Nintendo’s Mother 3, the third game in the beloved Earthbound series of RPGs, was released 15 years ago today. The initial Mother 3 release date in Japan was April 20th, 2006, and in all that time it has never been re-released outside of its native country. A lot of fans were hoping that Nintendo would announce a Mother 3 Switch remaster, but a recent Nintendo Direct came and went without any mention of the Mother 3 15th anniversary. So is Nintendo going to acknowledge the classic RPG today, and is a remaster even still possible?
Will there be a Switch remaster for the Mother 3 15th anniversary?
Nintendo has yet to make an acknowledgement of the Mother 3 15th anniversary celebrations, but that does not mean that there is no hope of a Mother 3 Switch remaster. The most recent Nintendo Direct was greatly disappointing for fans of the Earthbound/Mother series, as there was no mention of Mother 3 despite it having such a significant anniversary coming up.
It has been previously theorized that a Mother 3 remaster was in the works at Nintendo, but was canceled due to some of the potentially controversial themes in the game. There are some instances of drug use, animal cruelty, and the story can get incredibly dark, belying the game’s cartoonish and cheerful appearance.
While a Mother 3 remaster may not have been announced, fans have taken the responsibility into their own hands, with translator Mato providing a new English translation patch for the original game:
Today is MOTHER 3's 15th anniversary 😮
Here's a new version of the translation patch! https://t.co/VmGbPsSLu2
(the new patch is mostly technical stuff, bug fixes, and performance boosts, the translation tools have been updated too, they're here: https://t.co/GdnbSQs5xt ) pic.twitter.com/F8ouGsQtiJ
— Mato (@ClydeMandelin) April 20, 2021
Additionally, Mother 3’s artist Nobuhiro Iwagawa has celebrated the game’s anniversary on Twitter., tweeting out some artwork for the game:
VIVA 15th MOTHER3#MOTHER3 #mother3_15th #MOTHER123 #ドット絵 #pixelart pic.twitter.com/OQjpBwVT7K
— 今川 伸浩 (@NobuhiroImagawa) April 20, 2021
At this moment in time, there is no confirmation of a Mother 3 Switch remaster coming, despite the anniversary of the Japanese Mother 3 release date being today. It took years for Nintendo to re-release Earthbound for Wii U and 3DS, and neither Earthbound nor Earthbound Beginnings/Mother 1 are currently available on Nintendo Switch.
It’s possible that Nintendo may make a surprise announcement, but fans shouldn’t hold their breath. For now, it’s probably better for fans to keep their eyes on Oddity, the game previously known as the fan-made Mother 4, than hoping for Nintendo to return to the Mother series.
