Mother 3 Fan Translation Forms A Unified Front

Last November we ran a piece about the Mother 3 fan translation that was underway on Starmen.net and Mother3.org. Our resident Pirate Prince posted an article in late June about mailing in Mother 3 fan art to Nintendo as a plea to bring the game Stateside. We have been following this game for quite some time and really want to be able to play the sequel to one of the most beloved SNES RPGs ever created. Earthbound (Mother 2) did not sell really well, but get a fan talking about the game, and it sounds like they are recalling some of their fondest childhood memories.

At this point, the title has gone beyond cult status to a game of mythic proportions. The game was originally developed for the Nintendo 64 in 3D as a sequel to our Earthbound, or as the Japanese like to call it, Mother 2. An image of the game called Earthbound 64 appeared on the first console boxes for the N64 as an above shot of a huge cast of characters assembled in a desert. The game was demoed at SpaceWorld 1999, with some footage of a runaway mine cart in a cave. The overall look of the game resembled aliens invading a spaghetti western. That version was then canned and picked up years later as a GBA port of the 64 version, in 2D. Nintendo eventually denied all requests to translate the game, leaving all Mother fans with their collective cakes out in the rain.

Now Starman.net and Mother3.org are joining forces to translate the game together. They are forming a new alliance of developers not tied to either site, but simply called the Mother 3 Fan Translation. They are “a group of hackers and translators who love Earthbound and are willing to step in where Nintendo has continuously failed its fans.”

Their translation efforts are not as far along as hoped at this point. They have translated many of the item names, descriptions, menus and such, but the bulk of the translation for the script has yet to begin.

The team would like Nintendo to know that,

“our team has agreed that this translation project will come to a full stop if/when we hear that Nintendo has chosen to pursue an official translation of the game. Our only goal is to get MOTHER 3 in the hands of the fans.

I hope for their sake and the sake of all Mother fans, Nintendo has a change of heart and releases an official translation. I would buy a copy, would you?