i'm a little baffled that people are still so worked up over the fact that mother 3 never got an official english translation. like. it's really simple. we don't even have to debate if it's a music rights thing because of sampling/songs referencing other songs/etc. (which didn't stop earthbound from getting rereleased multiple times, or mother 3 from getting rereleased in japanese). nor do we have to wonder if NoA just doesn't know what to do about certain content that may be more "objectionable." these may be factors, but there are simpler explanations
it's just a gba game that released in 2006, a year and a half after the launch of the ds, when gba support was winding down. it has a huge script that would've needed a lengthy localization process, which would've pushed the overseas release even further into the lifespan of the ds. and also it was a sequel to a game that didn't sell all that great in america. then the problem became that nintendo didn't have a good place to release a new gba game after the end of the system's life cycle. and then by the time they started doing gba virtual console releases in 2014, the fan translation had already been out for years. by now most of the people who really care have already played the rom, so NoA probably doesn't think it's worth the cost of localization. and i know tomato offered to let nintendo use his work for free, but nintendo is never going to do that in a million years, let's be real. the famously litigious nintendo, canonizing a product of emulation and piracy? come on
("oh but what about fire emblem 1? they randomly translated that in 2020!" fire emblem is now one of nintendo's flagship franchises that makes billions of dollars worldwide. mother is not)
like yeah, it'd be nice if we did get an official english release someday and more people could play it, but come on. there's no reason to expect this. it's been almost 20 years. i don't know how people even have the energy to get worked up at this point. just keep playing the fan translation. it's great, and also free
also NoA would probably rename it "earthbound 2" or "earthbound forever" or something so in a way we dodged a bullet
