Ten years ago, Nintendo released a game that has widely been hailed as the greatest game they have ever made, and one of the greatest game of all time- well, by those who got to play it, anyway. The game was called Mother 3, and it was a Gameboy Advance exclusive sequel to the SNES exclusive cult classic Earthbound. But in spite of the fact that Nintendo of Europe, at least, had already begun preliminary work on localizing the game, we never got Mother 3 in the west- possibly because of the dismally low sales Earthbound had had back when it launched on the SNES in North America in 1994, or because of the fact that the GBA was, by then, on the way out, replaced by the Nintendo DS.

Mother 3 has become an enigma since then- the game was universally acclaimed upon its Japanese release, and the few players in the west who got to play it wouldn’t stop raving about it. A fan localization project helped many try the game, and everyone came away impressed- longing for an official release so that more people would get to experience this masterpiece. But it never happened, and after so long, Mother 3 has been consigned to being an unfulfilled dream- something like a Final Fantasy 7 remake, or Shenmue 3 ever releasing.

But dreams do come true- and in keeping with the trend of impossible projects springing to life, it seems like Mother 3 will be getting a western release after all. Multiple independent sources are confirming that Nintendo plans to release the game in the west on the tenth anniversary of its original Japanese release on the Wii U Virtual Console- meaning an April 26 launch.

“Don’t be surprised if Nintendo celebrates a game’s 10th anniversary this year,” Nintendo insider Emily Rogers wrote on Twitter, posting a picture of Mother character Kumatora. That tweet has since been deleted. Another source corroborated the report- and Eurogamer themselves have heard it from an insider source that a Mother 3 western release is finally happening, in just a few months.

After so long, it honestly feels a bit unreal- most Mother fans had long since given up hopes of a western release. But with the English releases of Earthbound, the SNES original, and Earthbound Beginnings (the NES original Mother, renamed and brought to western territories for the first time) on the Wii U Virtual Console, and their corresponding success, as well as the success of the Earthbound inspired Undertale, it really should not come as much of a shock to anybody.

The only question now is what they will call the game. Earthbound Endings, perhaps?

Fans of Nintendo’s Mother (or as it is known as in the west, Earthbound) series of RPGs are probably the most and longest suffering fans of anything in video games. The entire series has been on thin ice in the west since its conception, with the release of the very first game on the NES having been cancelled after it was fully translated at the last moment (it only just became available in the west for the first time last Sunday), the second game having never made it to Europe (the first time it was widely available was when it was released worldwide on the Wii U Virtual Console), and the third game, Mother 3 on the GBA, never having been released in the west at all.

Mother 3 has become sort of a holy grail of gaming- the same kind of status is accorded to it as is to The Last Guardian or Half Life 3. This E3, we came closer to the official announcement of Mother 3 in the west than we ever have been, when Nintendo announced and released the first game in the franchise to the west for the first time ever- leaving only Mother 3 as the game that hasn’t seen a release in the west.

In an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime strongly hinted that Mother 3 might happen in the west. “I think this is an example that demonstrates we’re constantly listening. We’re hearing what the fans say. And we thought it was great to bring back the very first Mother, Earthbound Beginnings here in the market. It’s been out for sale and doing quite well in the eShop. Again, we’ll never say never, but there’s nothing to announce right now,” Fil-Aime said. “The Mother/Earthbound series is quite niche. And so for us it’s constantly thinking about the investment and then return for a game like that. There is quite a bit of localization to be done and we just need to make sure that volumetrically there’s enough volume to offset that investment,” he continued, confirming that the success of Earthbound on the Wii U Virtual Console is what prompted Nintendo to localize and release Earthbound Beginnings.

Whether or not Mother 3 ever releases in the west is something that is yet to be seen, but at least now it is evident that the discussion is not yet off the table. To many fans, that will probably be enough for a while now.

Nintendo was on fire today. At the Nintendo World Championships, they took a brief break from all the competition to announce that the original Mother, which gave rise to its much celebrated sequels Earthbound and Mother 3, will be available for the first time in 25 years in the west as Earthbound Beginnings, via the Wii U Virtual Console- as a matter of fact, it is available now.

Featuring some great music, and a heartwarming script, Earthbound Beginnings is the ‘lost prequel’ to the series that has been overshadowed by the success of its sequels. Its localization now opens up hope that the long requested Mother 3, the Gameboy Advance exclusive conclusion to the series, and often referred to as the greatest game Nintendo ever made, will now be made available some day in the west too. It helps that the Wii U’s Virtual Console covers GBA games already.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage from E3.