This month marks 20 years since the launch of Mother 3<\/em> for the Game Boy Advance, the RPG sequel to the cult classic Earthbound<\/em> (known as Mother 2<\/em> in Japan). It\u2019s still never seen an official release outside Japan, but Mother 3<\/em>\u2019s unflinching critique of capitalism feels more relevant than ever today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mother 3 <\/em>opens in the bucolic Tazmily Village. There\u2019s no crime and no concept of currency \u2014 all the items at the trading post are free for whoever needs them. Within the first couple hours, an army of masked, portly pigmen wearing tactical gear set the nearby forest on fire and start performing experiments on the local wildlife, resulting in the death of protagonist Lucas\u2019s mother and the disappearance of his twin brother Claus. Fast-forward a few years, and the Pigmasks have introduced railroads, factories, money, and TV-like \u201cHappy Boxes\u201d to Tazmily. The once-happy villagers grow bored with the lack of stuff to do (and buy) in their hometown, and relocate en masse<\/em> to the glitzy and gaudy Pigmask metropolis of New Pork City, where they enjoy the \u201cfreedom\u201d to work ceaselessly in order to buy more junk.<\/p>\n Aesthetically, Mother 3<\/em> has a lot in common with Earthbound<\/em>: endearing sprite art, pun-laden dialogue, toe-tapping tunes, oddball enemy designs, and trippy battle backgrounds. Thematically and tonally, Mother 3 <\/em>is a very different animal. If Earthbound <\/em>is The Last of Us<\/em> for quirky 16-bit RPGs, Mother 3<\/em> is The Last of Us Part 2 \u2014 <\/em>it\u2019s gonna ruffle some feathers. It\u2019s far more serious, far more upsetting, and in many ways far more ambitious than its SNES predecessor.<\/p>\n For two decades now, Mother 3<\/em> has been the subject of an almost occult fascination among English-speaking Nintendo fans, inspiring a longstanding online effort to \u201clocalize Mother 3<\/em>.\u201d When Nintendo wouldn\u2019t do it, a group of fans \u2014 who happened to also be professional translators \u2014 took on the project themselves. Back in 2013, they even offered their English script to Nintendo, free of charge. No dice.<\/p>\n Online speculation ran rampant about why Nintendo wouldn\u2019t bring the game to international audiences, even via digital-only platforms like the eShop or the Switch Online retro collection. (Mother 3<\/em> came to Switch Online in Japan back in February 2024.) Many observers concluded that Nintendo\u2019s decision was due to the game\u2019s \u201ccontroversial\u201d content, like its critique of capitalism, or its depiction of a group of genderfluid people with magical powers.<\/p>\n Throughout his 15-year tenure as the head of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aim\u00e9 was asked countless times about Mother 3<\/em>. In 2022, once he\u2019d retired from the company, Fils-Aim\u00e9 finally gave Bloomberg\u2019s Jason Schreier an answer about why the game hadn\u2019t been localized. It wasn\u2019t because the Pigmasks routinely make a gesture that looks suspiciously close to a Nazi salute. It wasn\u2019t because of a certain character\u2019s very dramatic suicide. \u201cThat is not at all the issue why Mother 3 <\/em>in particular never made it to the West,\u201d Fils-Aim\u00e9 told Bloomberg. \u201cIt was all based on the business needs and the business situation at the time.\u201d The Nintendo DS had already been available in North America since late 2004. The time and effort involved to port a niche title for older hardware \u201cjust didn’t make business sense\u201d at that point, Fils-Aim\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n For many \u201clocalize Mother 3<\/em>\u201d diehards, Fils-Aim\u00e9\u2019s comments finally put the issue to rest, even if it wasn\u2019t the resolution they\u2019d long hoped for. Still, with the game\u2019s 20th anniversary looming \u2014 it debuted on April 20, 2006 \u2014 there are sure to be some folks getting out their trusty clown makeup one last time. After all, if Nintendo can bring back the Virtual Boy, the company’s biggest hardware flop of all time, a long-awaited English translation of Mother 3<\/em> doesn\u2019t seem so impossible. Right?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Mother](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/screenshot-2026-04-02-at-1-32-11-pm.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: HAL Laboratory \/ Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n