The History of Mother 3

Twelve years, four consoles, one cancellation, and a finished game only one country was ever sold.

Mother 3 was developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory, written by Shigesato Itoi, and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in Japan on April 20, 2006. It is the third and final entry in the series. It follows Lucas, a young boy with psychic abilities, and a party of characters across eight chapters on the Nowhere Islands, as a mysterious invading army, the Pigmask Army, corrupts their world. Nintendo subsidiary Brownie Brown handled the main development, with input from Itoi, after the game's earlier incarnations had consumed two other studios and a decade.

THE MAKING

A game that outlived its hardware, twice

Development began in 1994 for the Super Famicom, around the release of Mother 2 itself. It moved to the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD add on as EarthBound 64, a 3D version of the same story. That version was cancelled in August 2000, in a decision its makers explained in a long published conversation: the team was needed for the coming GameCube, and the project, years in, was nowhere near done. Itoi considered turning the story into a book or a film, and gave up on both on the ground that Mother 3 was a video game and nothing else. In 2003 the project restarted for the Game Boy Advance, announced in a television commercial for the Mother 1+2 compilation. The graphics changed from 3D to 2D. The story, by the record, was not altered.

THE EDITIONS

Every release was a Japanese release

Japan · 2006

Game Boy Advance, April 20, 2006, in the family's red box. The only commercial release of the game in its era, anywhere.

The lost version · 1994 to 2000

Super Famicom, then Nintendo 64 and 64DD as EarthBound 64. Cancelled in August 2000; its plot survived into the GBA game.

Japan again · 2015

Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2015. The West, which had asked for the game for nine years by then, was not included.

Japan again · 2024

Added to the Nintendo Classics service in Japan in 2024. Still, officially, a Japanese only game.

THE RECEPTION

Acclaim at home, imports abroad

First week · 200,000 copies

A strong opening in Japan for a late Game Boy Advance release, deep into the Nintendo DS era.

2006 · Over 368,000 copies

Its year end total in Japan, the 36th highest selling game of its year at home.

Famitsu · 35 out of 40

A Platinum Hall of Fame score, with reviewers praising the direction, the wit of the story, and the level of detail.

Abroad · Reviewed from imports

Western critics imported the Japanese cartridge and reviewed it positively anyway, a reception with no legal way to buy the game behind it.

The demand outside Japan was never the problem, and Nintendo's on record answer was never about demand: former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said in 2022 that localizing a game released that late in the Game Boy Advance's life just did not make business sense. The West's answer arrived unofficially in 2008, as a fan translation this Library documents on its own page.

THE LEGACY

The trilogy's last word, in Japanese

Lucas joined the Super Smash Bros. roster, which is how much of the West first met him. The game itself stayed where it was: rereleased twice, both times Japan only, translated once, by fans, and never officially. Itoi has stated he has no plans for a fourth game, so Mother 3 is not a middle chapter awaiting rescue. It is the ending its author chose, in the only language he published it in.

THE GAME ON THE SHELF

Mother 3 · 2006

The one box, and the missing one

A trilogy with a missing volume in the West

Mother 3 Japanese Game Boy Advance box art — **Japan · Mother 3, 2006**The red field and the wordmark, kept from 1994.

SOJ gold owl, marking a cover that does not exist — **The West · No box exists**No American or European edition was ever made, so no box can honestly stand here.

Every other shelf in this gallery pairs two boxes. This one pairs a box with an absence, because that is the accurate picture.

The Gallery Why was Mother 3 never released outside Japan?