The development of ''
Mother 3
is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother (video game series), ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy ...
'', a role-playing video game from
Nintendo, spanned a total of twelve years between 1994 and 2006 with a three year gap in between, and spanned four consoles and multiple delays. Following the commercial success of its predecessor, ''
Mother 2
''EarthBound'', released in Japan as is a role-playing video game developed by Creatures (company), Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the Mother (video game s ...
'' (''EarthBound'' outside Japan),
''Mother'' series creator
Shigesato Itoi
is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and actor. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of his website and company '' Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun'' ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"). He is best known outside Japan for his work on Nintendo ...
was given the previous game's development team.
Inspired by ''
Super Mario 64'', the team set out to create a 3D game that ultimately exceeded the capabilities of the platform. Along the way, the team changed its console focus from the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...
to the
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
and its
64DD
The is a magnetic floppy disk drive peripheral for the Nintendo 64 game console developed by Nintendo. It was announced in 1995, prior to the Nintendo 64's 1996 launch, and after numerous delays was released in Japan on December 13, 1999. The ...
peripheral, for which the game was expected to be a 1998
launch game
This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.
0–9
A
...
. Upon the
commercial failure
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...
of the 64DD, the game was converted to cartridge plus expansion disk. Itoi developed the game's concept during ''Mother 2''s development and built a 12-chapter story with player-characters that rotated between chapters. Having been a producer during ''Mother 2'', Itoi served as a scriptwriter during ''Mother 3''s development.
A North American version was announced as ''EarthBound 64'', but did not materialize when the 60 percent-complete Japanese release was canceled in August 2000 in reprioritization leading up to
Project Dolphin (the code name of the
GameCube). At the time, the game was estimated to need another two years of work.
After multiple years and failed petitions, ''Mother 3'' was reannounced for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
in 2003 within a Japanese television commercial for ''
Mother 1+2'', a
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
of ''
Mother
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
'' and ''Mother 2'' to the Advance. The game kept its original story and received a graphical overhaul in a
Pixelation, pixelated style similar to ''Mother 2''. The game's themes included
human psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
, renewal, and fungibility on the morality spectrum. Its music was composed by Shogo Sakai, and retained the quirky style of series composers
Keiichi Suzuki
is a Japanese musician, singer, and record producer who co-founded the Moonriders, a group that became one of Japan's most innovative rock bands. He is known to audiences outside Japan for his musical contributions to the video games ''Mother'' ...
and
Hirokazu Tanaka
, also known as Chip Tanaka, is a Japanese musician, composer, sound designer, and executive who pioneered chiptune music. He is best known as one of Nintendo's in-house composers during the 8- and 16-bit era of video games. Tanaka also had a r ...
. ''Mother 3'' was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan, whereupon it became a bestseller. It has not been released outside Japan.
Nintendo 64
![64DD-Attached](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/64DD-Attached.jpg)
''Mother 3'' was originally developed for the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...
(Super Nintendo Entertainment System) beginning in 1994.
Shigeru Miyamoto, head of
Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and ''Mother 3'' producer, said that ''Mother 3'' was "a commercial decision", since ''Mother 2'' (''
EarthBound'' outside Japan) had sold well.
By this point, ''Mother'' series creator
Shigesato Itoi
is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and actor. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of his website and company '' Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun'' ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"). He is best known outside Japan for his work on Nintendo ...
had worked on the series' earlier games and ''
Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1
is a fishing video game developed and released only in Japan for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom on February 21, 1997 and updated for broadcast as eight different episodes on the Satellaview subsystem between April and Nov ...
'' and was experienced at pitching video games, so Miyamoto provided a team willingly. The ''Mother 2'' development team carried over to the new game's development, though several people left and the team grew in size. They forwent the usual prototyping phase and went straight into development expecting to create something unprecedented. Itoi said he wanted to make the game like a
Hollywood film.
In September 1994, he predicted that ''Mother 3''s development would end around 1996 with a release on Nintendo's then-upcoming console.
The team was inspired by ''
Super Mario 64'' and decided that they too could creatively flourish by making a 3D
open world. Their early technical specifications exceeded the capabilities and memory limits of the platform. About halfway through development, the team attempted to scale back its large scope and changed its target from cartridge
to the
64DD
The is a magnetic floppy disk drive peripheral for the Nintendo 64 game console developed by Nintendo. It was announced in 1995, prior to the Nintendo 64's 1996 launch, and after numerous delays was released in Japan on December 13, 1999. The ...
peripheral.
At
E3 in June 1997, Miyamoto speculated that ''Mother 3'' would be one of the four games for the then-expected 1998 launch of the Japan-only peripheral.
The
''EarthBound'' fan community anticipated a sequel, and a North American release of ''Mother 3'' was announced as ''EarthBound 64''.
Nintendo displayed a playable version of the game at its
Space World 1999 trade show
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...
, where IGN described the development's progress as "very far along"
and half complete. Having followed a period of media silence, the announcement there of its conversion from 64DD disk to cartridge plus mission expansion disk was taken by
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
as a sign of further delay or cancellation of the 64DD altogether.
In April 2000, IGN estimated the game's development as "safe to assume that the game is nearing its final stages of completion".
The company struggled to find a firm release date,
and was expected to release in Japan before a North American version would be considered.
At the time, the 64DD was only released in Japan.
Nintendo did not show the game at the 2000
Electronic Entertainment Expo, though IGN expected to see a finished version of the game at
Space World 2000.
''Mother'' producer
Satoru Iwata
was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contributor in broadening the app ...
canceled the game altogether prior to Space World 2000,
as announced by Itoi on August 20.
Iwata clarified that the franchise was not abandoned but that the game would no longer be developed for the Nintendo 64, and Miyamoto added that it was not due to project complications or
development hell, but to resources needed for
Project Dolphin (the
GameCube). Some of the artists had been on the project for over three years. They estimated the project to be about 60 percent complete at the time of cancellation—the basics were complete and only programming was left. About 30 percent of the final product was completed. Itoi estimated that it would have taken an additional two years to finish properly, and Iwata said that the game might have been finished by 2000 had the scope been reduced two years earlier. Miyamoto was involved in other work and spent little time on-site with the project, and Iwata too was distracted by bankruptcy concerns at HAL Labs and was off-site in 1999 due to circumstances that required travel. Iwata was also hospitalized during production for stress-related reasons. The team intended to have the game finished by the end of 1999 and knew they had to reconsider their priorities when they missed the milestone. They said that the ''Mother 3'' supervisors had wanted to cancel the project since 1999, but later changed sides and said that cancellation would be wasteful. They discussed bringing the game to their forthcoming GameCube, which Miyamoto said would have solved some of the Nintendo 64's hardware issues. Miyamoto and Iwata also discussed releasing the game on the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
, but realized that it would take "just as much time" with 40 to 50 staff members to make such a game. In retrospect, Iwata wondered out loud in an interview why the game needed to be in 3D when Itoi's "greatest talent lies in words" and thought that the energy poured into making a 3D game might have been a poor choice. He said he was "genuinely ashamed", and acknowledged that they were both "caught up in the 3D obsession and felt obligated" at the time. At the time of its cancellation, Itoi predicted that ''Mother 3'' would remain a story that only the game's staff would know, though he also expressed an interest in making the story into a novel or
kamishibai
is a form of Japanese street theater and storytelling that was popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the post-war period in Japan until the advent of television during the mid-20th century. were performed by a (" narrator") w ...
if he had the time. Miyamoto was still interested in bringing the game to fruition.
Design
Itoi conceived the premise of ''Mother 3'' towards the end of ''Mother 2''s production. He called another person on the project to describe a "detective story where the city was the main character".
He envisioned a
hack
Hack may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game
* ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia franchise ''.hack''
Music
* ''Hack'' (album), a 199 ...
, small-time,
womanizing
Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...
private investigator
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
who would become engrossed in a big murder case, and the story would unfold from a young female clerk at a flower shop who would slowly recall parts of a story consequential to the plot. Thus, the city would appear to grow. This idea of a "single place changing over time" was central to ''Mother 3''.
He saw previous RPGs as "
road movies" with little reason for the hero to backtrack to previous areas, and instead wanted the player to see the town gossip grow dynamically.
Miyamoto and Itoi compared this type of progression to the story of ''
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask''. The game was enough of a departure from the series that the development team questioned whether fans would consider it part of the series.
Itoi originally intended the game to have 12 chapters with varied game mechanics; for example, one with classic role-playing game mechanics and another as just
cutscenes
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
. He conceptualized the process as designing 3D "puppets" that could then be easily moved around the "stage".
In actuality, each custom scene required special programming. The player-character changed between each chapter—a concept they first attempted in their previous game—so as to see multiple characters grow. As development wore on, Itoi offered to compromise by replacing full chapters with sequences of still images and text. They cut the total chapters to seven or nine by the time it was canceled. Itoi described the story as "normal" for its first half, leading up to a "triple-play twist".
One of the game's themes was the reckless appearance and "uncomfortable beauty" of
chimera
Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to:
* Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals
* Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilici ...
—multiple creatures fused into one—which was the idea behind the metallic and wooden ''Mother 3'' logo.
Itoi has said of his role in the ''Mother'' series that he wanted to be more of a team member and scriptwriter and less of a manager in ''Mother 3''s development. He saw himself as simultaneously making the game he wanted to play and setting traps for the player, and as making a game Nintendo could not.
The ''Mother 3'' logo was made from a fusion of metal and trees, which Itoi interpreted as an "uncomfortable beauty" from two materials that were impossible to fuse.
This is also a theme in his only novel.
The chimeras theme informed the game's original subtitle: "Forest of the Chimeras".
Itoi compared the reckless appearance of chimeras to the mutilated toys of Sid from ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
''.
The subtitle eventually became "The End of the Pig King" before the game was canceled
and the final release has no subtitle because Itoi did not want to lead the player's interpretation.
The game was set to continue 10 years after the first ''Mother''. The player-character, Flint, was a cowboy in the vein of
Clint Eastwood with two boys, Lucca and Klaus (later becoming Lucas and Claus), and a dog, Boney. The game was to include over 10 playable characters and span 10 years in its story based around the Pig army, which attempts to use "primitive machinery ... to enslave mankind".
At
Space World 1999, IGN sampled environments including a hovercraft in a desert canyon, a snake dungeon, a cutscene with a bullet train, a town with
non-player characters
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
, and a mine cart scene, through themes including fantasy, the medieval, and
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
. Physical contact with an enemy in the
overworld
An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...
triggered a turn-based battle scene shown in the first-person (similar to ''EarthBound''). The battles had psychedelic backgrounds and a circular menu that included a command to "get up" if the player was knocked down in a real-time sequence.
Attacks could be timed with the in-game music for stronger effects. The developers also planned multiple routes for advancing through the game and unforeseen complications from minor actions, such as a monster finding food dropped in the forest. The game was set to include features such as synching the game's time with the real time, but those features required the 64DD. ''Mother 3'' was set to run between 40 and 60 hours in length.
Reception
In its review of the Space World 1999 demo, IGN found the mine cart scene—where Lucca and Klaus outrun a collapsing cave in a minecart—to be its "most impressive" sequence.
They added that it "might be one of the most impressive cutscenes on the N64 yet".
IGN said that the controls were intuitive, the sound "well orchestrated and memorable",
the 3D
game engine "strong", and the battle system "confusing".
They wrote that the game would be highly original, but were not able to tell the degree to which the story or characters would interact. IGN compared the multi-character aspect of the narrative to the Japan-only Super Famicom RPG ''
Live A Live
''Live A Live'' is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. A remake for Nintendo Switch was released in July 2022, published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide. The game follows sev ...
''.
''
Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'' readers ranked the game as one of their top ten most anticipated towards the end of 1999.
Game Boy Advance
![Mother 3 announcement](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Mother_3_announcement.png)
Three years later, a Japanese ''Mother 1+2'' television advertisement included a slide announcing a future release of ''Mother 3''. While working on the compilation that would
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
''Mother'' and ''Mother 2'' to the Game Boy Advance,
Itoi predicted further pressure to release ''Mother 3'' and decided, based on encouragement from several failed fan petitions,
to release the game.
Itoi had earlier assumed that restarting the project was impossible, and said that his final effort to finish the game to be more like a "prayer" than like "vengeance".
Other than the graphical changes required for a release on the Advance, the game was to keep its original story.
Brownie Brown
(stylized as "1-UP Studio Inc."), formerly is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 30, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan, and a subsidiary of Nintendo. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts ...
staff assisted in the game's development, and Itoi worked with them on individual pacing issues.
Itoi chose to use the pixelated style of ''Mother 2'' for ''Mother 3'' because he was uninterested in computer graphics trends. He said that it was only coincidentally related to the resurgence of interest in
retrogaming
Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the current playing and collection of obsolete computer game, personal computers, video game console, consoles, and video games. Usually, retrogaming is based upon systems that ...
.
The series' games were written in the
hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
alphabet instead of in
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
(Chinese characters) so as to remain accessible to young children.
Itoi described the world as governed by "
might equals right" and its power struggle as "
macho
Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...
".
The antagonist, Porky, was designed as a "symbol of humankind".
Itoi associated the game's view of evil to the "fun and games" on the spectrum of "pranks" to "crimes",
and likened its tone to the lyrics of the song "Reunion" by Kazuko Matsuo, where the subject falls in love with someone the world finds evil.
Itoi compared how the characters come to realize their psychic powers with
menstruation, and added that
human physiology
The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body.
It comprises a head ...
was "one of his themes".
As such, players sweat when learning an ability, based on Itoi's belief of how physical struggle facilitates growth. He also included characters like the Magypsies and Duster (who has a bad leg) to show the value of having friends with different qualities. Some environments were added to serve specific purposes. For example, Osohe Castle was meant to show the scale of time and Tantane Island was designed to reflect the player's worst nightmares as similar to ''Mother 2''s "hallucinatory city", Moonside.
Another of his themes is the duality of the seriousness and lightheartedness of games, which is why he added a serious death scene to the first chapter.
Parts of the game reference outside media such as ''
Kiki's Delivery Service
is a 1989 Japanese Anime, animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, adapted from the Kiki's Delivery Service (novel), 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transpor ...
'',
a film by
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...
, a company for which Itoi had written film
taglines
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...
and had voiced the father in ''
My Neighbor Totoro
is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story o ...
''.
Itoi wrote the game's ending while overseas in
Saipan before ''Mother 3'' was canceled. His Nintendo 64 version was darker, "dirtier", and more upsetting, though the final version changed little in concept.
The Nintendo 64 version was to be more vague and left to the player's imagination through its sparse dialogue.
Itoi attributed the change in tone to his own growth and the character composition of the new development team. He said that he had not been changed by fans.
Itoi always planned for the two brothers to fight each other, though he did not write the ending until after production had already begun, a process he compared with
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
's.
Itoi processed each line individually as he wrote the final scene, and later reflected on its moral content that bad people sometimes need even more help than the good people. He said that the one line that makes him most emotional is, "You must be tired".
Itoi said that the ending's renewal theme reflected his worldview of appreciating our time on Earth in light of the planet's inevitable end.
Much of the rest of the script was written after-hours at a local hotel where they would continue their work.
By July 2004, the game was about 60 percent finished and was set for a late 2005 release in Japan.
The game was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan for the Game Boy Advance,
whereupon it became a bestseller.
A
limited edition
The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...
Deluxe Box Set was produced with a special edition
Game Boy Micro
The Game Boy Micro is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on September 13, 2005 as a smaller, lighter redesign of the Game Boy Advance. The system is the last console in the Game Boy l ...
and Franklin Badge pin.
It did not receive a North American release
on the basis that it would not sell well.
Digital Trends
Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
wrote that the game's emphasis on "magical transgender gurus" might have also affected the decision.
Music
![Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-Purple-FL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-Purple-FL.jpg)
All of the game's music was composed by Shogo Sakai. Itoi saw Sakai as competing with ''Mother 2'' composer
Keiichi Suzuki
is a Japanese musician, singer, and record producer who co-founded the Moonriders, a group that became one of Japan's most innovative rock bands. He is known to audiences outside Japan for his musical contributions to the video games ''Mother'' ...
for his fans. Itoi had to choose a composer from the development team who understood the series and could work full-time on the project, including other development duties. Thus, he could not choose Suzuki, who was outside the project, or
Hirokazu Tanaka
, also known as Chip Tanaka, is a Japanese musician, composer, sound designer, and executive who pioneered chiptune music. He is best known as one of Nintendo's in-house composers during the 8- and 16-bit era of video games. Tanaka also had a r ...
, who had become the president of
Creatures. Sakai also understood the game's story intimately and named the Magypsies after musical terms. He worked to make the music feel similar to previous entries in the series.
There are 250 tracks in the game's sound player. Itoi did not have a favorite of Sakai's work. He noted that the final track, "Love Theme", was added towards the end of the development cycle. While the ending was incomplete, Itoi planned to use the Pigmask theme, but they decided to add a new song to better reflect their intentions in December 2005.
The game's soundtrack was released on
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...
on November 2, 2006. Kyle Miller of ''RPGFan'' wrote that the game retained the quirkiness of the previous soundtracks in the series though switching composers. He found the second half of the album, which included reinterpreted "classics" from the series, to be its strongest.
References
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Development of ''Mother 3''
Mother (video game series)
Mother 3
is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother (video game series), ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy ...