Mother 3 is infamous among Nintendo fans for never releasing outside Japan after its release on the Game Boy Advance in April 2006. The game, which is a sequel to Earthbound (Mother 2,) has become a cult classic despite never officially releasing in English. Much of this is due to the 2008 Mother 3 fan translation, a full English translated patch for the game that has become the only way to experience Mother 3 in English. To celebrate the game's 15th anniversary, the original translator has released a new patch that aims to fix technical issues.
Mother 3 originally started development in 1994 and aimed to launch on the 64DD, a disc-based expansion to the Nintendo 64 that allowed developers to create more ambitious games for the hardware. After the peripheral bombed financially, series creator Shigesato Itoi announced in 2000 that Mother 3 had been canceled. In 2003, development of Mother 3 restarted on the Game Boy Advance under Nintendo subsidiary studio Brownie Brown (now known as 1-Up Studio.)
Mother 3 quickly went on to become a critical and sales success in Japan, with many praising it as one of the best Japanese RPGs of all time with particular emphasis on its story. Despite fan campaigns, Nintendo has never shown any interest in localizing the title, with ex-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime joking about the situation on many occasions both during his time at the company and since his departure.
Thankfully, in October 2008 a group of fans released the Mother 3 fan translation, which has gone on to become one of the most popular English fan translations of all time, reportedly receiving over 100,000 downloads in its first week alone. The patch was most recently updated in 2014, with the release of version 1.3. However, today, on Mother 3's 15th anniversary, its original translator has released version 1.4, which fixes numerous technical and performance issues, as well as some bugs presented by running the patch. The translation tools for the patch have also been upgraded.
Despite the Mother 3 fan translation's fame, Nintendo has never attempted to shut down the project. Even earlier this week, ex-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime joked on Twitter about finally getting around to playing the game for himself. It appears that Nintendo is aware of the fan patch, however the company still seems to have no desire to translate Mother 3 and release the game on Nintendo Switch any time soon. There have been many rumors over the years claiming that Nintendo has canceled numerous attempts at bringing the game west due to its serious themes involving loss, substance-abuse, and depression. Until then, the hard work of the fans behind this translation is the only way fans can experience one of Nintendo's greatest RPGs.