Mother 3 Is Finally Coming To Nintendo Switch--In Japan

The Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase offered plenty of updates on new and upcoming titles, and while there was plenty for Western audiences to chew on, a certain piece of news from the Japanese version of the video has raised some eyebrows. Mother 3, the sequel to cult-hit RPG Earthbound that's previously only been released in Japan, is making its way to the list of Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance offerings--but once again only in Japan.

The move was revealed via a minute-long trailer during the Japanese Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, which was then highlighted by Geoff Keighley on X. The game was not featured during the North American Partner Showcase, nor was it mentioned in the official press release from Nintendo afterward. It is possible to play Nintendo Switch Online games from Japan in other regions, though the games will not be translated.

This marks the second official re-release of Mother 3 since its original launch in April 2006, with the game also hitting the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console in 2016. Its development famously needed over a decade to complete, with work being done across four different Nintendo consoles before it landed on the GBA.

An English patch for the Mother 3 ROM--translated entirely by fans--was released online by Earthbound fansite Starmen.net in 2008. This unofficial patch garnered over 100K downloads in its first week of existence, and it was never officially taken down by Nintendo after it became available.

Nintendo has acknowledged fans' frequent requests for Mother 3's localization in the past as well. During the company's E3 2014 Digital Event, a skit produced by Robot Chicken saw a fan ask then-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime for the game, only for Reggie to eat a Fire Flower and throw fireballs at him.