Mother 3 is a sequel to Mother 2 (Earthbound) and it had a very long history of development spanning from 1994 to 1999. It was originally planned for the Super Famicom, but development later shifted to a 3D incarnation for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive. The N64DD being the N64DD, these plans fell through. About six years later the game reverted back to its 2D origins and was finally released for the GBA... but not outside of Japan, leaving a group of dedicated fans to translate the game into English. Despite this, fans still clamor for an official localization.

To do:

Almost everything... Use this; it's a preview, but it lists what kind of unused stuff there is. Most importantly, this.

Figure out exactly if the bear is an enemy. Also is it just me, or does the song used in that video have a tempo map associated with it? You know, that thing that makes the tempo slow down and speed up.

Document ALL of the prerelease stuff back from when it was the N64 version of Mother 3. A recently new Earthbound fansite Mother Forever could help expand the documents. Something like this for example.

Seems like enemies that can't be sniffed by Boney might still have an enemy type set (e.g. mechanical, animal etc)

Sub-Pages

Unused Text

Unused dialogue from menus, characters, and more.

Memos

An unused feature that shows some previous development ideas.





Unused Enemy Battles

Battles that either explain previous development intentions or raise a lot of questions.

Unused Graphics

Unused graphics for characters, enemies, and backgrounds.

Unused Rooms

Debug Room

On a GameShark (v.3) or emulator, use the following codes during gameplay: CA1D8DB3 689FDAFA , 9CC263F2 68DE0537 , and 1DCAC2C5 4FCA9184 . Enable these codes while playing the game. Hold L while entering a new screen, and you'll be redirected to the debug room.

The Mr. Saturns allow the player to start playing from the beginning of a select chapter. The Mr. Saturn to the left begins Chapters 1-3, while the Mr. Saturn to the right begins Chapters 4-8.

Flint allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 1.

Duster allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 2.

Salsa allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 3.

Lucas allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 4.

The Clayman allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 5.

Ionia allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 7.

The Mecha-Porky robot allows the player to select during which event they should begin Chapter 8.

There are two Hinawas in the room. Speaking to her top-row sprite allows the player to view the game's ending cinematic. Speaking to her lower-row sprite allows the player to save their progress.

The projector allows the player to select whether Lucas and Kumatora use their kid or adolescent sprites.

"CAST" causes the character and production credits to roll. If this is viewed before the player has entered names for Salsa, Duster, and Kumatora, their names default to "Salsa", "Duster", and "Kumatora" (it is plausible that the same would apply to Lucas, Claus, Flint, Hinawa, and Boney, however it is not possible to enter the Debug Room before naming them, rendering the notion moot); however, if viewed before the player's name has been entered, the name is left blank at the end of the credits.

The Pigmask allows the player to configure the current party members, being able to put Flint, Lucas, Duster, Kumatora, Boney, Salsa, Wess, Thomas, Ionia, Fuel, Alec, Fassad, and Claus into the party, and may select up to five characters (as opposed to the usual limit of four). Interestingly, it's possible to set a level value for Wess, unlike all other NPC party members. It doesn't do anything, though.

The Pigmask Captain allows the player to configure the level of a party member. They may set between Levels 1 through 60 at intervals of 5, and Level 99.

The Navy SQUEAL allows the player to fill his/her inventory with Nuts.

The Pigmask Major allows the player to view several screen transitions.

The Pigmask Colonel allows the player to turn on all memo flags and obtain every regional map.

Losing to the Firefly in the corner of the Debug Room is the only method of direct exit, although starting a chapter by consulting one of the appropriate characters in the top row is an alternative method of leaving the room. You can actually sneak up on it from behind and see its back sprite, even though this is normally impossible. Note that it will never turn around and just will keep fighting as normal, because it is a mini-boss.

Debug Warp NPCs

It seems there are four Magypsy NPCs which are used as instant warps to any given location, changing your party configuration in the process. They can be accessed by being at Osohe Castle during the beginning of chapter 2 and using the cheat codes 02004BE4:FF to load the correct table and 02004BF7:19 to enable the characters.

To have Doria near the grate, use 02004BE2:10 too. This one is a byproduct of the routine that places Nyppolite near the grate after Duster retrieves the Noble Spitoon. Since the loaded table is wrong, it will place Doria there instead.

The available warps are for Chapter 7 locations.

•Go how far into Murasaki Forest? ←END SELECTION→ ←Chimera Lab→ ←Spec. Room→ ←Ult. Chimera→ ←Doria's Gate→ ←Pump Chimera→ ←Heart Needle→ ←Doria's Gate 2→ •Go how far into Snowcap Mountain? ←END SELECTION→ ←Lydia's House→ ←Uninv. Guest→ ←Riding Sled→ ←Cemetery→ •Go how far into Saturn Valley? ←END SELECTION→ ←Saturn Bean→ ←Saturn Valley→ ←Phrygia→ ←Volcano→ ←Tunnel Destr.→ ←Birdcage→ ←Ceru. Beach→ •Go how far into Tanetane Island? ←END SELECTION→ ←Tanetane Beach→ ←Funky Beach→ ←Missy's House→ ←Island Hill→ ←Defeated→ ←Octopus Ride→ ←Ceru. Beach→

Hidden NPCs/Objects

Sanctuary NPC

•It used to that Tazmily's villagers were the only people you saw around here, but these days, visitors from far away have been growing in number. •And these visitors are us! •Hahahahaha!

Policeman NPC

A policeman hidden in the top-left corner of one of the New Pork City maps. His dialogue is the following:

•Master Porky referred to you as very dear and captivating guests. •You're dear? And captivating? •You don't seem so special to me.

Hidden Sign

In the map with Flint's house, there is a hidden sign in the top-right corner. What's on the sign varies, depending on how far you are in the game.

Chapter 1:

Fan Translation Original Japanese •The contents of these boxes belong to everyone. •Use them however you wish. •ハコの なかのものは ゆうりょうです。 •かってに つかうのは やめましょう。

Chapter 2:

•The contents of these boxes cost money. •Please refrain from using them without paying.

Chapter 4 and beyond:

Fan Translation Original Japanese •Be sure to talk to frogs once in a while. •たまには カエルに はなしかけよう。

Pigmasks

Two Pigmasks can be found at the top-right corner of the factory's map. They have no dialogue.

Save Frog

A save frog at the DCMC bathroom room area in the bottom-right corner. He has no dialogue. Also, the door that leads to the area has an unused warp to the left of it which takes you near Alec's house. This warp will also put the unused "Favorite Food" item in your inventory, along with some other items.

Inaccessible Areas

The final boss room has some areas on the very top which are never seen during normal gameplay.

The room used for Mixolydia's needle is storing the Pigmask mother-ship outside of the player's view, which is strange since it's never called into the scene.

There is a locked room in the Toilet Dungeon, in Chapter 8, which has water leaking from under its door. It is never accessible during normal gameplay, and the door is non-functional, but if you use a walk through walls code in the next room, you can actually access the flooded room. There are no NPCs inside, and no solidity is programmed.

There is also a room in another corridor that is rendered inaccessible when a man rushes in and prevents you from entering. Walking through the walls here reveals that it is filled with toilet paper.

This room can be accessed with the cheat code 0200B578:003B . Use the walk-through-walls cheat with it ( 00200C492:FFFF ). It is very similar to the Tazmily Railway.

An unused bathroom that was most likely going to be in Club Titiboo. If the room is left, it leads to the bathroom door in Violet's room. This may be an early version of Violet's bathroom, from before the decision was made to place a hot spring inside.

It's just an empty room with the music "Blessing (Baldy's Recommend.)". When you pull up the menu, it will be glitched. This room can be accessed with the cheat code 0200B578:0084 when you enter a new screen.

This room is just like the one before, but instead it has two empty gift boxes and plays the cave music. Access it with 0200B578:0085 .

Just another empty room, this time with no music. Access it with 0200B578:0088 .

When you access a hidden warp in Club Titiboo that's in the far left of the lobby, you will be warped outside of Alec's house. The palette will be different to create a sunset effect and your inventory will be replaced with a new one that contains some unused items.

Graphics Hidden by Layers

While these maps are used, certain tiles are not visible due to other layers blocking them.

Naming Screen Seen One Layer

A few mountains in the background, some foliage, and most of the sheep pen are obscured by two boxes.

Chapter One Intro Scene Seen Removed Layer

Most of the Forest Prayer Sanctuary is obscured by a hill with trees, as well as the stone 'bed' near it.

Osohe Castle Sanctuary Seen One Layer

The far ends of the castle walls and some flowers are obscured by the foreground balcony.

Unused Cutscenes

Using the code 0200B578:XXXX (where "XXXX" is one of the below), one can access a few cutscenes the game never uses. Enter the code, then go to a new room to see the cutscene.

00E5 – Fassad's Interpreter flying in the sky. Her lack of animation suggests she is a placeholder sprite.

00F5 – Lucas and Claus playing and swimming (flashback)

00F6 – Lucas and Claus are playing janken, Claus wins, Claus and Lucas get into a fight, Lucas cries, Flint gets angry while trying to take care of the sheep, Claus runs off (flashback)

00F7 – Lucas and Claus with Hinawa (flashback)

00E7 - Salsa and Samba's unused scene in the final cutscene

0196 - Alec's unused scene in the final cutscene

It seems like F5, F6, and F7 were intended to be shown during the final battle, since the game drops the player off at the final battle with the Masked Man after playing those movies. Said three cutscenes have static flickering throughout, likely to indicate Claus' mental status.

Using the code 0200B578:00CB , one can access an alternate version of Hinawa's letter. After the scene, the player is dropped off inside Alec's house. In the final version, Hinawa is outside Alec's house with her letter contents scrolling over the scene.

If you use a Walk Through Walls code to bypass the Pigmask guarding the Chimera Lab entrance in Chapter 4, you can talk to the receptionist of the lab to trigger a cutscene involving the mini theater, which is never used during the final game. The dialogue used during the cutscene is shown on the "Unused Text" subpage. Note that the Secrebot's dialogue on the way out of the theater incorrectly uses the name tag "Woman".

This is a series of scrapped cutscenes present in map 0x0F, but that can't be seen through normal gameplay.

Here's a reconstruction of the F6 cutscene unglitched. This can be found in the Italian Lorenzooone 1.1 Patch.

Unused scenes that would have appeared in an attract mode similar to the one seen in EarthBound. Like in EarthBound, they would have played on the title screen after waiting for a set period of time. While mostly functional, it's still clear that these scenes were cut fairly early into the game's development. Residual code reveals that music "Adolescence (Toilet Cow's Recommendation)" was originally meant to have played during these sequences.

Unused Menus

"Unused" Stat: Kindness

Alongside the OFF, DEF, IQ, and SPD stats, there is a mostly-unused stat called Kindness, which is mentioned in the unused Memo menu. It is hinted in the Memo menu that this stat might trigger alternate story events: "This is one of the most important things for us humans, so let's be kind to others. If your "Kindness" goes up, something good is bound to happen." Some sprites of Porky's death, Flint killing the Mecha-Drago, and a "HAPPY END" graphic might evidence this.

While it is never talked about during normal gameplay, it is used in the final game:

Whenever the message "You felt something warm inside your heart" appears, it increases by 1 for the whole party. However, it never exceeds the single digits, due to such opportunities being rare. It has some effects on the game: when hacking it to a higher value, it directly influences the amount of HP restored whenever Lucas uses PK Life Up, but no other known effects appear for the other characters.

The message "Your Kindness increases by ..." is stored among the Battle engine text block, specifically inside the Level-Up messages. Obviously, this message never appears normally in-game because the Level-Up data is set up so that this stat always increases by 0. However, some rare glitches (or heavy EXP cheating) can cause you to level-up above Level 100 (the cap normally being 99), which causes the game to read data from other areas as level-up data, which in turn increases the Kindness stat and displays this message.

Here are some Kindness addresses, which must be set between 00 and FF (max 255): Flint: 020041A8:XX Lucas: 02004214:XX Duster: 02004280:XX Kumatora: 020042EC:XX Boney: 02004358:XX Salsa: 020043C4:XX Claus: 020046B8:XX

and (max 255):

(Source: Courtesy of EarthBoundCentral.com)

Unused Battle Action: Consider

Nothing happens when using Consider.

Among the special battle actions script, like the ones used by Salsa, Flint, and Duster, at the very end of the text block, there is a Battle Action called "Consider". It is unknown how this command might have functioned. It may be related to "Sing" and/or "Pray", which share an endgame purpose in Mother and EarthBound respectively, but have no equivalent in this game.

Nothing happens when using this battle action as far as we know and it seems its data has been removed.

Unused Items

By using the code 02004224:XX (where "XX" is one of the below), the first item in Lucas' inventory will be replaced with an unused item.

Favorite Food

5C

Heals 300 HP to a single party member, making it the best healing item in the game alongside the Beefsteak. It has its own icon and description, indicating that it was planned for inclusion at some point in development. It can be bought for 200 DP.

Doorknob

9F

Although the Doorknob is acquired during the post-ending scene, the player cannot access the inventory during the scene and see it. If it is used in battle, the selected enemy eats the Doorknob (?!) and takes a single point of damage.

Memory Snake

C9

The Memory Snake, possibly related to the Rope Snake, is weird. The snake itself does nothing and can't be thrown away, yet the description mentions it as being good at determining the length of things. It could have been an early version of Stinkbug's Memory or similar to the Ruler from EarthBound.

Suspicious Tea

BA

Deals 75-85 HP of damage to a single enemy, and can be bought for 20 DP. Based on the description, which mentions that the tea was made by a disgruntled employee, it might have been served at the Dur-T Café on the Highway.

Rotten Bavarois

68

The Rotten Bavarois is similar to the Rotten Éclair in every way except name and icon. It's most likely that the Bavarois was an early version of the Éclair.

It's supposed to be used for a trade in the Osohe Kitchen, but because of a coding error, the characters must also have a Rotten Éclair in their inventory for the trade to trigger.

As a result of said error, a Rotten Éclair trade from the same ghost can never be triggered.

Test

CE

A debug item, Test is equippable to any party member's body. If it is equipped, Test makes the player incredibly weak to every ailment and PSI move, and doesn't give any defense.

Unused Audio

To do:

The game's GSF rip has heartbeat versions of nearly every battle theme in the game, even boss themes. Record the unused heartbeat themes and upload them here.

Any piece of audio in the game can be heard using the code 0201B910:???? , where "????" is one of the below (shown in this section inside parenthesis, in bold, which are in decimal). These values are unsigned and 2-bytes long. To hear them, open the sound test and play to the first song. If you don't press the stop button, it'll automatically play the next song on top of it after around 1 minute, which is how long Let's Begin! takes.

Unused Music

( 413 ) A sad version of the Pigmask Army theme. It has been stated by Shigesato Itoi in a Nintendo Dream interview that the Pigmask theme was once the main theme of the game instead of the Theme of Love, so this piece may be a remnant of that original plan.

( 1966 ) An alternative version of the love song that didn't get used.

( 1649 ) This is the music used when the player talks to a Sanctuary boss in EarthBound. The unique background from the Sanctuary guardians also exist in MOTHER 3, albeit unused, suggesting that this unused music and the unused background went together.

( 436 ) An early version of Try Kinda Hard.

( 437 ) An early, unused version of And... Stop!.

( 1148 ) A variant of Fight With Mecha-Drago. At 0:14 and 0:28, some weird buzzing noise is inserted for around 1 second. During this period, there are no combo beats. After the loop, some timpani extend the music's duration, but even with their upbeat nature, the BPM does not change.

( 397 ) A shorter version of Etude for Ghosts. This was one of the battle themes in the unreleased EarthBound 64.

( 1936 ) A weird song, that when sped up, is revealed to be OJ from the DCMC saying "One, Two, Three, Five!" Fans mistakenly called this music "Giygas Theme".

( 202 ) Some eerie creature's breath. It loops endlessly. It sounds like a nod to the breathing sounds of Giygas's lair from EarthBound. It's possible that the sound could've been heard somewhere at the final needle room.

( 157 ) An underwater variation of Good Morning! This piece suggests there may have originally been a place to rest somewhere in the Seafloor Dungeon.

( 1939 ) A heartbeat, with ominous background noise. It's just the same thing over and over. It has no BPM data, so it couldn't have been a battle theme. It does, however, sound similar to the intro of the Masked Man's battle theme.

( 1911 ) An alternate version of Run, My Dog, Run!, sometimes called Fetch, My Dog, Fetch! It's a bit shorter.

( 81 ) An alternate, slightly calmer version of The Green Train's Fun, Too!

( 402 ) An alternate version of the Tazmily theme, based on A Railway in Our Village!. It was meant to be played in the unused flashback cutscenes.

( 1162 ) An alternate version of Formidable Foe called Formidable Foes. The BPM is halved at 0:23, 0:48, and 0:59.

Duster's Unused Melodies

( 376 - 390 ) Due to a bug, Duster's chosen attack melody isn't randomized like everyone else's, being 00 all the time. Turns out he actually has five more melodies, just like everyone else. In this file, each melody part plays individually, and there are three melody parts per melody, as usual. Version 1.2 of the English translation patch fixes this bug and allows all of Duster's melodies to be heard. (Video containing Duster's melodies)

Unused Beat Data

The pause menu, file load/save menu, and the Pigmask radio's song on the training grounds have associated BPM data, even though that data's only used for the rhythm combos in battles. (Example)

Revisional Differences

The 2015 re-release for Wii U Virtual Console changed a few things:

The flashes of lightning in the cutscene where Boney is sent to retrieve Duster in Chapter 1 are less frequent, likely to reduce the risk of seizures. This also applies to the flashes of lightning during Porky's dialogue in Chapter 8 after the Mecha-Porkies fight.

The bolt of electricity that strikes Lucas in Chapter 5 is given yellow highlights, likely to make it more visible.

GBA Virtual Console

The maximum brightness of the Top Dogfish's battle background is slightly brighter.