June 24th, 2015 | EarthBound, Interviews, MOTHER 1, MOTHER 3

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Reggie Fils-Aime discussed the EarthBound series – and MOTHER 3 – a little bit more! Here are key snippets from it:

Fils-Aime, in reference to MOTHER 3: “Look, again, I think this is an example that demonstrates we’re constantly listening. We’re hearing what the fans say. And we thought it was great to bring back the very first Mother, Earthbound Beginnings here in the market. It’s been out for sale and doing quite well in the eShop. Again, we’ll never say never, but there’s nothing to announce right now.”

And:

Fils-Aime: “The Mother/Earthbound series is quite niche. And so for us it’s constantly thinking about the investment and then return for a game like that. There is quite a bit of localization to be done and we just need to make sure that volumetrically there’s enough volume to offset that investment.” Totilo: “Is it safe to assume that you guys are pretty happy with how Earthbound was received last year and that helped motivate and get Mother 1 out?” Fils-Aime: “That’s exactly right.”

You can read the full article here.

The giddy EarthBound fan in me wants to read too much into what he’s saying, especially the “for now” part, but the logical side of me says that he’s saying what he’s said for years and years. Here’s Reggie in 2006 saying “not yet” to plans for MOTHER 3, for example:

This “not yet” actually got LOTS of fans excited back then, and he’s said the same thing almost every time since then. But, given all the recent circumstances, even I’m starting to feel more optimistic about an official MOTHER 3 release this time!

Reggie mentioned that there’s a lot of localization to do… which is precisely why I made my offer to Nintendo a good while back. If it turns out to be too costly to localize MOTHER 3 because they’re not sure that “volumetrically there’s enough volume to offset that investment”, then my offer for Nintendo to use my translation materials for free still stands. I’d of course sign whatever legal documents are necessary, and I’d even offer to edit, fix, or alter anything necessary for free. I’d even offer to act a as a consultant for free, as long as it helps an official translation of the game get released. I’m a professional translator and have been in this line of work for 13 or 14 years now.

It’s common for Nintendo to hire other translation companies like 8-4 to handle game localization when Nintendo’s localization department is already too swamped to handle more work. If that’s ever a consideration or the case with MOTHER 3, my offer to assist stands – whether it’s with Nintendo or anyone else, I’m willing to help in any way to ensure the game gets an official translation, whether it’s by offering my already-translated materials outright or in some sort of other capacity.

Like I’ve said before and during pretty much every EarthBound Central Live stream, I understand there’s like a 0.001% chance of the offer ever being accepted. It HAS happened in the past with other companies and other games, but I don’t expect it of Nintendo. Still, I just wanted the offer to be out there in case the fate of a MOTHER 3 release ever came down to a budget, time, or manpower problem. And given that’s what Reggie mentioned in this interview, that does seems to be a concern.

In any case, if or when an official MOTHER 3 translation ever gets released, I hope fans will rally around it the same way fans have been rallying around EarthBound Beginnings. That’s why the fan translation disclaimer has been saying this since Day 1:

Having an unofficial translation is one thing, but having an actual, official release that will support the creators and developers directly while also avoiding the shadiness of ROMs and flash carts (and especially the ensuing reproduction scene) would be much nicer, you know? Plus it would open up even more opportunities, like more official MOTHER 3 merchandise being released outside of Japan.

Whatever happens, my hopes are a little higher now!