MOTHER/EarthBound series

There are probably a few legal issues with selling fan work, so an original translation is more likely, but considering the series' status, it's much more likely that it just won't be released on non-Japanese Virtual Consoles.

edited 17th Apr '13 10:22:28 PM by Null

Tomato actually has offered Nintendo to use his translation for official use with no legal issues.

Regardless of whether Tomato has given them permission, there's still the fact that the translation, as the work of a third party, would have to be comprehensively edited and assessed to comply with Nintendo's own standards and policies, in addition to submitting what would effectively be a new release to Western ratings authorities. It could certainly save some time, but I don't know how willing they are to release the third game in the rest of the world.

edited 17th Apr '13 10:55:15 PM by Null

Yeah, it's not really a good idea for people in the industry to refer to fan translations in any way. You'll probably see Nintendo's own translation, IF we even get Mother 3.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah, I've never seen anyone take fan translations...

Just imagine if fan translations were taken. The hilarity of the supposed implications of a certain half-elf's... capabilities in bed could be made canon.

edited 18th Apr '13 12:52:15 AM by GreatT

I can't see all of the expletives or Club Titiboo's name staying in an official English release for Mother 3.

Or they could just rate it T if Nintendo wants to avoid backlash.

Only downside. so far it seems to be Wii U only. so yay 3ds owners like me get nothing.

It's not just America and Europe who are getting Earth Bound. It's coming out in Australia and New Zealand as well.

Click here to watch something heartwarming from the fans.

With the fan translation thing, X Seed actually hired the guy who did the fan translation for Ys: Oath in Felghana and basically used it.

I wouldn't mind if Nintendo were to just use the Tomato translation. Some may call that "lazy", I call it "practical".

I mean, yeah, it's unlikely for them to use a fan translation, but I'm just saying it would be pretty cool if they did. The only things I could see them needing to change would be some cusswords (Which would be a shame, that Pigmask telling you to "get out of the damn way" is one of my favorite pieces of NPC dialogue from the translation) and maybe "Club Titiboo" just for sounding rather awkward. Would be nice if they could just keep it and rate it T, but I see that as being unlikely.

Regarding this actual rerelease of Earthbound, do you think the game will be changed at all from the SNES version? Like, any edit to the translation or somesuch?

So...it's pretty much confirmed that the supposed legal issues were never really a problem to begin with. I've been suspecting this for a while... Along with this, it looks like there won't be any changes from the SNES version.

edited 19th Apr '13 3:36:17 PM by beorc

I can just imagine someone giving Ness a congratulatory noogie for this.

With that in mind, you think they'll bring Mother 3 over if Nintendo decides to port it to the 3DS or something?

Translation and international release is almost guaranteed for a remake; it's releasing the GBA game on VC we're dubious about.

They did release some GBA games for the 3DS Ambassador program, so there is precedent...well, sort of.

edited 19th Apr '13 7:54:36 PM by universalperson

There's just one problem. Those were done through the leftover GBA hardware that was still in the 3DS, not emulators the VC uses. Having GBA VC games on the 3DS ain't that simple.

What's stopping them from releasing it on the eShop?

Just one thing regarding the fan translation, Tomato does work as an official translator in both the video game and anime industries, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to hire him and then just maybe ask him to change some things if they have any specific issues.

Just started playing Mother 3, and I have to say, the music will be stuck in my head all week.

I'm still following the MOTHER 1 remake hack, and they've made two awesome mixes using SNES sound: The End, and Bein' Friends. The latter is even mixed with Onett's theme.

So... what became of this? When's the game coming?

Do you mean the remake hack?