LAVENDER TOWN (POKEMON RED AND BLUE)

For a series made primarily for kids, Pokemon has a surprising tendency to regularly show some pretty eerie stuff, and the eeriest of them all was Lavender Town as a whole. From the creepy Pokemon Tower to the vibe of the whole town, Lavender Town was not a very pleasant place to be in- and the music accompanying the location had a huge hand in that.

People have been waiting for an official Mother 3 localization for over a decade now. That’s not a joke—the game came out on the Gameboy Advance in 2005 in Japan, and we’ve been waiting ever since for it in the rest of the world. There were even rumors that Nintendo was working on bringing the game west a few years ago. But none of it ever materialized in anything. Were the rumors false, then?

Not necessarily. Apparently, according to Imran Khan, an editor at Game Informer, and posting on ResetEra, Nintendo was actually working on getting the game localized, but realized it would be difficult, owing to some elements that are integral to its story, and cannot be removed—but which are extremely controversial, and would be inappropriate for today’s climate. These included problematic depictions of dark skinned people (specifically African-American people), slurs against the Romani people, and some less-than-flattering depictions of religious ceremonies. While some of this stuff could be changed, a lot of it is central to the game’s story, so Nintendo couldn’t find a way to make it work.

The long and short of it is that Nintendo eventually gave up on the project as a dead end. Assuming this report is true, Mother 3 will apparently not be happening outside of Japan any time soon—if ever.

Nintendo has finally revived Metroid, but that doesn’t mean fan demands for other Nintendo properties on their hot new console have subsided. There is, of course, F-Zero, which we haven’t seen a new game from in over a decade- but undoubtedly, the two most requested franchises for the Switch by fans are Animal Crossing, and Mother– specifically, Mother 3, the superlative final installment in the RPG which launched in Japan on the GBA in 2005, but never came over to the west.

Responding to fan concerns regarding these two games in particular, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said to IGN, “When we have something to announce, we will. Fill in the blank of your favorite franchise. Our mentality will be we’ll announce information close to its launch date versus teasing people for years on end.”

Speaking specifically about Mother 3, Reggie said, “Again, we know, I know there’s a fan base for that title. It’s something that we always think about in terms of where there are opportunities to reintroduce IP to fans, to do it in a way that builds new fans, we’re certainly aware. No promises, no commitments one way or the other, but we’re aware.”

He also talked about Animal Crossing, which we haven’t seen a proper new game in since New Leaf launched on the Nintendo 3DS all the way back in 2012 (though admittedly the localized release followed in 2013), noting that the success of Pocket Camp on smartphones bodes well for the future of the franchise either way.

“I did see a lot of internet memes with sad faces from the Animal Crossing group,” Fils-Aime admitted. “We see tremendous opportunity in using the mobile platform to introduce IP to consumers who may not be as familiar. Animal Crossing is a great example. Tremendous interaction with Pocket Camp. Fans are really enjoying that experience. We’re introducing it to new consumers. That bodes well for whenever the next Animal Crossing might come.”

In the end, at least with Animal Crossing, we should see a major Switch game eventually- New Leaf is one of the most successful games on the 3DS, and it is a tentpole franchise for Nintendo. Presumably, it is being saved up for next year, or the year after. Mother 3 might be a bit dicier, but there is some hope that Nintendo might finally choose to respond to the fan outcry, and bring that game over at last.

Once upon a time, games needed to be that black and white because there wasn’t much space for a lengthy script in the tiny space on an NES cartridge. Technology is a wonderful thing however, and games can get complicated in some brilliant narrative ways, where who’s on the right side of history isn’t always so black and white. Here’s 15 of our favourites, but make sure you share your memorably tragic villains in the comments!

Xander – Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright

Within Fire Emblem Fates, the player character Corrin is forced to choose sides against either the kingdom that raised them but stole them away as a child, Noir, or against his birth kingdom of Hoshido. Late into the game, the player goes up against the eldest brother of the kingdom they stood against. While the tragic circumstances and the fact that neither brother manages to live through the battle is hard to watch on either side, Xander, Scion of Noir that you take on in the Birthright path wins out on how heavy it is. The encounter with Xander begins with him accidentally cutting down his own little sister, who stepped between them to stop them from fighting. Instead of heeding her final wish to lay down his sword, Xander is forced to stand with Noir, and raises it against the sibling he believes betrayed him.

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever was in the works since 1996. 3D Realms would infamously throw the “when it’s done” line while hopping from one engine to the next. After a conflict with publisher Take Two Interactive, 3D Realms eventually went bankrupt. The project didn’t die – it’s rights were eventually acquired by Gearbox Software and Duke Nukem Forever released in 2011. Surprise, surprise but it was mostly mediocre. And don’t worry – this isn’t the last time we’ll mention the Borderlands developer.

Boss Theme – Sonic CD

As a boss theme trying to represent the vileness of Eggman, this t-heme from the US version of Sonic CD was fitting. That is, until you listen past the 20 second mark which is when it descends into a David Lynch film and then a Dario Argento film. Neither of those is something you want to see as a kid by the way, forget hearing about it as an innocent child (relatively speaking).

In a lot of ways, Nintendo is set for this year already- the Switch will be getting ARMS, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Super Mario Odyssey, all announced for this year. However, if Nintendo wants to maintain the kind of momentum that the Switch currently has, it needs to announce more games. Games for this year, if it can, sure, but also games coming next year. Nintendo has an enviable catalog of IP- it needs to leverage that to promise fans that new, appealing, attractive, must own games are coming.

So we have Nintendo’s ‘showcase’, another digital stream that they will be holding to announce games at E3 this year. We know that Super Mario Odyssey will be a major focus for Nintendo at the event this year, which is fine- but what else might we expect from the Big N at the biggest game show of the year?

"We know that Super Mario Odyssey will be a major focus for Nintendo at the event this year."

First, let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way- we are almost certainly going to see more of ARMS, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Super Mario Odyssey during the stream. For the latter three of those, we will definitely get new trailers with release dates as well. Also a safe bet for Nintendo during the stream- Ubisoft’s Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, the weird, bizarre crossover RPG that’s been thoroughly leaked at this point.

It’s once we get into the realm of speculation that things begin to get interesting, though, again, there are some reasonably safe predictions to be made here. Before the Switch event back in January, there were multiple leaks about the system and its lineup from the same sources, which ended up being validated later on. Games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, and Splatoon 2 were all leaked. These same sources also leaked some other games. The two most notable ones here are Pokemon Stars, a Switch port of last year’s exceptional Pokemon Sun/Moon for the Nintendo 3DS (and a game that even Nintendo has been teasing for a while now), and a remaster of Super Smash Bros. for the Switch. Both of these games would be highly notable announcements- the former, because it would be the first console Pokemon game ever, and also the first time we get the series in glorious HD. The latter, because it’s Smash Bros., and it is likely to push the frenzy around the Nintendo Switch into a fever pitch.

It is also a safe bet to assume that we will be seeing more of the unnamed Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo Switch at E3- we will probably get a short cinematic trailer, and maybe a name, but there won’t be much gameplay footage, if any, shown. Similarly, Monster Hunter XX, one of the biggest third party games currently confirmed for the Nintendo Switch, is definitely going to be shown off, which will also mark the confirmation of its worldwide release and localization.

"Monster Hunter XX, one of the biggest third party games currently confirmed for the Nintendo Switch, is definitely going to be shown off, which will also mark the confirmation of its worldwide release and localization."

So far, so good. This is a solid lineup if it pans out as laid out above- but Nintendo will need some bombshells to keep people talking about the Switch. What are they likely to do? I postulate that Nintendo will make two announcements, both long deemed unlikely, neither with necessarily high commercial appeal, but both which will win Nintendo incredible mindshare and talking points (the value of which the company undoubtedly understands now). First, I think Nintendo will finally announce, and release on the same day, Mother 3 in the west via the Switch’s eShop. This will mark the first time that the game, widely considered to be one of the greatest Nintendo games ever made, will have released in the west. Mother 3‘s western release has been widely leaked by the same sources that got a lot of other things about the Switch right- it’s only a matter of time at this point.

Secondly – and there are no leaks for this, but I am willing to go out on a limb and say that this will happen – Nintendo will announce a new Metroid game, likely to be a full fledged 3D Metroid Prime game. There is one very basic reason to think this- Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was drilled about Nintendo’s mishandling of the Metroid franchise earlier this year, and he very strongly hinted that a new Metroid announcement would be coming at E3. I have to imagine it will be a big budget 3D Metroid game- Nintendo surely understands that safe, 2D installments of its classic franchises hold little market appeal by this point. If so, I expect it to be the kind of full next generation realization of Metroid that Zelda and Mario got with Breath of the Wild and Odyssey.

"Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was drilled about Nintendo’s mishandling of the Metroid franchise earlier this year, and he very strongly hinted that a new Metroid announcement would be coming at E3."

Between the lineup of games for this year, and future excitement secured for the Switch with some major games revealed for 2018, Nintendo is likely to be in a very comfortable position with the Switch going into the all important Holiday season this year. It is likely that this should give it enough ammunition to hold its own against the Xbox Scorpio and the PS4 for the rest of this year.

But E3 is almost here- we’re going to find out soon enough how Nintendo will play the excellent hand it has been given. We can only hope it does not screw it up.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

A new Metroid? The long-awaited sequel to Mother aka Earthbound finally releasing in the West? There’s nothing to announce currently but Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is more than aware about “key IP” that fans want to see.

Speaking to GameSpot, Fils-Aime said, “Oh, so earlier today I got asked about Mother 3; maybe you can ask me about Metroid. Look, again, I am proud as an executive with Nintendo to say that we look at all of the boards and all of the comments and we really have a good understanding of what our consumers want. And believe me, we take that to heart as we work to create content.

“So I have nothing to announce–here. But we are aware that there are some key IP that consumers just can’t wait for the next true installment in that franchise’s legacy. Suffice it to say, we’re aware of it, and talk to me in a year and let’s look back and see what’s happened.”

Another interesting to note is how the Switch won’t have “large gaps” between releases with the focus being ib “a regular cadence of critical launches to drive the install base and keep the consumer base engaged.”

Nintendo Switch is out on March 3rd so we’ll find out just how likely that is in the coming months.

Last year, well known Nintendo insider Emily Rogers revealed that Nintendo were working on releasing the legendary cult classic RPG Mother 3 in the west, via their Virtual Console service. Mother 3, which is the sequel to NES’s Earthbound Origins, and SNES’s Earthbound, had released in Japan on the Gameboy Advance in 2006, but had never been released in the west.

Mother 3 had been highly praised, and is often considered to be one of the best Nintendo games ever made, as well as one of the best stories told in a video game- not getting to play it in the west, then, really bothered a lot of people. A fan translation for the game exists, but there was never any official release. Therefore, you can imagine that people were extremely happy at the news of Mother 3 coming over after all last year.

Nothing came of it, though, and people lost hope and interest. However, it seems that Mother 3 is being worked on behind the scenes- Nintendo just chose to withhold it from the Wii U, and launch it on the upcoming Nintendo Switch instead. Speaking on her Twitter, known Nintendo insider Laura Dale said that Mother 3 will be releasing on the Switch via the Virtual Console, and that we can expect the announcement for it next week, during the Nintendo Switch event.

If this is true, there will be many, many happy fans. We’re just over a week away from finding out- let’s see what Nintendo have planned.

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?