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Earthbound creator, Shigesato Itoi, and Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, are close friends. In the past, Itoi has been the host in “Iwata Asks” style discussions with Nintendo employees, including Iwata himself, and recently, the two of them had a chat about the Earthbound (or Mother, as it’s know in Japan) series.
This talk was published in Japanese magazine, Brutus, and while no confirmation of a new Earthbound game was made — in fact, Itoi denies it outright — you may find the discussion interesting nonetheless. You can read the full piece, translated, at Earthbound Central, but here’s a little excerpt:
Itoi: Yes, exactly. That’s why, in my eyes, I see them as unfinished works that I’ve left sitting there for someone…
Iwata: For someone to come and finish.
Itoi: Yes. For someone to take the baton and run with it. And, unlike a long-distance relay race, with a game you can take that baton and run in any number of directions. That makes things all the more interesting. You can run through the mountains, or you can go all the way to the lake if you want. You can cry out, “I love running!” as you run, or you can run quietly and savor the thrill of running deep down inside. Whatever it is, it’s something the guy who handed you the baton couldn’t have done. What’s more, sometimes the runners just keep running and running…
Don’t jump to any conclusions based on that excerpt, though. No development of any sort of Earthbound game is actually confirmed or even alluded to. We’d recommend reading the discussion mainly for the other points of discussion if you’re an Earthbound fan.
Mother 3 (or Earthbound 3 if you prefer) was never officially released in English. The game was developed in collaboration by HAL Laboratory, Brownie Brown and Nintendo. Brownie Brown are presently working on Fantasy Life with Level 5 for the Nintendo 3DS.
