Mother 3 is the third and final installment in the Nintendo‘s Mother series of video games. US gamers would be more familiar with its localized name of EarthBound 2. Neither of these might mean much to most modern gamers, which is a crying shame. The Mother / EarthBound series is quite possibly one of the best RPG series in gaming history. It’s right up there with Undertale, really. In fact, the Mother / Earthbound series was one of the inspirations for Undertale, with developer Toby Fox having worked on EarthBound ROM hacks in high school.

Thus, if quirky yet deeply emotional RPGs are your thing, then Mother 3 should be on your wishlist. Alas though, it seems like we in the US will have to wait a bit longer to see it on the Nintendo Switch. Since apparently, Japan is getting it first.

Mother 3 / EarthBound 2 for Nintendo Switch: Details

Mother 3 logo at Nintendo Direct 2024.
Already, the logo will tell you that this will be a unique game.

At Nintendo Direct 2024, Nintendo revealed that they will finally re-release Mother 3 for the Nintendo Switch. Specifically: this re-release will be for Nintendo Switch Online. Thus, you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee to play this game and its two predecessors: Mother (EarthBound Beginnings outside Japan) and Mother 2 (EarthBound outside Japan).

What’s that? You watched Nintendo Direct, and you didn’t see Mother 3 show up in the lineup at all? Silly gamers, that’s because the game’s re-release is apparently for Japan only. Apparently, Nintendo decided that the game wouldn’t get good reception outside Japan and refused to release it, just as they have ever since the game was released back on April 20, 2006. Don’t believe me? Then why not check out the game’s Nintendo Direct YouTube trailer on the Japanese version below:

Alas, Nintendo seems quite adamant about not letting us play this game other than piratical means.

Who knows? Maybe the outcry from Western fans might change Nintendo’s mind in time. Or maybe they plan to give the game a Western release some other day after all. We can only hope that Nintendo does change their mind…eventually. Tune back into THS to find out more news about Mother 3 and other Nintendo games when we do.