Definitely worth the wait, a must play for anyone who considers themselves a gamer.
Now on to the game itself. This game is simply... a masterpiece. Whether you liked Earthbound or not, you're sure to have a lot of fun with it. It takes all of the best parts of Earthbound and improves on them, as well as adding a bunch of new spice to the mix!
One thing that really stands out in comparison is that the story and characters are so much more epic than Earthbound's. It feels much more polished as a whole. The battle system mechanics remain basically the same, however there is a new combo system where you can pull off combos by tapping the A button to the beat of the battle music as you attack. It sounds simple enough, but with over 40 different battle themes, some more complex than others, it's like having a mini rhythm game to keep you occupied instead of just simply hitting a button and attacking. You can practice combos on different enemies in a battle diary you receive early on the game. Secondarily, every playable character makes a different sound while attacking, and the sounds actually go along with the song as you combo (enemies too)! For example, Lucas' attacks sound like a synthesizer, and Flint's attacks sound like a saxophone. At first glance the graphics appear identical to Earthbound's, but the sprite animation is astounding. The graphics are able to manage scenes that you would find in a 3D RPG flawlessly. Like the previous game, there are a large amount of animated battle backgrounds, and the PK and PSI attack animations are more impressive. Don't let the graphics deter you from this game, appreciate them instead! There's more detail than you see at first glance, and the colours are very lively.
I've already mentioned the sounds, but... the music. The music is incredible. I didn't care too much for Earthbound's music, only really liking a few tracks. Mother 3's soundtrack rivals that of any of the big name composer's finest work--it's unforgettable, will get stuck in your head, and fitting for every seen. There are a whopping 250 tracks, a few are even remixed from Mother and Mother 2 music!
In the promotional commercials, the game is described as "Strange, Funny and Heartrending." This sentence is the perfect way to describe Mother 3. The story and writing maintains the quirky humour that fans loved from the previous games, but on the other hand, the game is more epic than one will initially assume. The story really is heartrending, and incredibly well executed. The story is divided into 8 Chapters, where you control different characters and eventually wind up with your final party. As you progress the areas change around you, and the game as a whole has some really strong messages about the world incorporated into the story. Mother 3 is quite short, but so are a handful of other great RPGs, such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Super Mario RPG, and Final Fantasy IV, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in completion--the game is so incredibly polished, I don't think there's any room for improvement. The game as a whole isn't very hard, but it's not a cakewalk either. Time has proven that difficulty doesn't make a great game.
Replay value? I just finished it today and I feel like going through it again already! There's just something about it that makes it hard to put down. I could play it over and over again! But, I think I'll wait for mother3.org's translation patch to be released before I play through this gem of a game once more.