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?

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.

Of the Mother Games only the 2nd installment, retitled Earthbound for American audiences, was ever released in the English language. Despite this, two characters from the series (Ness and Lucas) made appearances in the Gamecube and Wii Super Smash Bros. Titles. Although the 1st and 3rd installments of the series have only, up to this point, been available to non-Japanese speakers through dedicated fan translations, the ending of the Mother series is a sad event for fans of quirky JRPGs everywhere.

Thanks to CVG for the info.