Ito seems to think it’s possible for 130 million people to play his game.
Mother 3. It’s the one thorn at the side of Nintendo fans that won’t stop giving them grief.
For years rumors had run that Nintendo was finally publishing the game to the West, with a full English translation. It had gone on so long that fans asking former Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime about it became a meme in itself.
But getting back to the real world, one of the game’s creators, writer Shigesato Itoi, shared his sentiments about the game’s rerelease for the Nintendo Switch, in its native Japan. If you were wondering, yes, you can find a way to play the game on your Nintendo Switch now, if you have Nintendo Switch Online. You can build a Japanese account on your current Switch, and by that way get to play the game logged onto that account. But of course, the reason fans are looking for a localization to this very day, are doing so because the original game is only in Japanese.
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We have to mention here the famous fan localization to English of Mother 3. This was made by Clyde Mandelin, a professional translator and Earthbound/Mother superfan. Many fans have played his localization of the game already, but obviously, there would be far more exposure and distribution to a commercial translation made by Nintendo themselves.
Itoi came on camera to share this message about the rerelease, translated by Kody Nokolo and Lone. He said:
“I think those people who played Mother 3 will face the “you” who played it. Like, “oh, this is how I was feeling at that time.” I think that’s very good.
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You didn’t know things about yourself then, and now, You’ll think, “Oh, I know this now.” And it comes together. You might feel like you didn’t live your life in vain.
I think anyone playing it for the first time will think it’s amazing. The fun of the game is from actually playing the game, to realize a game can evoke these emotions in you, that they can make you think certain things, or be moved by the creations made.
Stuff like that. It’s more than just if you were touring a museum for its own sake.
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I think it’s more valuable than that. I hope around 130 million people will try it.”
So is Itoi just sharing some wishful thinking, or is he hinting at something we don’t know yet for sure? Nintendo does make it a point to match their rereleases of Earthbound/Mother games to their anniversaries.
For what it’s worth, Mother 3 was originally released in Japan on April 20, 2006. Make of that information what you will, and check out the translated and edited video below.
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