EarthBound Creator Explains Why Nintendo Hasn’t Translated Mother 3

One of the greatest tragedies in gaming is the refusal of Nintendo of America to bring Mother 3 stateside. EarthBound creator, Shigesato Itoi, explained why Nintendo hasn’t translated Mother 3 in a new documentary.

The film, EarthBound, USA, is available through Fangamer. IGN recently covered some of the movie’s interviews. In the documentary, Shigesato Itoi, the man behind the EarthBound/Mother series, weighed in on Nintendo of America’s decision not to translate the game.

“I’ve talked about it with Nintendo before,” he said. “Apparently, they were presented with the offer to use the translation, but they said it wasn’t quite as simple as that. I think it’d be really interesting if they took up the offer. It’d be hard to make something like, say, an automobile with fans. But doing it with software, I believe there’d be a chance to make something that would be better than what the company could have made on their own.”

“Usually when I’m done with something, I’m done with it for good,” Itoi continued. “You can’t give up on projects you are in the middle of, but when you put an end to something, it’s best to just leave it alone. The older you get, the more stories there are for you.”

Both Itoi and Mother 3‘s producer, Shinichi Kameoka, want the title to launch in the U.S. While it doesn’t sound like Itoi would be part of the potential launch in any capacity, it’s nice to know he wants it to happen.

I have been holding out hope for Mother 3 to appear on any Nintendo system since the GBA. It would make the most sense for it to appear on Nintendo Switch, as the console has the first two games, EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound. Hopefully, I won’t be an old man by the time Nintendo comes to its senses and ports the title.