It should be no real surprise that Earthbound is one of my favorite rpgs. Unfortunately its sequel has never been released outside of Japan. This sort of setback will never stop dedicated fans and Nintendo doesn’t really care about fan games and rom hacks unless they make money. So after my Deltarune review I was curious about the series that inspired it again. Unfortunately, I’ve played Earthbound more than any other game aside from maybe Pokemon. There was no way I could be unbiased in this, but what about Mother 3? I never played it as a child as that was near impossible at the time and am nowhere near as nostalgic for it. After the large amount of Pokemon Roms I tested a fan translation of Mother 3 and I still think it needs an international release.

So why was there never a release? I did notice some things in this game that would never pass international censors, but it isn’t like Nintendo to just remove things and release anyway. Next a large part would be timing. At the time the game was announced it was under the title Earthbound 64 intended for the Nintendo 64, but was deemed to ambitious and some mechanics were even suspected to be impossible for the hardware. The whole game had to be reworked into a Gameboy Advance title this became Mother 3. Unfortunately, by the time the game was ready the Nintendo DS was already releaseing and since Nintendo wanted everything to focus on the new system and at the time the in development Nintendo Wii. Mother 3 was only just barely released for Japanese audiences on Gameboy Advance.

It is a very story driven RPG with a focus on the characters. Every major character has their time to shine. This makes it a little more impactful when terrible things happen to everyone. It’s gameplay is a traditional RPG where you equip better gear and buy and sell new gear. I do like how dashing is handled since you go through the same levels over and over again dashing kills weaker enemies if you are at a high enough level without having to fight. With its emphasis on the characters and the world around them it is no wonder games like Undertale and Deltarune exist and do so well, their focus isn’t making the best RPG ever with an expansive party or the most varied gameplay. The focus is the characters and their struggles and from a story telling perspective it works.

Score: 9/10