Mother 3 is one of the most hotly-desired RPGs ever, having never received an official translation in North America despite the cult popularity of its predecessor, Earthbound. But over all these years, series creator Shigesato Itoi has never weighed in on the discussion - at least until now.
Unfortunately Itoi didn’t go into specifics, but it’s not tough to imagine the game being controversial if it came out in the west. It’s a scathing satire of capitalism, colonialism, and consumer culture. There are a group of characters that are gender non-conforming, and if their mere existence wasn’t enough to rub certain people the wrong way, their name is also a portmanteau of “magic” and a slur. There’s drug use. There are some shocking plot points early on.
Nintendo was infamous for censorship in its localizations, but they had generally chilled out by 2006. If I had to guess, I’d say Nintendo saw a game that already came out way late in the Game Boy Advance’s lifecycle and decided it wasn’t worth it to put out a potentially controversial game that had limited sales potential to begin with.
As an aside, the fan translation of Mother 3 was a rare case where a professional was on the job, so it’s not surprising that it’s a quality English script.
Unfortunately Itoi didn’t go into specifics, but it’s not tough to imagine the game being controversial if it came out in the west. It’s a scathing satire of capitalism, colonialism, and consumer culture. There are a group of characters that are gender non-conforming, and if their mere existence wasn’t enough to rub certain people the wrong way, their name is also a portmanteau of “magic” and a slur. There’s drug use. There are some shocking plot points early on.
Nintendo was infamous for censorship in its localizations, but they had generally chilled out by 2006. If I had to guess, I’d say Nintendo saw a game that already came out way late in the Game Boy Advance’s lifecycle and decided it wasn’t worth it to put out a potentially controversial game that had limited sales potential to begin with.
As an aside, the fan translation of Mother 3 was a rare case where a professional was on the job, so it’s not surprising that it’s a quality English script.