Nintendo Has No Plans To Release ‘Mother 3’ In The US
When Nintendo released EarthBound for the Wii U’s Virtual Console, fans wondered if the reissue could set the stage for the release of Mother 3, which was only available in Japan.
Mother 3 is the sequel to EarthBound, and the third game in the Mother series. The first Mother was released in Japan in 1989 for the Family Computer, and was planned to be released in North America as Earth Bound(it never happened). A sequel, Mother 2, was released in North America as EarthBound for the Super NES in 1995. Mother 3 was released in 2006 for the Game Boy Advance.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said the success of EarthBound— which was released on the Wii U eShop in July — wouldn’t have any effect on the decision to release Mother 3. At the time of its release, EarthBound was the third best-selling game in the Wii U’s eShop.
“To answer your specific question, I would have to say no. We knew the response to EarthBound was going to be strong,” Fils-Aime told IGN. “Believe me, I’ve met those fans. The first question out of their mouth is, ‘Reggie, when is EarthBound coming? Mother 3!’ I’ve met, I think, all of them.”
He added, “So we’re always looking at our rich history to identify those opportunities of games we could bring back and have consumers experience.”
Fils-Aime said the key game in his early days of playing video games was Chrono Trigger, and that he was happy when Nintendo made it available. He said the company is always looking for ways to reintroduce games to consumers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Mother 3 isn’t going to be one of the games.
“I have nothing to announce regarding Mother 3 at this time,” he said.
Nintendo recently cut the price of the Wii U deluxe version. It currently sells for $349.99 but will drop to $299.99 — the price of the basic version — starting September 20.
