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The two-part and nine-year development of ''Mother 3'', a role-playing video game, took place 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'' outside of Japan), ''Mother'' series creator Shigesato Itoi 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 and changed their console focus from the Super Famicom to the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD magneto-optical drive expansion peripheral, for which it was expected to be a 1998 launch title. Upon the commercial failure of the 64DD, it was converted to the cartridge-only format. Itoi thought of the game's concept during ''Mother 2'' 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'' development. A North American version was announced as ''EarthBound 64'', but did not materialize when the 60 percent-complete Japanese release was cancelled 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 in 2003 within a Japanese television commercial for ''Mother 1+2'', a port of ''Mother'' and ''Mother 2'' to the Advance. The game kept its original story and received a graphical overhaul in a pixelated style similar to ''Mother 2''. The game's themes included human physiology, renewal, and fungibility on the morality spectrum. Its music was composed by Shogo Sakai, and retained the quirky style of series composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. ''Mother 3'' was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan, whereupon it became a bestseller. It has not been released outside Japan. ==Nintendo 64== ''Mother 3'' was originally developed for the Super Famicom (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 of Japan) had sold well.〔 By this point, ''Mother'' series creator Shigesato Itoi had worked on the series' earlier games and ''Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1'' 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 forewent 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'' development would end around 1996 with a release on Nintendo's then-upcoming console.〔 The team was inspired by ''Super Mario 64'' and felt that they too could creatively flourish by making a 3D world without restrictions. 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 development platform〔 to the 64DD, a Nintendo 64 magneto-optical drive expansion peripheral.〔 At E3 in June 1997, Miyamoto speculated that ''Mother 3'' would be one of the four titles for the then-expected 1998 launch of the Japan-only peripheral,〔 but the game was instead converted to a Nintendo 64 cartridge-only format〔 upon the commercial failure of the repeatedly delayed 64DD.〔 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 their 1999 Space World trade show, where IGN described the development's progress as "very far along"〔 and half complete.〔 In April 2000, IGN estimated the game's development as "safe to assume that the game is nearing its final stages of completion".〔 The game 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 chose not to show the game at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo, though IGN expected to see a finished version of the game at Nintendo's 2000 Space World.〔 After a period of silence, Nintendo announced that the game would be a 256 megabit cartridge for the Nintendo 64 (similar to ''Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'') instead of a 64DD game.〔 ''Mother'' producer Satoru Iwata cancelled the game altogether prior to the 2000 Space World,〔 and Itoi announced the cancellation in late August 2000.〔 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 felt 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 felt would have solved some of the Nintendo 64's hardware issues. Miyamoto and Iwata also discussed releasing the game on the Game Boy Advance, 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 felt "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, but Miyamoto was still interested in bringing the game to fruition.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Development of Mother 3」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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