Westerners have been crying out for Nintendo to localise the 2006 Game Boy Advance title Mother 3 for many years.
While there's still no sign of an official translation happening, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé recently spoke about a "Mother 3 English version" on Twitter and how he might "fire it up" this weekend. This follows on from his response earlier this week to more fan requests for the game.
As you can see above, this latest comment was a reply to the Twitch account - asking followers what the oldest game in their library was that they haven't played yet. So, assuming this isn't a joke (which is very well could be), Reggie has apparently had a localised version of Mother 3 in his backlog for a very long time.
While there's been no explanation from Nintendo as to why Mother 3 hasn't been localised yet, it was previously suggested it was cancelled due to its controversial aspects. Fans have already taken matters into their own hands and released an English translation, which can be played via other methods. Could Reggie be referring to this, perhaps?
Do you ever think we'll get to play Mother 3? Is Reggie pulling our leg? Leave a comment down below.
[source twitter.com, via nintendowire.com]
Comments 67
99.9999999999% it’s the fan translation.
I'd assumed he was talking about the fan version, but I can't imagine Nintendo being happy about that, even if Reggie doesn't answer to them anymore. Can't imagine Nintendo is too happy about this either way
Lol, something tells me he doesn't really have an English version of Mother 3 guys, Come on.
Honestly, if everyone stops asking for it, we will get it. That's how they work O.<
English Mother 3 has turned into what Duke Nukem Forever always should have been: a big vaporware running gag.
I took this as sarcasm immediately, I don’t really think he has it haha
What a mad lad trolling like that!
The fan translation is already perfect.
It was obviously a joke, NintendoLife 🙄
He’s gotta be messing around, unless he’s talking about the fan version.
I don’t really get why this is such an issue for people anymore. It’s easy as ***** to download and play the translated rom so if anyone really cares, they can spend 10 mins learning how to do it and then just play it.
He sure could. We all technically have the English version.😄
Reggie is a troll. lol
And I got a jar o dirt, I got a jar o dirt guess what's inside it.
It could be that big fan-translated version, or it's an officially-localized version that was never released because of the lack of censorship. Either way, this is Reggie getting people to shut up.
But Reggie would still be under Nintendo's NDA, I think, considering there were still many unreleased games that were in development before he left Nintendo. That makes it pretty obvious that it's not an official version.
..................What did he say?
It's called emulation and it's 100% legal provided he owns a physical copy to apply the fan patch to. Not sure what all the wink winks and nudge nudges in the article are for.
I doubt reggie used the localization patch on a mother 3 cart, but it wouldn't surprise me if he owned a distributed translated rom. Could be why he never tried it yet for loyalty sake, probably got it passed down since they're more common then the game itself and just held onto it. They're not that hard to come by, and in the US if there is mother 3 carts at thrift stores and such its likely not the real thing.
It's very obvious he's trolling.
Trolling for sure. I say he's earned it with all the questions he's had to field about the game.
I think asking Reggie about this topic/joke was beating a dead horse.
He's just screwing with the Mother 3 beggars. He has no obligation to hide his contempt and wants them to suffer. It's so gratifying to see those nerds rage
That’s rather funny😂
typical Reggie, making fun of everyone that wanted Nintendo to release a oficial english version of Mother 3(is obvious that Reggie is trolling us).
there has never been a more obvious joke in the history of obvious jokes
@LinkSword Oh? There's a rule saying you can modify your cartridges?
@ModdedInkling Or he's not really playing games, other than with gamer's heads.
I believe it, he probably just has to finish his playthrough of Metroid Dread and Mario 64 2 first
I got the Mother 3 fan translation on my PSP too. Plays very well
At this point I rather want a remake of all three Mother games.
@Kalmaro Modify... the cartridge? Please tell me you're joking or just woke up.
Maybe gba and gbc coming to nso?
I could be wrong, but I think 95% of people who would be interested enough to buy Mother 3, have already played the fan translation.
@LinkSword None of the above. The game is on a cartridge, I'm assuming. Adding a patch would being editing the contents on said cartridge.
If that's true, I wasn't aware there was ever a rule made for that.
Unless we're talking just having a rom of the game and patching that. Then you start running into legal issues, I think.
I played about 6 and ahalf hours of mother 3 and got tired of allt he communist nonsense in the game. Did the director of that game really imply that before capitalism no one had to work everyday? That kind of eye in the sky nonsense really ruined the whole experience for me, it took me out of the game completely. Def. prefer Mother 2, it has the same kind of anti capitalist nonsense in it but at least its a whole lot subtler and not completely out of touch.
Reggie is a bellend
He's trolling the people who keep pestering him about it, and they deserve it. It's hilarious.
I bet Reggie also has Mario 128, New Play Control Melee, Metroid Prime 4, and Sonic Adventure 3 & Shadow.
It’s a joke. Why would he be hinting at a product that he’s not even involved in? He no longer works for Nintendo, and I’m pretty sure he signed an NDA before leaving with a couple of future projects that probably already came out.
I don’t get why people don’t play the fan translation...
Don't play with my heart, Reggie.
Nintendo probably have a finished translation ready for quite some time and haven't released for some reason, same thing with Fire Emblem 1, that was made during the Wii U days, they could be holding it to align with future releases, or some other baffling reason.
Again fans do what the companies we love don't.
@GrailUK Was going to say, not sure how people are missing the joke.
Didn’t Reggie once said to “Talk to me in a year and let's look back and see what's happened”
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/nintendo-offers-metroid-mother-3-fans-a-glimmer-of/1100-6446941/
This was in January 2017. On e3 that year we got Metroid Prime 4 announcement and also Samus Returns but we never got the Mother news he hinted about.
Now this is just a theory but could he be referring to this English version of Mother 3 back in 2017?
Who knows, Mother 1 had an official fully finished unreleased English version on NES for over a decade until it got finally released on Wii U as EarthBound Beginnings so perhaps is the same for Mother 3 and Reggie might actually have a legit English copy stored away that Nintendo let him keep, maybe they'll eventually finally release it on Switch as "EarthBound Finale" or something, Fire Emblem from NES finally got released and so did Star Fox 2 from SNES, so there is definitely a chance Nintendo might surprise us.
He is 100% trolling. I doubt he's referring to the fan translation (which he very well could play), so I think he's just making this as a stab at all the people asking for Mother 3. And it is hilarious.
Joking or not (and he probably is), I don't find it unreasonable to believe he'd have a legitimate translated copy. It's been reported in the past that a translation was planned and scrapped later on, and since he became President of NoA in 2006 (the year Mother 3 released), it's reasonable to believe test copies of the translation were given to him.
Just Reggie pretending he's still relevant.
@nessisonett Reggie so kicking a** and taking names, he kicked the game's a** and localized it himself.
Wasn't there some clip once of Reggie speaking Japanese badly and Bill Trinen commenting like "at least my job is safe". Not sure if it was real or a parody.
Ok Reggie’s trolling might have been funny at first but it’s now getting really annoying. Please just stop.
@AugustusOxy You stopped playing Mother 3 because.... it was too communist? This site is insane.
@nessisonett Biden had 4 scoops of ice cream. News at 11.
@nessisonett I don't want to say it was possibly trolling.. but it was definitely trolling.
@tseliot Knowing this site, it absolutely wasn’t.
Alright, prepare for the mother fans to raid reggies house! I hope his body is ready...
Reggie, if you're also sitting on some localized copies of Treasure of the Rudra and Live-A-Live, please may I borrow them?
Bahaha! does this mean he downloaded the rom?
How about just put earthbound on nintendo switch online at least. I can't see what's stopping them from doing that.
@Sandro89 for real. Loving it on my modded 2ds xl
They could remake the Mother series, part 3 included, with graphics reminding of Link's Awakening's new version. By this, I don't mean directly copying that art style, but something close to that.
The fact that he says that he always puts it off because he gets "trolled" sounds like he's telling us that he's trolling us ~ 😛
@Offolsense Not sure that's the point First off, Nintendo didn't make a dime of that, nor did it too much in terms of positive publicity for the game. In other words, the franchise remans positively dead - sadly.
Besides that, Mother 3 feels like a totem to the past and worst of "Nintendo-being-Nintendo". We have moved beyond that east-west divide, region-locking, releases being delayed by years - or not coming out at all. Nintendo having no consideration for even the smallest of fan request, set in their ways so profoundly that any decision once made seems like a biblical oath.
I really don't get why they did not just do what they now even did for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, a much older game. Of course, even that had to come with the caveat of being a limited release. Luckily we all played this game long enough to no long be upset about Ninten-DO always coming with a BUT.
@Ralek85
Hey very true, on principle it is strange, especially if they're so aware that they troll the fan base.
I remember that E3 sketch where Reggie burned a guy for asking about it. And that was years ago!
And the series as a whole being dead is too bad. I love Earthbound, and I still hold out hope that maybe someday there'll be a remake of all 3.
There's no way he's talking about an official translation. If they had done one they would have released it years ago. He hasn't been at Nintendo for years so he can talk a little more freely at this point about grey area stuff like fan translations.
Wasn’t this obviously a joke?
It's something more obviously. Reggie is self-releasing the official Mother 3 version and will become the next CEO of Nintendo Japan.
quickly hugs bootleg, then goes about business
Nothing to see here
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