Happy 15th anniversary, Mother 3. While the game still lacks an official English localization, the team behind the Mother 3 Fan Translation project has been working on an updated patch for the game. They've just released v1.3, which consists of just about three years of work done by lorenzoone--the person behind the Mother 3 Italian fan translation--that makes the English patched version of the game run and perform better in general. Some of the changes made include editing out typos, making it so that the game doesn't have slowdown while generating text in the overworld, prevents some softlocks, and other bugfixes and optimizations. As far as the fan translation's text content goes, it's "almost entirely the same" as before, but now it looks better than ever. You can download the latest patch over on the team's official website, in the source below.

WHAT’S NEW IN VERSION 1.3:

lorenzoone, the Italian MOTHER 3 fan translator, spent approximately three years improving the English patch. This new version of the patch mostly fixes technical issues and bugs for a better gameplay experience. The game’s text is almost entirely the same as in previous releases.

Fixes of translation bugs/issues:

• Fixed the Summary’s lag
• Made it so the menus’ writing buffer is properly cleared (Fixes leftover text issue)
• Fixed some articles in text in the overworld
• Fixed missing articles in the battle text
• Fixed line of Debug Phrygia that was missing one entry
• Fixed text overflow in various boxes
• Made it so Soup and Stew are not drinkable
• Fixed various typoes in the Memo text
• Fixed line about the position of one of the Needles
• Fixed article within an highroad dog’s line
• Fixed small cursor’s issue in the naming screen
• Fixed issues with the stars in the Battle Memories
• Fixed “Text Slowdown” when printing text in CPU heavy areas in the overworld
• Made gray boxes in the overworld more precise
• Fixed memory OOB writes during Fassad’s low voice speech

Fixes of the Japanese version’s bugs/issues:

• Made it so the Thunder Tower’s frog can still move when in contact with the party (Fixes softlock)
• Fixed New Game Plus bug (A patch will be made available that removes the fix for those who want it)
• Fixed swapped gift boxes bug (A patch will be made available that removes the fix for those who want it)
• Fixed Salsa’s reflect text during the Pork Tank’s battle
• Fixed various graphical/collision issues in the overworld
• Fixed Lucas’ talking bug in Chapter 5
• Fixed the Skull Gift Box glitch in 3 locations
• Fixed the Boney’s Sludge Pond Glitch (Could crash the game)
• Fixed the Steel Mechorilla’s sounds
• Fixed door’s collision data for one bathroom in Chapter 8
• Fixed issue with actions being executed more times than intended
• Fixed flickering during Fassad’s low voice speech
• Fixed issue with Claus’ PP if the first battle is lost
• Fixed wrong text being displayed for the train’s requested money
• Fixed issue with Thomas disappearing in Chapter 1 after the notebook is collected
• Fixed issue with mouse talking directly to humans
• Fixed Debug Room’s Pigmask changing sprite in certain situations
• Standardized Boney’s minimum level during Chapter 4
• Fixed issue with Mementoes being used while in the inventory
• Fixed issue with Leder’s counter ticking when it shouldn’t and viceversa
• Fixed 0 damage being reported as > 0 if comboes are used
• Fixed minor graphical issues within some menus
• Fixed Nana’s age in Chapter 8’s concert
• Fixed Caroline’s bakery causing inventory issues in Chapters 1 through 3
• Fixed the Delete All Saves menu’s lag
• Fixed issue with quickly opening and closing maps
• Fixed the song set for Wess’ house right after Wess joins the party in Chapter 2

Improvements:

• Optimized text printing for a smoother experience
• Reduced the load on the GBA’s CPU in certain menus in order to ensure a smoother experience
• Added NPC in the Debug Room
  • It allows accessing the other tables of the Debug Room
  • It allows viewing the Attract Mode sequences
  • Other useful features
• Improved Debug Room’s Staff roll option
• Improved some of the Debug Room’s warps
• Made it so all the Memoes can be seen
• Made it so the mother mouse’s text is different if only one mouse is missing
• Changed “BOM” to “BOOM”
• Updated some enemies’ sprites to match the translation
• Restored a trade with a ghost in the castle’s kitchen
• Restored one of Caroline’s lines for when Wess is in the party
• Made consuming cheese consistent for Claus
• Changed the “Ready-Set-Go” voice clip to the one featuring Lani Minella and Karmageddon

For the other translations:

• Made it easier for future translations to edit graphics
• Allowed more text per line and per screen in the Memoes menu
• Allowed more text per line in the overworld Debug menus
• Allowed more text per screen in the overworld notebooks
• Lowered the OAM footprint of names in the overworld
• Added guideline that shows which enemy uses which battle text line
• Added enemy articles in the main script
• Added program that allows for more custom text lines
• Added script that makes sure inserted files don’t overlap

Source

 

[Louse]

literally came

 

[Brawl345]

Never played the game, but I love how dedicated these guys are!

 

[m_babble]

Cool nerds making the world a better place.

 

[Missing Number]

Only if they'd pay the dudes and officialize it

 

[lemonmaster]

3 years, jeez... If that's not true fan dedication then I don't know what is.

 

[DragonBoy]

I think its time to finally play this game...

 

[The Real Jdbye]

That's a lot of fixes. The original patch was already great, I didn't notice any issues with it personally, but the fact they even went to the trouble of fixing bugs that existed in the official Japanese release is just awesome.

 

[Deleted User]

Hey, for the 15th anniversary, that is nice

 

[NumberXIIIEdwin]

C’MON REGGIE GIVE US MOTHER 3

But seriously the romhacking community never ceases to surprise me with the stuff they keep putting out.

 

[Reynardine]

Wowsers, that's both unexpected and awesome! I'm up for another playthrough of Mother 3, yeah.

 

[raxadian]

While this is awesome, I am not playing the game again.

 

[leon315]

Never played this series,
Is this game... .. Good? ?

 

[AkiraKurusu]

What. The. Absolute. FUCK.

This is completely out of left field, this; I thought Tomato's team's work was done years ago. For one of them to still have worked on it, for over a thousand days...WHAT.

 

[Sheimi]

This is a good birthday surprise. Time to replay.

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

that is awesome. thank you translators, you deserve a Wendy's

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Never played this series,
Is this game... .. Good? ?

It's a cult classic, for more than just "never got official English release". If you've ever played EarthBound, the gameplay is very similar to that - except improved in some important ways. Running is a thing now, and using regular attacks can be worth doing due to a new beat-based mechanic (if you can press the button in rhythm with the battle song's beat, you'll deal more damage, up to 16 times if you're good enough), the story is definitely more emotional than EarthBound's too.

 

[shaunj66]

Wonderful work!

It's amazing what the true fans will do that the big corpos won't.

 

[Deleted member 514822]

Never played this series,
Is this game... .. Good? ?

If youre into the idea of weird quirky jrpgs yes. Mother 3 especially gameplay is definitely a secondary appeal to the world, storytelling and quirkiness even more than it was in earthbound. Common knowledge at this point but this series was the major inspiration for undertale.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Awesome! I really wish I could play it on GBA… but I never learned Japanese and still don't have a GBA flashcart.


Closest thing I can get to playing on GBA is using the 3DS. And that's what I'm going to do right now. *Sets avatar to Kumatora*

Thanks, for this article @Chary !