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Rumor: No Mother 3 localization happening anymore, Rhythm Heaven franchise dead

Eolz

Eolz

Member
From Destructoid/Jonathan Holmes: (talking to insider sources)

"You never know what's going to happen, but the way it looks right now, under Nintendo's current administration, Mother 3 will never leave Japan and there will never be another Rhythm Heaven game. Iwata was a driving force behind the Rhythm Heaven series, and a consistent advocate for NoA to at least look at the possibility of Mother 3 finding a new audience in the United States and Europe. With him gone, there is no one at Nintendo pushing for either anymore."

"The core team behind the Rhythm Heaven series has more or less disbanded, and the last time anyone at NoA considered translating Mother 3, they shelved the game as soon as they got to the Magypsies. That was a while ago now, and if anything, management has gotten even less adventurous since then. Depicting Trans characters in a way that would likely insult both the political Left and the Right in the U.S., is the last kind of attention that Nintendo wants for themselves in 2017. They want nothing to do with those kinds of headlines and potential protests."
Click to expand...

There were several rumors about an official localization of Mother 3 happening (via Emily Rogers and Eurogamer amongst others), but seems that it's over... The fanpatch is still fantastic at least.
Big shame for Rhythm Heaven if true too.

nintendo.gif
 
L

LordKano

Member
Read this earlier. I call bullshit. He pretends there weren't any plan to localize Mother 3 since 2015 while a lot of far more reputable sources said otherwise, and the part about Iwata being the only guy behind the project smells like fanboy's thoughts about how a game company works.

Destructoid is also a terrible source for leaks.

EDIT :
LordKano said:
Rhythm Heaven Megamix sold 650k in Japan alone. Nintendo publish a lot of titles that barely reach half that and costs way more.

This whole article is bullshit.
Click to expand...

EDIT 2 :
LordKano said:
Reggie teased the release of Mother 3 enough that there should be no doubt that it's coming at some point. It's only a question of when.

”Oh, so earlier today I got asked about Mother 3; maybe you can ask me about Metroid. Look, again, I am proud as an executive with Nintendo to say that we look at all of the boards and all of the comments and we really have a good understanding of what our consumers want. And believe me, we take that to heart as we work to create content.

”So I have nothing to announce–here. But we are aware that there are some key IP that consumers just can't wait for the next true installment in that franchise's legacy. Suffice it to say, we're aware of it, and talk to me in a year and let's look back and see what's happened."
Click to expand...

https://www.vg247.com/2017/01/16/re...onsole-wont-have-large-gaps-between-releases/ (from last January)
Click to expand...
 
P

Pellegri Testament

Member
I mean sure, the Magypsies were likely going to be an issue they'd try and find a way around, but I highly doubt it would be enough for them to shelve a localization for it.
 
M

mrlion

Member
Well this is sad news. However if you guys haven't yet, the fan translation is fantastic made by a dream team of ROM hackers and translators, definitely should look into playing it.
 
2

21x2

Member
That sucks, though I kind of understand the point about the Magypsies. There's no way to solve that in the current political climate without pissing off people all over the spectrum, short of actually altering the game content.
 
E

Eusis

Member
I... can understand the magypsies bit, but I do suspect a lot of people would be willing to overlook that just to get the game.

And it's a shame these are casualties of Iwata's passing. :/
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
Oh well, would have been nice to get a legal and official localization, but the fan patch has been available for years.

Really sucks for Rhythm Heaven, it was great fun and I loved the style.
 
A

Azoor

Member
Depicting Trans characters in a way that would likely insult both the political Left and the Right in the U.S., is the last kind of attention that Nintendo wants for themselves in 2017
Click to expand...

Interesting, I've not played Mother 3, but I can see how this can be problematic.
 
Mato

Mato

Member
I was under the impression that the Rhythm franchise was a decent seller, especially in Japan. It probably has a low production cost too. So it's weird. The games are very fun. Easy to pick up and enjoy. I don't quite see how/why they have no place in their plans for them.
 
R

Regiruler

Member
So there was a potential hot button issue wrapped under Mother 3. I was wondering why they kept putting it off despite support.

Rhythm Heaven being dead is definitely a bummer, even if I never bought one. I know the game has tons of fans, and that letter that was published was really heartwarming.
 
L

LordKano

Member
Mato said:
I was under the impression that the Rhythm franchise was a decent seller, especially in Japan. It probably has a low production cost too. So it's weird. The games are very fun. Easy to pick up and enjoy. I don't quite see how/why they have no place in their plans for them.
Click to expand...

It is. I haven't see any signs that Nintendo is willing to give up on that IP. Especially when they publish titles that sell way less.
 
T

TheLegendaryN

Member
Since Megamix is more of a compilation of minigames from older games rather than a brand new installment, I was kind of afraid already that Nintendo doesn't have too much faith in the series anymore; and especially in the west, since western release took so long (and was digital-only in NA). Such a shame...
 
S

Snarfington

Member
I'm a huge Mother fan, but the real loss here would be Rhythm Heaven which is low-key the best Nintendo B series. I would be very sad if it got retired and went the way of F-Zero (sorry folks, she dead). But at least The Best+ was an incredible sendoff if true.
 
J

Jazzem

Member
Holy shit, if that's true on Rhythm Heaven...D: Was really holding out hope on a Switch iteration

Mother 3 is of course a shame and unsurprising, still at least the fan translation is accessible and supposedly fantastic. It's on my bucket list!
 
L

Ladekabel

Member
If true, I guess it is time for me to start a job at Nintendo, work up the career ladder and finally hit the button for the Mother 3 localization.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
I think it'll happen.
Nintendo is bringing Star Fox 2 out of nowhere and brought us Mother 1. I think they'll mess with Mother 1. Since this time they don't have to release it on a dead console.
 
V

Vena

Member
I am confused on this. In fact it seems counter to recent or sales realities, so I do not understand the basis of this "rumor" because it doesn't seem to be grounded in reality.

RH is a consistent series in Japan, and I cannot imagine production costs are prohibitive in this venture.

And BotW had an entire quest-line on a potentially trans character wrapped up in a major city story arc.
 
W

WonderzL

Banned
I agree that RH is dead. With the unification of Nintendo's production units, the original team is all over the place. But hey, I doubt Nintendo is going to stop trying to make rhythm games, just not RH tho.

Mother 3 is bs tho.

This rumor is entirely based on fanfiction from a Nintendo employee. Lol
 
T

TimmiT

Member
"The core team behind the Rhythm Heaven series has more or less disbanded, and the last time anyone at NoA considered translating Mother 3, they shelved the game as soon as they got to the Magypsies. That was a while ago now, and if anything, management has gotten even less adventurous since then. Depicting Trans characters in a way that would likely insult both the political Left and the Right in the U.S., is the last kind of attention that Nintendo wants for themselves in 2017. They want nothing to do with those kinds of headlines and potential protests."
Click to expand...
I don't really buy the reasoning here since Breath of the Wild had the whole "sneak into Gerudo Town by pretending to be a woman" thing.
 
L

LordKano

Member
Rhythm Heaven Megamix sold 650k in Japan alone. Nintendo publish a lot of titles that barely reach half that and costs way more.

This whole article is bullshit.
 
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