A team of incredibly talented and dedicated Mother 3 fans has shared footage of a meticulously detailed "remake." The video has been made in honor of the cult-classic RPG franchise Mother, also known as Earthbound in North America. Nintendo recently announced that Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings would both be making their way to the Switch, although Mother 3 has still yet to be localized.
Most North American gamers will probably be most familiar with the Mother series thanks to the inclusion of the iconic characters Ness and Lucas in the Super Smash Bros. games. While those characters offer up exciting and unique combat options for players to explore in the world-famous brawler, their roots in the Mother games are a bit different. Mother is a classic party-based JRPG series that throws players into a colorful, absurd, and (at times) somewhat chilling world, tasking them with stopping a powerful antagonistic force. Lucas takes center-stage in Mother 3 and gamers get to step into his shoes as he tries to take down an army invading the Nowhere Islands. Though the games had and continue to have a very passionate fanbase, Nintendo seemed to abandon the IP following Mother 3's release on the Game Boy Advance back in 2006. Gamers have been clamoring for more Mother/Earthbound content over the years, but Nintendo does not appear to be prioritizing these games.
Nintendo might not be throwing all its weight behind Mother, but the YouTube channel Curiomatic certainly has. In a video shared just earlier today, Curiomatic showed clips displaying what a rebuilt version of Mother 3 could look like. This unofficial Mother 3 remake video features totally overhauled 3D graphics, new animations, and reworked music and sound design. It also contains English-translated dialog and UI text. This compilation of cutscenes and gameplay was made in honor of the channel's seven-year anniversary and is apparently the culmination of two years of work.
Click here to watch the original video on YouTube.
Putting aside all the baggage associated with these games for a moment, it is hard not to be blown away by the quality and ingenuity of this Mother 3 remake video. The reworked animation and art style are not just a modernized version of the original game's aesthetics - they are wholly unique and creative. Some might even hold the belief that this low-frame-rate, claymation-esque style is more interesting than some of Nintendo's more safe approach to visuals with remakes like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
It might not be too far-fetched for Nintendo to reach out to this team of independent artists for assistance in continuing the legacy of the Mother franchise. Something similar happened with MecurySteam and Metroid Dread, so it's certainly not out of the question. Whatever may or may not come of this tribute, one thing is certain: any fan of Mother 3 owes it to themselves to check it out.
Source: Curiomatic/YouTube