Nintendo might have abandoned the EarthBound/Mother franchise, but the fans are keeping it alive with the help of an uꦇnofficial Nintendo Direct that promotes fa𝐆nmade projects that are based on or inspired by the series.
The Mother series of RPGs (localized outside of Japan as EarthBound) are some of the most beloved games ever produced by Nintendo, but there is no denying that the company hasn't shown much love for it outside of Japan. It took decades for the original Mother on the NES to be released in the West, when it finally reached the Wii U's Virtual Console as EarthBound Beginnings in 2015. To date, there is still no legal way to play Mother 3 in Engl🎉ish, despite numer♔ous fan petitions that have called for the game to be localized.
There are rumors that Nintendo won't be hosting any more Directs for the duration of 2020 due to COVID-19, but that hasn't stopped fans from putting together one of their own. The MOTHER FOREVER YouTube channel has released an unofficial Mother Direct, which has announcements for different EarthBound/Mother fan projects.
The announcements made during the Mother Direct include a fan-made remake of EarthBound for PC, an English translation of Mother 1+2 for the Game Boy Advance, and the addition of Lucas to Smash Remix, which is a popular mod for the original Super Smash Bros.
The EarthBound/Mother franchise has clung to relevancy within Nintendo through the appearance of Ness and Lucas in the Super Smash Bros. series, but that's about as far as the company is willing to go to acknowledge the existence of the franchise. EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound aren't even available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. There is no denying the importance the series had on gaming as a whole, with games like Undertale and the Lisa trilogy citing it as a major influence. Nintendo might not care about EarthBound/Mother, but love for the game is still strong and the fans can keep sharing their own works inspired by the series until Mother 3 is localized or the heat death o🌠f the universe occurs, whichever happens first.
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