We told you it was coming, and we just wanted to give you a heads up: the Mother 3 fan translation project is complete!
"After more than 13 years of waiting, the sequel to EarthBound is now in English!" writes Tomato. "We tried our very best to make a worthy translation, and I think we came close to hitting that mark. With any luck, the translation will seem just as "strange, funny, and heartrending" as the original Japanese version."
You'll need a ROM of the game to use the translation patch, which means you should buy it and rip your own, of course. Not paying for stuff is bad, and as the folks behind the translation put it: "It’s not cool to brazenly pirate stuff! Itoi, Nintendo, HAL, and Brownie Brown worked hard on this game."
Alrighty then ... Mother 3 English translation GET!
[Via Jackal27's cblog]
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Contest:
11:47 AM on 10.17.2008
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For serious people, if you like RPGs, you have to play this game.
I fail :(
Creating a translation patch isn't illegal, but the act of copying a legit copy so to modify with a translation patch is an act of piracy.
So all you self-righteous jackasses saying that you should pay for a "second hand" game because you don't condone piracy should shut the fuck up.
Just because you bought the original CART does not mean you have the right to modify it with a translation patch. To do it you must make a copy, and unfortunately you only have the legal right have in possession 1 copy of the CART.
If you don't believe me, read up on it. Nintendo has explicitly stated that owners of game cartridges do not have the right to make backups and is considered copyright infringement if you do so and are subject to fines and imprisonment.
Sorry thats how the current law works.
Amazing how doing something you think is harmless is actually a felony.
My point was that I hate it when people want to rationalize their actions. Playing games on an emulator is an act of piracy, live with it. Why do you think translation groups don't give access to pre-patch games, but just the patch? Because the patch itself isn't illegal to have in possession. Having a patched copy is illegal and is considered piracy.
Before anyone makes the stupid point that you can just patch the original cart, I want to say, you're an idiot. You can't do that. You actually have to make another copy. Do to how cartridges work, you can't patch the game while in the original cart. You can of course reprogram an empty cartridge, but hat again is an act of copying (PIRACY).
No matter what you do, you're committing Piracy.
Buying the game off of ebay doesn't benefit the creators or the copyright holders, only the douchebag selling the game at 10x the market value.
Basically you're paying someone so you can pirate a game. I don't know about you, but that sounds utterly ridiculous.
But no, really, I have a huge boner over this news.
you see, people on this site use that kind of overwraught sarcasm as a clever jab at how much you legally need to cover your ass whenever you even mention something vaguely ilegal. in fact, everyone on the internet does it. it's a "thing."
welcome to destructoid, you're an angry nerd retard.
We all know the related legal issues, but in this case many people just don't care. The battle to get a sequel to Earthbound in the states has been going on for years and it seems this is the only way most people are ever going to get to play this game.
I imported a NEW copy of Mother 3 from Japan. I'll buy a localized copy of Mother 3 if Nintendo ever releases one in the US. No one here is so disillusioned that they believe downloading a ROM and patching it isn't illegal. The suggestion of buying a cart is merely a moral choice in no way intended to save anyone's hide if the FBI comes knocking on your door.
Get over yourself and allow the people that have been waiting over a decade for an Earthbound sequel to enjoy this moment.
http://www.betanews.com/article/House_Bill_Seeks_to_Exempt_Backups_from_DMCA_Violation/1172619649
As I understand it, it doesn't matter what Nintendo says; fair use states that making backup copies for archival purposes is legal, as long as copy-protection schemes are not violated. Last I checked, the cart media did not a copy-protection scheme employ.
Certain rights cannot be surrendered no matter what a EULA says (your soul, for instance, is still your soul, no matter how many times you sign into WOW :). However, a way to use those backup copies is not a guaranteed right.
Modifying a software that you own is also your right, as long as it is not for public display. Reselling that software, however, is not your right.
Releasing software to modify legally obtained software is not illegal. Releasing software to modify illegally obtained software is not illegal either. At least, not yet.
At the end of the day, we know that a large portion of the people who download this patch will not buy the game, nor donate to the fan translators (me? I'm waiting for Earthbound 2 for the VC). That doesn't make anything the fan translators have done illegal at all. The people around them, however, is a different story...
What this really will change (eventually, hopefully) is the spread of the idea that we live in a global community. Regions are artificial creations that only cause issue like this to exist, and perpetuating the artificial nature of them (as Sony has finally given up region-locking its games for the PS3, which makes importer's lives that much more legal) is just a really backwards way of thinking in a rapidly changing world. I may not benefit from this particular patch, but more power to those that put their time and effort into such endeavors.
Also, I don't believe the United States is under any obligation to protect the copyright for a work registered in Japan and not the US, unless the US registration of the copyright for Earthbound 2 included all future systems and such. AFAIK on that one.
/bitter
Or is it all NOT rom getting?
*fuzzy pickles*
Amazing. Simply amazing. Nintendo is losing points by the SECOND for not having released this in the states.
But first things first. I need to finish Mother 1.
I too am against piracy, and I understand that the copy of Mother 3 that I bought off of eBay isn't sending the money to Nintendo, but when the friggin' game is out of stock, and out of print, there's nothing more I can do to justify having a ROM and then patching it with a translation.
I would do anything in my power to play a totally legal version of this game, while giving the money to the creators, but Nintendo is making it impossible to do just that.
Thanks for nothing Big N.
BUT I DONT PK-FUKCING CARE IM GOING TO PLAY THIS GAME ALL NIGHT LOOONG!!!!
I've barely put the game down since I got home from work yesterday, already on Chapter 3, heh.
As for emulators, VBA-M is the only one I've seen that can handle the fire scene early in the game without slowdown, although there is an issue with the music speeding up in the menus on occasion. It's totally playable though.
Mad-crazy props to the translators and coders. You guys are a true testament to fan devotion and public service.
@Jedcred - I think the point Byrc was trying to make is just that buying the cartridge doesn't change squat, Nintendo even says that in their homepage in the FAQ about emulators. In their eyes, if you buy a second hand cartridge of Seiken Densetsu 3 before applying Neil Corlett's patch to a Rom, it's still a crime. Gay as it may be, that's how they are.
Personally I couldn't give to squirts. When it comes to big new games like that guy in Australia or whatever who uploaded a copy of SMB Wii, sure I can see a reason to flip out. But when its a game from 10 or 15 years ago that they've shown no interest in licencing to add to the Virtual Console, f-ck it.
Those fan-translation teams put just as much work and soul into their translations as the people who coded those games back in the 90's, you'd think that they would just accept it as tribute, not go all Lars Ulrich / Prince on people. If they wanted to -slow- piracy, they should maybe try releasing more stuff to the VC, stuff we didn't get that we should've like Mother 3, or Secret of Mana 2, or Terranigma, or the SFC version of Tales of Phantsia (GBA version sucked, sorry...) but I won't hold my breath.
The VC is a joke to them here and in Japan too, they don't even have the aforementioned titles on the service in their country or origin. Why would they waste any time and effort on something so old that only a niche of obscure fanatics would appreciate, when there's new games to market?
If you want to play these older unreleased games but you're also a moralist (or you fear for your freedom) then yer stuck between a rock and a hard place. You can either wait for Nintendo to licence the game to put it on the VC so you can play it through legal channels, or you can throw caution to the wind and do it the other way. It would be -NICE- of them to licence some of those aforementioned games (most importantly SD3/SoM2) since if they did I would go right out and buy a Wii and the points so I could play it. Heck they could probably do a better font job than Niel's team did and they could set the title screen for what it was SUPPOSED TO BE, instead of some romaji title. But this is just unlikely to ever happen, even after a massive fan campaign they'd probably still just ignore us all but then hold out that "But if you play it illegally, we'll track you down and sue you" part.