"Mother" is a role-playing video game that was released in Japan back in 1989. It never got a U.S. release despite Nintendo of America completing its English localization. According to a report from Forbes, Nintendo has officially announced that the game will finally see a Western release as it is being launched for the Wii U Virtual Console as "Earthbound Beginnings."
The announcement came from series' creator Shigesato Itoi himself during the Nintendo World Championships 2015 event. This will mark the first time that the first "Mother" game will be legally available in any country outside of Japan.
"Mother" was a game for the Famicom, known as the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES in the United States. Nintendo was set to release the game in the U.S. alongside "Final Fantasy III" ("Final Fantasy VI" in Japan), which is an SNES title. The plan was dropped because the games were going to be released on different generations of consoles and Nintendo wanted to focus on the newer SNES.
"Mother 2," a sequel on the SNES, did see a U.S. release and it was re-titled as "Earthbound," the title originally assigned for the NES original. Nintendo also developed and released "Mother 3" for the Gameboy Advance but this was never released outside of Japan although still playable via a fan translation patch.
"Earthbound Beginnings" is already available in the U.S. and Europe, and game is currently priced at $6.99 for the Wii U virtual console. The game is rated T for Teen.
The release of "Earthbound Beginnings" coincides with the launch of Lucas as a DLC character for "Super Smash Bros." for the Wii-U and 3DS. Lucas is the main character of "Mother 3" for the Gameboy Advance and is the only lead character from the "Mother" series whose name is not a direct pun on Nintendo consoles.
