Another promise of a Mother 3 fan translation was dunked in the toilet today, when the mysterious administrator of NotStarmen.net revealed that his/her firmly promised February 28th release would not come to pass. For those of you keeping score, this makes the third project to miss a projected release date, which you can't really hold against a group of avid Mother enthusiasts doing the bulk of the work in their free time. Still, though -- disappointment is disappointment, especially for those of us who have waited over a decade for a playable and localized sequel to EarthBound.

In the mean time, the aforementioned administrator posted some screenshots to tide us over and cryptically alludes to some mutiny amongst the ranks of the Mother3.org crew. From the latest post:

I apologize sincerely, I feel terrible about not coming clean on my promise. However, instead of just seeing this as me being a liar and a scam, I propose not only a translation soon, but also the story behind Mother3.Org and their translation, struggles, and my experience with them.

Whispers amongst those involved with the project on the Something Awful forums revealed some drama unfolding some months back, but this is the first I've heard of splinter groups forming due to said drama. Regardless of the circumstances, this makes three seperate groups (Starmen.net, Mother3.org, and NotStarmen.net) working towards a completed Mother 3 translation, none of which have really ponied up hard evidence as to their progress. I'll keep you posted as soon as new information presents itself, but in the mean time let's crap in one hand and hope in the other, et cetera.