Nintendo's Reggie Loves Mother

Nintendo President was recently quizzed on the absence of Mother 3 in the west, proclaiming that he's a big fan of the series.

He discusses the lack of some of the more popular games on recent and past systems that have yet to, or never will, land on US shores translated in English - including popular GameBoy Advance RPG, Mother 3.

The 2nd entry in the Earthbound saga is one that fans have desperately cried out for, would sell their mothers for, and probably their souls too. Reggie, however, explains the localisation process - and why it's not his fault if a popular game doesn't make the cut.

MTV Multiplayer: We used to talk about "Mother 3" [the highly-regarded 2006 Japanese role-playing game that has never been released in America, despite a fervent Internet fan movement]. And then I stopped asking you about it after a while.

Fils-Aime: I'm a big "Mother" fan. I have to set the record straight on this topic, because I have seen all of the hate comments. I'm a big "Mother" fan. Huge "Mother" fan. I would love to see "Mother" localized in our market. In fact, I've talked to [Nintendo president] Mr. Iwata about it because this is a game he has some history with. [pauses] But it is not on our announcement schedule. [laughs]

MTV Multiplayer: How can that be? [laughs]

Fils-Aime: I am a fan of a lot of different products that aren't on our announcement schedule.

MTV Multiplayer: How could there be something you like, but it's not on the announcement schedule? Take me into the psychology of that.

Fils-Aime: Maybe I'm going to burst some people's bubbles, but just because I'm the president of NOA doesn't mean that every game that I love gets published in our territory. We run a business. And so, in order for a title to be published, the development, localization, launch, volume, all needs to make economic sense.

Be sure to read the full interview over at MTV Mulitplayer. Thanks to C3 reader, gatotsu911.