New footage of the canceled EarthBound 64 (also known as the original Mother 3) has been discovered and uploaded to YouTube. EarthBound 64 is a game that fans have been dying to learn more about for years, as little was revealed about it before its cancellation.
EarthBound 64 spent years in development, with production starting before the Nintendo 64 was released. The game was shown at different trade shows and seemed to be nearing completion, before it was suddenly canceled in the year 2000. Development was later restarted on the Game Boy Advance, and Mother 3 would be released in Japan in 2006. Fans have been petitioning Nintendo for years about an English localization of Mother 3, especially with games like the original Fire Emblem on the NES seeing a recent translation. As of the time of writing, Mother 3 remains a Japan-exclusive title, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.
Nintendo only ever released a small amount of EarthBound 64 footage and screenshots, with the former mostly existing as low-quality video that was taken at events in Japan. A collector named Zen purchased a copy of the Nintendo Company Report 1998 from a Japanese auction, which they detailed on their Twitter account. This contained a disc with video footage of games that were still in development at the time. The new footage of EarthBound 64 can be seen on the Zen64 YouTube channel. The footage was meant for the Space World 97 event, which is also where the early version of Pokémon Gold & Silver that leaked years ago was displayed to the public.
The disc also contained clips from other games, including a trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, showing a moving perspective for the camera outside of the Temple of Time. As an early 3D game, Ocarina of Time's camera controls were influential in the industry, and it's interesting to think of how this mechanic was iterated before the game's release. This is a minor revelation, however, compared to all of the information about the development of Ocarina of Time that has appeared in different leaks over the past year.
The Nintendo Gigaleak revealed a ton of content that was never meant to be seen by fans. For many, a leak of EarthBound 64 would be the holy grail of the Gigaleak. Mother 3 is a beloved title, which is why people keep asking for it to be localized, and the ability to learn more about the original plans for its story is something that EarthBound fans would love to see. The content in the recent Gigaleaks hasn't been that interesting, as it mostly contains internal documents from Nintendo, but the day may come when Lucas's original adventure makes its way online.
Source: Zen64/YouTube, realZen64/Twitter