He’s not alone
Mother 3 producer wants localization of the game in the West
More than fifteen years have passed since the release of the third part of the saga, and fans are still waiting for the title to arrive outside of Japan.
Mother 3 is the third part of the EarthBound saga, an unforgettable JRPG with which Shigesato Itoi said goodbye to the franchise in the final stretch of Game Boy Advance's life; but it never came to the West. Its release only in Japan left fans of the series with the doubt -still present- of whether there will ever be an official localization of the game in the West. Shinichi Kameoka, the original producer of the title, has expressed his wish in a conversation with Nintendo Everything.
In Kameoka's words, he would "love" if Mother 3 could be released in translation in the U.S. and Europe. “As a lover of games, I will continue to wait for Mother 3’s release worldwide release (in English)," he says. The Mother saga has experienced many obstacles in officially coming to the West. The first of these, EarthBound Beginnings, was first released in these lands on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015. EarthBound did the same on that platform and on the SNES Mini, where it is also currently available.
EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound now available on Nintendo Switch Online
During this February's Nintendo Direct, the release on Nintendo Switch Online of two beloved works by the most diehard fans of the Japanese house were confirmed: EarthBound Beginnings (1989) and EarthBound (1995) for the NES and SNES libraries, respectively. The two original works of Shigesato Itoi's series are now available for subscribers to the console service, fully localized into English and with options such as manual save at any time.
We do not know if this move really means that we are closer than ever to see Mother 3 in the West; for many, the best installment of the trilogy thanks to an impeccable story. One of the most celebrated treasures of the already huge catalog of works for the Game Boy Advance handheld.
You can check here all the releases of the Nintendo Direct this February and the exact release dates of each of them. 2022 will be full of new exclusive games for Nintendo Switch.
Source | Nintendo Everything