Earthbound sequel Mother 3 may make it west after all

Mother 3 localisation rumours are bubbling over again.

It sounds like Mother 3 may finally be coming west after all.

Right before going on a planned Twitter break, noted Nintendo tipster Emily Rogers posted a picture of Mother character Kumatora with a smiley face and the hashtag 2016. She also commented: "Don't be surprised if Nintendo celebrates a game's 10th anniversary this year...Just some food for thought." Mother 3 is ten this year.

Multiple sites had eyes on the now inaccessible tweets; there's even a screengrab of one on the GameSpot forums.

According to Eurogamer, regular Nintendo source Liam Robertson backed up the story, saying Mother 3 was in the final stages of localisation at Nintendo of Europe "a little while back".

Originally released for Gameboy Advance in 2006, Mother 3 was the third in a series of games best known outside Japan for the second entry, which was released in the US as Earthbound. Mother 3 was released on virtual console in Japan late last year, but has never been officially localised in English. Although there are fan translations, it'd be great to see the third game get the attention it deserves - albeit belatedly.

Following on from the Virtual Console re-release of Earthbound, Mother 1 made it to western audiences for the first time in 2015, granting English-speaking fans their first official chance to experience more of the saga. Sadly, the third game is likely to be the end of it; auteur Shigesato Itoi has said a fourth game is "impossible" (although fans disagree and are making their own).