More Thoughts From Me: Finally Playing Mother 3

Earthbound is only had one game on the Super Nintendo. Wait. No, thats not right. There’s Earthbound Beginnings too and we got that on the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch. whew. However, wait, there is one other Earthbound game. Yes I’m talking about Mother 3. Its only ever been released in Japan and now its available on the Nintendo Switch Online app in Japan. And I’ve played it.

Mother 3 (aka Earthbound 3) has never been release in the US. I thought I’d never get to play it. And now, finally, I’ve played it some.

How have I played Mother 3?

You can definitely create a Japanese profile on the Nintendo Switch and have access to the Japan eshop. You can also download the Nintendo Switch Online Japan apps too. I have all of them, including the GBA app. And Mother 3 was recently released on the Japan GBA app.

There’s one problem though: the game is almost completely in Japanese. I was able to write some names in English but thats it. So I have no idea whats happening in Mother 3. Even so, I’m playing it because I’ve always wanted to play it. I love Earthbound on the SNES. Mother 3 seemed like something I’d never play.

Yes, I do wish the game was available in English. I’d love to understand the story. Still, the gameplay is fun, especially in battles. The battles feel a lot like Earthbound SNES’s battles. sigh

Mother 3 is a frustrating experience though. I found a walkthrough online thats helped me through it a bit. I want to play the game more but not understanding it has me playing it only once and awhile. I should be even more excited to play this game. The language barrier is tough on this one. There’s so much text in Mother 3.

I hope I get to play it even more. I doubt Nintendo will ever fully translate this game and bring it to the US. It would be an Earthbound fan’s dream come true if they did.

Have you tried out Mother 3? What do you think of the game?

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. Maybe I should just go play Earthbound SNES again.