The Mother series has become quite known for its signature weirdness and for how slow it’s been coming to the west. Mother 1, retitled Earthbound Beginnings, was released to Wii U recently and Mother 3 is coming to Japan’s Virtual Console, so Nintendo at least recognizes the series’ long-lasting appeal.
That appeal is thanks in no small part to the contribution of the writer and director of the Mother games, Shigesato Itoi but even he has his limits. Speaking to the outlet Game Watch Impress, with Japanese translation courtesy of Kotaku, Itoi responded on the subject of making another Mother game with, “Among big-time pop stars, if they, you know, put out ten albums, around the fourth album, they can’t make very good songs. The albums sell, but everyone at the concerts wants to hear songs from those first three albums. Everyone.”
This is an understandable observation, especially considering Itoi’s other creative backgrounds. His work covers acting, and directing several motion pictures as well as his work in video games, and from a creative perspective it’s never good to push out something when inspiration isn’t there, even if there is money to be made. Itoi goes on to say, “I’m glad that video games are not my profession. If it was my job, I would have already made [Mother] 4 and 5.”
So there you have it, a reserved yet understandable reason why we won’t be seeing another Mother game anytime soon. In the meantime let’s keep badgering Nintendo for a western release of Mother 3.