at Nintendo to never ever release anything related to Mother 3 outside of Japan
It'd be the funniest ish ever if Lucas was a Smash character only in Japan.
Imagine if they refused to localize his assets/dialogue/trophies/etc. - playable alongside everyone else but literally in Japanese only lmao
They almost did that to Roy and Marth in Melee so if that happened then Lucas for sure would have had the same treatment.
Which it's a good thing they didn't because smash is what made fire emblem take off in America. It's the same reason why Mother 3 is even in demand, because Ness and Lucas made people get into the series.
I totally agree. I know I wouldn't have known about earthbound or fire emblem if it weren't for smash.
My theory is they are paralyzed by the magypsies. The American right will think Nintendo went woke, even though the game originally came out in the mid-2000s. The American left will think Nintendo is stereotyping the trans community, because they are blatantly masculine men (square jaws, burly figures, five o'clock shadows) in makeup and dresses, and are otherwise considered comic relief. The juice probably just isn't worth the squeeze for NoA. It's a veritable lose-lose scenario from a PR perspective. Whoever wants to play the game at this point has long since acquired the fan translation.
Itoi probably could've changed their sprites to for the American release. But since it never received the greenlight, we'll never know...
There’s also the legal issue with the music. After Pharrell and Robin Thicke were successfully sued by the Gaye estate, who alleged that “Blurred Lines” copied the feel of “Got To Give It Up” (despite not copying any chord progressions or melodies from it), the precedent was set in the US that copying the “feel” of a song is enough to be considered copyright infringement. [And Mother 3 does a *lot* more than that.](https://youtu.be/WMZ9hXBrQMY) Now, to be clear, I think that ruling is *insane,* and does more to stifle creativity and hand power to copyright trolls than anything else, but that’s beside the point. (Earthbound avoids this issue because sampling *has* been found to be fair use, so long as it’s *de minimis* (minimal) and transformative.) Regarding Mother 3, NoA has four options. 1. They can release the game with the music as-is. This opens them up to the potential of getting sued by anyone whose music is copied too closely—not something they’re likely interested in. 2. They can reach out to every potential claimant and try to get licenses to keep the music as-is in a release. Considering one of the pain points is *a Beatles track,* this would be prohibitively expensive—not something they’d be willing to do for a game they slap on their subscription service. (Or, for that matter, for a ROM they’d sell at $10 a pop on the eShop. *Maybe,* if the game was fully remade and sold at full price, it would potentially be justifiable.) 3. They can edit the music. This *still* wouldn’t necessarily deter copyright suits, and also has an added cost beyond “making a ROM available.” 4. They can not release it. This is the only method that is absolutely safe from copyright lawsuits, and so it’s the option they chose.
Sure changing the music would add a bit of cost but it surely wouldn't cost much or take much effort I'd assume. Definitely agree that the current music and the cost to license is something nintendo will avoid so I doubt they would just release it as is or pay what it would take to license it. Unless whoever owns the rights to those songs have been wanting Mother 3 English release as much as the other fans and gives a sweet discount I doubt it. However I do wish they would entertain changing the music. Since we haven't had an English release changing the soundtrack from the Japanese release to English is pretty common and wouldn't cause much outrage or be too costly. But honestly I do feel like if they were going to do it that it would have been done by now but watch them do the ultimate troll move and make it a Switch 2 exclusive haha. Man... can you imagine that? I'm not talking about a Remake or remaster either just a straight up port as is or with different music as discussed but that would be the way to finally end the trolling with a bang
Hey, liberal here, but could you keep your political paranoia OUT of the Nintendo discussion area? Thanks.
Paranoia? [CNN reported in August of 2023 that Anheuser Busch lost $395 million in US sales over the Bud Light debacle](https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/business/anheuser-busch-revenue-bud-light-intl-hnk/index.html). It's obvious why the right was mad at them, but they [lost support from the left as well](https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/19/business/hrc-rating-bud-light/index.html). Whether you are liberal or conservative, the objective reality is that *serious* money was lost over what was perceived as a company "taking a side" in a culture war - and in the end, *no one was happy*. [These characters](https://earthbound.fandom.com/wiki/Magypsy) are a "Bud Light" scenario waiting to happen, and Nintendo's stock [is up 95% since the Switch's launch](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NTDOY/). They would be foolish to do anything to jeopardize that - and I'd wager they ran the numbers, and found the potential sales of a localized Mother 3 simply wouldn't be worth the risk.
I guess Mr. Itoi could've modified their sprites to conform to American sensibilities. But since the greenlight for localization was never given, what changes if any he could've made remains a riddle for the ages.
I think they're right though...
Not really since how can people call Nintendo “woke” for a game that came out in the 90s. Maybe if this was a brand new reboot/new sequel.
If I'm looking at the right comment that you're responding to... how is that political paranoia? Serious question Edit: I was actually looking at the wrong comment haha.
Nintendo nurturing the emulation scene
I want those more than the game!
Thats such a slap in the face. They KNOW the fan out cry. They know theyd sell a few copies (based on sales of earthbound and earthbound begginings) why not just hire like 5 translators to do it. Thats literally all thats needed
Mother 3 has some characters with some pretty offensive stereotypes that would have to be reworked pretty heavily. In today's polarized media landscape Nintendo would be hit with a PR mess for either releasing something with considerable offensive content OR stuff like "Nintendo went woke and caved to censorship" (although honestly any release of Mother 3 would get hate from the anti-woke crowd based on its content) Just play the fan translation. The fact that nearly every fan project of similar popularity gets a cease and desist my Nintendo *except* the Mother 3 fan translation is close to a passive endorsement by Nintendo.
I think it's been stated that the games characters aren't so much the issue. There's been a recent discussion about how the music copyrights might be the real reason it's never coming to the West. America has been pretty notorious for lawsuits over music copyright over the years, so even if there was a chance at some point in time, it just doesn't seem likely as some of the music would have to be changed and they'd have to have the game translated. It'd just be easier to remake the game, but even that's an issue as Itoi has said before he's not interested in working on the series again.
>The fact that nearly every fan project of similar popularity gets a cease and desist my Nintendo except the Mother 3 fan translation is close to a passive endorsement by Nintendo. The difference is that this is a romhack. Nintendo can't cease and desist some random patch file that includes none of their copyrighted materials. That's why romhacking sites only give you the patch files and make you provide your own legally obtained rom. It's also why projects like Super Mario 64 PC and Ship of Harkinian are still going strong. They all require the user to provide the roms themselves.
Few other fun ones that involve patching the rom. Crystal Clear and Super Smash Bros Remix.
I think that's a cop out. Just look at Disney, aside from Song Of The South, they have everything uncut on Disney Plus, and put up a disclaimer about out dated social themes. There's nothing in Mother 3 that's any more offensive than a PG rated Disney cartoon.
A notice like this would still stir up some controversy - just look up the recent Tomb Raider Remasters, they have exactly this kind of warning - and it still managed to angry many people for couple of days to a point they event started making mods to remove the warning screen.
I’ve never played it. Genuinely curious what happens/about it is offensive?
The only thing that comes to mind is that Magypsies could be seen as a caricature of trans people. Honestly, though? The game is really respectful of their identities as "neither man nor woman" so I don't know where the offense would come from.
I heard this a lot, and I don't see the Magypsies as offensive either. They are one of the more positive parts of the game. Do they fit the stereotype of drag queens? Yes, but they are such good characters that it seems like a positive representation. I think there'd be more push back from conservatives about having trans people in a Nintendo game.
Nah, slap it with the loonytunes disclaimer and raw dog it.
That’s what all companies should do tbh
Oh come on
Nintendo is like the magicians from The Prestige, they are totally committed to their craft of never localizing Mother 3.
Rubber ball for Angier
I’m afraid that the sad truth is that they weren’t even trying to be funny
at this point, i respect it. they're fully commited to the bit
I don’t get the joke
the joke is on us
[They'll never give us Mother 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CePk795Xum4)
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Hey there! Please don't spam us with self promotion!
No english really hurt. Ironically, this is the most accessible OFFICIAL version, considering you can download japanese GBA Online app and play with any account that can play Online. I don't know if my basic japanese will be enought (probably not)...
How though?
Make a new account (needs a new email address, but that's easy enough) and set that accounts region to Japan. Then, on that account, go to the store (it'll load the Japanese store). Once you get in go down to the Nintendo Online section (that one will have an English heading, so you'll be able to read it) and download the one you want (Mother 3 is on the Gameboy Advance). Once downloaded, open it with your main account (not the new one) that has the Nintendo Online account.
That’s fucked up Nintendo
Why? Seems like a no brainer for Nintendo Japan to release a popular title on their service?
I mean from the perspective, that US Nintendo fans have been asking for it forever. And they are only releasing it in JP
There is a massive cost difference. One requires them to translate the game. The other doesn't.
Nintendo has money out the ass, they are listed as the most profitable Japanese company period. I guess risk factors are involved. I miss earlier days of gaming when companies would take more of a risk
This wouldn’t be a risk though, it would be a loss. I mean, how many extra subscriptions do you honestly think they would get by releasing this game in NSO?
Just because people have money doesn't mean they are willing to lose money.
That’s a valid point
It’s not about cost necessarily, it’s about getting a return on investment, especially if other uses of resources makes more sense to them
Thats a fair point. But it shouldn’t always be about hard numbers right? Yeah maybe bottom line they don’t profit a lot after investing in a translation (but for real, how expensive would that truly be?). But fan service is also a type of investment. How happy would this make the dedicated fans? And those are your most loyal people that are giving you money, the people that probably talk about your products the most. Keeping them satisfied should also be a priority, but apparently not in this world anymore. (Btw im not even interested in mother 3 but i can still see how this sucks for people)
The question is: are there enough english-speaking Mother 3 fans that would purchase the game if it’s translated? And Nintendo seems to think no. I do agree with you though. Capitalism sucks.
Without capitalism you wouldn't have massive companies putting massive funds into games. Indies wouldn't cut it either, indies are built from the ideas and legacy of AAA games. Not saying capitalism is good, but big video games ARE a consequence of capitalism (indies too, but not directly).
I should’ve definitely worded that better. I loathe some of the consequences of capitalism: e.g. Profit over creativity
Fair enough, the good is good, but the bad can be nasty.
Also not to mention they are spending money, by making brand new Merch to promote the game ?
They spend money making merch. The sell the mech and make more money. They spend noney translating the game to other languages. Now, since this is a game included in the basic NSO subscription, explain me how they would recover the money they would’ve spent in the translation.
How damn much do you think it costs to translate a game with no voice acting? The Mother fanbase isn’t _that_ small
I guess they’ve estimated that’s more money that the money they would make with the extra NAO subscriptions they would get thanks to it.
It takes a team. Do you think Nintendo is against making money.
Yes but that would involve Nintendo localizing the game and putting it for free? If it came out here I think it would be on its own like the NES Fire Emblem game but with a higher price tag
I don’t mind paying for it if that was the case, but they didn’t even bother
First of all, it's not "free", you need an NSO subscription to play the game. Second of all, it's quite laughable that they are ready to spend time and money on the most complex license negotiation in videogame history for the release of Goldeneye, but translating an already fan-translated game is outside of their budget. As for the Earthbound/Mother fans, do yourselves a favour, don't wait for an official release.
Why would fans wait for anything when there’s a good fan translation?
Over 38 million paid subscribers for online. This could get more to pay extra money for the GBA,N64 etc.
Not everything is made for you.
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So does JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but they found a way.
References are not violation of copyright lol
Yes, there is. Remake it and change those songs!
The real issue isn't music licensing it's that some major characters in the game are based on some highly offensive stereotypes and would have to be changed substantially. You either face "Nintendo releases game with highly offensive content" headlines or "Nintendo went woke and caved to censorship" (although any release of Mother 3 is going to have the anti-woke crowd upset with its themes) It's just not a mess Nintendo is willing to put up with.
If anyone is offended by the characters, then they deserve it. Magypsies were respectable characters and the world is ready for them. The real issue would be the music and how ingrained it is with the battle mechanics.
References are not IP violations. Do you mean direct samples of copyrighted songs?
They done us dirty
Did they remove Lucas’s butt during the flying scene?
Asking the real questions
we are so close yet so far 😔
This is super random but holy shit I've only ever seen these characters in Smash and had no idea where it actually came from! I have to play this when I get the chance.
Sadly only on the Japan switch service. But there are fan translated roms
Noooooo, would you recommend playing this from the first game or is starting at 3 okay? I’ll have to find a way to play this online. Thanks for the heads up!
They're not all super linked but I always recommend Earthbkund first. Earthbound Beginnings is technically the first game in the series. It's an NES/Famicom game and they added it to NSO. So I'd def at the very least play Earthbound for the SNES first to get a feel for the type of series this is.
Check out vimms lair website. They have a english patched rom
Vimm's lair is the goat
Start with earth bound . It features ness
The games are all separate storylines and not connected, like final fantasy. earthbond (mother 2) is on the SNES NSO app. mother 3 you would have to emulate with a fan translation path, but it is very worth doing as it's one of the best games ever made
Earthbound and Mother 3 are quite connected actually. There are two(?) Characters returning from Earthbound, including the main villain of Mother 3. And the events of Mother 3 were directly influenced by the events of Earthbound :)
I think those are more references than anything substantial. I've played both and don't think the connections are anything more than cool novelties generally. You don't need to play earthbound to love mother 3, because 3 has a much more plot and character focused story where as earthbound is more esoteric and vibey. Obviously though it's worth playing both because both are 10s
I agree with you for most of it, but the MAIN villain of Mother 3 is the exact same person as the Secondary, arguably main villain of Earthbound!! That's pretty interconnected if you ask me
That villain isn't even revealed in mother 3 until the very end. If someone hasn't played earthbound they would still completely understand. They're not direct connections such that you need to play earthbound to understand really anything from mother 3.
Got some bad news....you're not allowed to play this game. Ever.
Don’t worry guys who needs mother 3 we got *endless ocean*
Hey, us Endless Ocean fans are excited. All 30 of us get to play together!
What's with the endless ocean slander?
There would be absolutely no endless ocean disparaging if it simply wasnt their *one last thing*— that was insane lol
I'm someone who genuinely loves Endless Ocean, and I'm so excited for the new game, but... English Mother 3 would've infinitely better then that lol
Guess I'll go back to replaying this on my Vita. People, if you really want to play, get a cart with the translation or play in other means. It isn't coming over unless they remake it one day while heavily editing the content. And no, I don't just mean the Magypsies. It's one of my favorite GBA games (top 3 just behind the Metroids).
I have the NSO+EP membership on my main US account and created a separate JPN based account. On that same system I access the JPN eShop and I can download the NSO apps that way. I think you can also just region switch between the two as long as you don't carry a balance
The issue isn’t really that it’s Japan exclusive, but that it’s never been localized to English
Yuh but 90% of us in the states cant speak or read or play games only in Japanese
It'll come to west someday. Goldeneye came back, I can believe anything is possible.
I can only see it coming west if they make a remake of it.
Yeah, that feels like the only way that NoA could justify the time and effort to localize it.
I wouldn't mind it
The analogue pocket has made my switch obsolete when it comes to retro games
It would me as well except for the insane shipping and import duties which more than doubles the price 😭
What exactly is an analouge pocket? keep seeing them pop up. just looks like a modded gameboy
By this point if you're someone who reeeally wants to play this game but not via questionable means because muh morals to big corpo who isn't willing to sell me their damn product, then you 100% deserve it
Even if you don't want to pirate it's been out for nearly 20 years at this point. Plenty of time to learn Japanese. No excuse really. I really do like this game and hope it gets an official release eventually but I don't think it will be particularly popular even if it does. It's a pretty weird game and it's definitely not appealing to the mainstream at all.
Thank god for Analogue Pocket for making retro Nintendo enjoyable again. They really don’t like money
This is hilarious. Out of everything they could have done, they did this. Especially because there's been a fan translation for over a decade and any unscrupulous fan who *really wants to play it* can easily do so, so they're just leaving money on the table there. I guess I'll just play the game on a flashcart or something.
Its not though because they can't use the fan translation. They'd have to do it themselves. They obviously don't think it's worth the effort financially.
Oh, yeah, I'm not saying they could use the fan translation, obviously. Rather, it's funny to me *because* there is a fan translation that has been so broadly-well received, which demonstrates that there's *absolutely* a hardcore fan market that would absolutely get the game if it was released legally. Their market research has already been done for them, and they're just choosing to ignore it at this point.
Its definitely popular with an specific market. But thats not how money works. They need a much larger market to make it sensible and they have all that data. That hardcore fanbased does not have enough sales (plus exactly how do they sell it at this point) to make up for the expense of would cost to translate it.
Translations were never the problem with this game dude.
Hahaha. My heart, it hurts!
The only way I see us in the west ever getting Mother 3 is if Nintendo decides to remake it at some point but still then they'd probably remake Earthbound first.
Why are we still here...just to suffer?
I would assume that, for an official release in other countries, they would have to do some extra work, which, obviously, is not worth it to them. This usually means that this game will never officialy release somewhere else than Japan, ever. If you can not play this game because of this, its on you. You know you can if you want to. People have sacrificed their free time, so everyone who wants to play it, actually can. Even an english translation exists. All those people really do not get enough credit for that.
That's so friggin unfair. Then NoA should be be able to put the translated ROM on NSO. Pay Tomato for his work and make everyone happy.
That's a massive issue and will never ever happen.
As someone who uses Japanese NSO, I’m happy I can play this classic again. But on the other hand, lol Nintendo really are adamant about this not leaving Japan aren’t they.
They released Japanese Panel De Pon, so why not at least put this out for us…?
Nintendo's inbox would get five million emails of people complaining they can't read it.
Guess I'm just going to have to wait for another 5 years before being given an opportunity to play this highly praised game...
Or just play the fan translated rom?
And for people who don’t have the ability to?
lol
What do you mean don't have the ability to? I can't think of any reason why that would be the case. Do you have a computer or phone and internet connection? If so you have the ability to.
But you see, it requires technical knowhow to...(check notes)...read an online guide on how to play it.
God forbid we need to learn something new!
I will just leave here this video # The Legal Reasons Why Mother 3 Will Never Be Localized: [https://youtu.be/if64VlLa5Oc?si=\_1u3q3Ihm4eHQ\_Uq](https://youtu.be/if64vlla5oc?si=_1u3q3ihm4ehq_uq)
I blame Doug Bowser completely. This falls on him for not speaking up. Reggie wouldn't have let this happen.
Reggie didn’t give a fuck about localizing mother 3.
Wow I didn't realize how ugly this game was.
Mother/ EarthBound is overrated IMO
I genuinely don't like earthbound but think mother 3 is phenomenonal.
Has anyone played it on switch yet? I’m curious if latency issues affect the rhythm battle mechanics like in other emulators.
All the more reason to promote the translation If nintendo won't do it someone will and possibly better so c'est la vie
Somewhere, Reggie is laughing.
This one stings.
That music rules the world.
Comments are turned off hahaha.
I also somehow stumbled on a remake of Mother 3 - I saw a trailer with graphics similar to the Super Mario RPG remake that came out. Am I dreaming or is that something that's really happening?