Mother 3 fan translation

The dozen fans who worked on the project had been vetted by Tomato and had prior localization experience.

Thousands of hours were put into the project between hacking the game data and translating the 1,000 pages of scripted dialogue.

[2] The fan community did not expect an official English localization when Mother 3 was released in April 2006.

The localization included two elements: hacking the game data (ROM) and translating the scripted dialogue.

Tomato said that "no text display routine wound up untouched", such that the fixes for variable width fonts were useless until the team manually made room for the characters.

[1] Graphics hacks included the new intro screen and images imported from the English EarthBound, so as to preserve continuity of features.

The team also built custom software to aid in the translation, such as a cross-assembler and tools for handling the script and patching.

[6] Young said that their localization team transparently stated that they would curb the project if the company were to make an announcement about the future of the game.

[1] Though the team acknowledged that the legality of the localization was unclear,[7][5] Young said that it would not be reasonable to call the fan translation "impetuous or unfair".

[9] Along with the translation, the team announced the Mother 3 Handbook, an English player's guide for the game that had been in development since June 2008.

[8] Kotaku's Mike Fahey wrote that the translators were wrong to suggest purchasing official merchandise where players were unable to find an import copy.

[9] The Verge cited the two-year fan translation of Mother 3 as proof of the fanbase's dedication.