Mother 3 fan translation available this week

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 14th 2008 at 4:15PM }

After almost two years of hard slog, Starmen.net's Mother 3 fan translation patch has finally been completed, and will be released at the end of this week ... a whole month ahead of schedule! That's according to the latest blog entry on the project's site, in which team member Mato records that, "Testing's pretty much over now. Some bugs did turn up over the last few days, but they were all minor and quickly remedied. Some really hard-to-spot typos were also found and fixed."

Joyous news indeed, though the patch will require a few other things before it's of any use: namely a slot-2 flashcart, a GBA emulator, and -- cough -- an entirely unauthorized ROM copy of the Japanese game. While we don't condone piracy, a western localization of Mother 3 doesn't exactly look likely at this stage, and we do condone passionate fan projects such as this one. Hit up this FAQ to learn more, and don't forget to check out some beautiful, Anglicized Mother 3 screens.

Gallery: Mother 3 Fan Translation

[Thanks, Joel!]

Tags: brownie-brown, earthbound, fan-translation, hal-laboratory, itoi, mother, mother-3, patch, rpg, shigesato-itoi, starmen

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

FantomRedux @ Oct 14th 2008 4:43PM

Might to try this, especially because of all the hype about Mother 3.

CJC @ Oct 14th 2008 4:43PM

This makes me a happy guy.

And articles like this one always make EB fans come out of the woodwork.

Zack @ Oct 14th 2008 4:46PM

I've been following this from day one. Kudos, guys! This will really stick it to Nintendo. Do they think that Earthbound still isn't as big as it was 10 years ago? How dare they release Earthbound on the Virtual Console only in Japan. :-P

theclaw @ Oct 14th 2008 4:59PM

No, Earthbound isn't actually on the Virtual Console in Japan (yet).

It was just one of the demos in the Japanese version of SSBB.

Ravnos @ Oct 14th 2008 5:12PM

I have to say, I'm pretty damn excited about this. Shame on Nintendo for not putting out an official English (or other language) version. N

Broco Lee @ Oct 14th 2008 5:14PM

Is it any good?

Monodi @ Oct 15th 2008 4:21PM

It is not good. It is incredibly well written, unique batte system, great sprite acting and beautiful music.

"Good" is a demotion.

Jihad Germ @ Oct 14th 2008 5:16PM

I am incredibly excited to feel similar to the way I felt when playing through EarthBound for the very first time.

I've waited for years; because of dedicated people much like all of you reading this, the waiting is nearly over.

Erik Stroud @ Oct 14th 2008 5:21PM

I know, I want that feeling again. Even after multiple play throughs, it still makes me laugh. Can't wait for this.

Matt @ Oct 14th 2008 5:16PM

I haven't heard anything about this, first I've heard so far. Seems interesting though.

Nukie @ Oct 14th 2008 5:39PM

I've been following the Mother 3 Fan Translation page for some time now. I am very excited about this. I am currently playing the Earthbound game on my DS and enjoying it a great deal, thanks to GBA emulation. Thanks for the heads up!

Monkey Thing?!!? @ Oct 14th 2008 6:01PM

Lucas got his ass beat by that Rhino

EPerson @ Oct 14th 2008 7:32PM

I have been waiting so long for this! HOORAY!!!!!!!

Spike @ Oct 14th 2008 8:21PM

i'll throw it on my EZV and try it when it releases, even though i have never played earthbound before

Erik Stroud @ Oct 14th 2008 9:08PM

EarthBound is amazing. You should play it. I have a real copy, and I play on the go with my psp. The SNES emulator on ds doesnt play to well.

WiiFTW @ Oct 14th 2008 10:51PM

Is a slot-2 card necessary? I have an R4DS *gasp* and it runs some SNES Roms via SNEmulDS (http://www.snemul.com/ds/). It works for A Link to the Past and Super Metroid, but FF6 there's lot of texture screw-ups and Secret of Mana doesn't run. Earthbound I believe works, but maybe with some texture problems (haven't checked).

It's worth trying for those without slot-2 flash carts.

Acceptable Risk @ Oct 14th 2008 11:47PM

That's all nice if you were playing an SNES game. But Mother 3 is for GBA. There's no GBA emulator for DS that I know of. You're gonna be relegated to emulation on another platform or using a GBA flashcart on real hardware.

GrungeSpoo @ Oct 16th 2008 7:46AM

It's kind of odd actually. One can use the gba slot to access the hardware required to play DS games, but one can not use the DS slot to load gba games.

JeffMan @ Oct 14th 2008 11:38PM

Chris: note that a slot-2 flash cart is only necessary to play the game on DS or GBA hardware. You could play the game on a computer with just the emulator and no flash cart whatsoever.

Vincent @ Oct 15th 2008 12:08AM

ive been waiting for this for so long. the people behind this worked real hard and the translations look good enough to be official. cant wait to give it a spin.

Eccentric-Servbot @ Oct 15th 2008 1:26AM

I've been following the fan translation's updates since some time around June of last year I think. Its been facinating watching the updates unfold one by one, and seeinge the hacking and translation slowly come to completion.

Loved Earthbound, insanely excited for the sequal. Can't wait for this patch so I can finally experience the translate-y goodness!

aj @ Oct 15th 2008 5:32AM

I knew that GBA emulator for PSP was good for something.

But remember kids - we want it to be released in English so we can buy it. If it is released in English, and no one buys it, you're all bad people.

gukid @ Oct 15th 2008 7:28PM

I'd rather play a free fan translation than a corporate cash in anyday. I've already got my (totally wicked awesome) copy of the Japanese Mother 3, so legally, I'm all set.

And if NoA actually released this in English, in any possibly form, it's just too late. They forgot about the fans, and the fans should forget about NoA.

aj @ Oct 15th 2008 7:31PM

....er....every single thing Nintendo does, every system, game, every thing is a corporate cash in. They want your money. If they cease to get your money, they cease to bother making the product. And since we all like the product (sweet, sweet games), I don't really understand the whole "punk rock" mentality towards the games industry.

But that's neither here nor there. I do hope that the translation gets enough attention to make NoA notice.

tacoman @ Oct 15th 2008 6:00AM

Wow, this is so nostalgic! Glad they finally got over all the drama and got the translation done, even if it has been 2 1/2 years since the game came out. Those of you who decide to play it are in for a real treat!

Monodi @ Oct 15th 2008 4:25PM

Ah... this is spring for my soul and probably what will heal everything that has made 2008 a really crappy year so far for me.

I already played and cleared the game last year but now knowing its coming to an international access, it like eating gold nuggets.

Big shame of you for not distributing Nintendo. SHAME. ON. YOU.