Mother 3 GBA

Mother 3
Mother 3
General
Author	Tomato, Jeffman, Chewy, Lorenzooone, Karmageddon
Type	Translations
Version	1.3
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2021/04/20
Links
	Download
	Website
	Source

This is an unofficial English translation of Mother 3, a Japanese RPG released for the Game Boy Advance in 2006. Mother 3 is the sequel to the 1995 Super NES RPG, EarthBound.

It soon became clear that Nintendo of America was uninterested in localizing the game, so in November 2006 the fans took matters into their own hands with the Do it Yourself Devotion project.

For two years a team of translators and hackers worked to produce an in-depth, professional translation and localization of MOTHER 3. In August 2007 the team began blogging about their progress, attracting the attention of the gaming industry, media, and more than half a million unique visitors.

On October 17, 2008, version 1.0 of the fan translation was released. It was downloaded well over 100,000 times in the months which followed. On July 19, 2009, version 1.1 was released, containing typo/grammar corrections and a series of bug fixes.

MOTHER 3 is filled with secrets and rarities. Characters say new things after even the tiniest of events. Take your time to explore the game's intriguing world - you won't be disappointed.

Installation

This patch is in UPS format and the archive comes with custom patching programs for Windows, Linux, and Mac (save files from the previous versions of the translation will still work with the new patch).

Game information
Japanese title	マザー 3
English title	MOTHER 3

ROM information
Database match	Mother 3 (Japan)
Database	No-Intro: Game Boy Advance (v. 20210227-023848)
MD5	AF8B0B175F7EC8914CB87B3161BA1AAA
SHA-1	4F0F493E12C2A8C61B2D809AF03F7ABF87A85776
CRC32	42AC9CB9

First, unzip the contents of this zip file to a folder/directory. You should find the following files:

mother3_windows.exe.
Mother3UPS.app.
mother3_linux.
mother3.ups.

Second, you will need to obtain a ROM of the Japanese version of MOTHER 3. The file should be 32 MB in size. Put this file in the same folder as the files from above.

If you're using Windows, run the mother3_windows.exe file.
If you're using a Mac, run the Mother3UPS file.
If you're using Linux, run the mother3_linux file.

(The Linux patcher was compiled under Ubuntu, if it doesn't work, try manually applying the UPS patch with something like byuu's tsukuyomi UPS utility. Also don't worry about the fact that the program still says "version 1.0", it will still patch the 1.2 patch despite what it says.)

Note that the patching process may take a while on and old computer or if you're running it off of a flash drive. For most people, it should only take a matter of seconds to patch.

The patching utility is very simple. Simply tell it where your ROM file is, and then hit Apply patch.

If your ROM is a bad dump or if something is wrong with the ROM file, the patching utility will inform you of this. Make sure you have a correct dump of the original Japanese ROM, and that it hasn't been modified in any way.

Note: If you're using a recent build of VBA-M, you can use the soft-patching support for UPS patches. If you don't know what that is, just ignore it and use the normal patch procedure listed above.

User guide

Resources

Tomato's MOTHER 3 fan translation notes and technical notes.
MOTHER 3 Handbook. A visual fan-made guide. The online version is free, but you can also order an actual print version of it to have at all times.
Starmen.Net Mother 3 Walkthrough.
Simple, Non-Spoiler Walkthrough.
Translation tools and save files for testing.
Some of the deleted/hidden MOTHER 3 content scattered throughout the ROM.

FAQ

Q. I can't save my game! What's wrong? Help!

This happens primarily with Mac emulators. There are several possible fixes to this:

If you're using Mac VBA 1.7.4, perhaps try 1.7.2 instead.
If that still doesn't work, try another emulator.
Trying fiddling with emulator's preferences. Setting the flash save size to 64K might get the game to save properly.
Try downloading someone else's save file and putting it wherever your save files normally go. This seems to fix the saving problem for some people.
If you're not on a Mac, try using the Save Fix option of the GBATA utility. It shouldn't be too hard to find GBATA.
If all else fails, try applying the save fix patch that's available at the translation project site. Some flash carts also have saving problems, and this save fix patch seems to work equally as well on Mac emus and flash carts.

Q. The patching utility says it can't find mother3.ups, but I see mother3.ups right there!

You need to unzip the .zip file fully. Running the patcher program directly from the .zip file won't work. Consult your .zip program instructions if necessary.

Q. I double-click on the .zip file but nothing happens!

If your computer doesn't have .zip file support (most computers in the last 10+ years have support by default), look on Google for things like 7-Zip or WinZip.

Q. The game gets stuck at the intro screen. Help!

You can skip this normally by pressing any button. If you're using an emulator, keep in mind that you might need to set up what keyboard keys act as what GBA buttons.

Q. I can't get the battle combo system to work right! Help!

To get combos in battle, you have to tap the A Button in time with the beat of the music. Some songs are more difficult to combo to than others.

Also, because of the nature of emulation, the precise timing needed may get out of synch. If you're having trouble getting combos on an emulator, try these things:

Try a different emulator, or a different version of your current emulator.
Try turning the emulator's frame-skip setting to 0.
Close all other programs that you might have open. You might want to restart your computer, too. This may help speed emulation up a bit.

Sometimes some songs are just made to be difficult to combo to. There is an item in the game that will let you hear the beat more clearly, and there's another item that will let you practice combos on any enemy you've fought before. Take the time to gain some real-life experience to make combos easier.

Note that combos are NOT needed to get through MOTHER 3. They're just an added bonus for players who take the time to master them.

Q. The game crashes/freezes on my hardware!

This may be a hardware-specific problem. See if you can't find moreinfo about your hardware. Consult this forum thread if you have any problems running the translation on actual hardware.

The M3 brand of hardware seems to be the most problematic.

Q. The music seems to speed up in the main menu sometimes, but not always.

This is an issue with VBA-M and other emulators based on VBA-M. The problem doesn't occur on other emulators or actual hardware.

Q. I'm experiencing slowdown in the forest area at the beginning of the game. How can I fix this?

This is actually entirely an emulator issue, and occurs with the original game, too.

Try tweaking your settings a bit. It may help a bit, but probably won't fix it completely.

Q. I want to use save files from the Japanese version or the old menu patch version, but the names get screwed up in the English version! Help!

You can use the save file convertor tool for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Made by the translation team.

Extras

For the translation, there are a few extra features added (not found in the Japanese game). These are unobtrusive and will only be found by completionist-type players.

In the game, there is an item called the Battle Memory. This keeps a record of every enemy you've fought. If you manage to completely fill this log up, a silver star will appear on the Battle Memory screen as a badge of your greatness.
Similarly, if you find every enemy and log all the possible front-facing and back-facing/alternate sprites for all enemies, a gold star will appear on the Battle Memory screen.
There are a few other hidden features, but you'll have to discover them on your own. They're sure to please, for those who try hard enough.

Note that no new enemies were added in the translation. No unused bosses were added. No unused music was made accessible. No new areas were made accessible. Only the extras listed above were included.

If you'd like to mess around with unused content from the game, see this topic about hidden/unused stuff.

Screenshots

Media

The MOTHER 3 Fan Translation (contains some spoilers) (Starmen.Net Youtube)

Compatibility

Recommended emulators:

PC - mGBA, VisualBoy Advance-M, VisualBoy Advance
Mac - mGBA, OpenEmu
Linux - mGBA, mednafen, VisualBoy Advance-M

Known issues

Temporary Main Text Slowdown - For reasons unknown, main dialogue text might seem to slow down on rare occasion, but will revert to normal speed a few letters later. The cause for this is unknown, and all attempts to figure it out turned up absolutely nothing. This problem is rare and it also fixes itself soon after.

Extra/Missing "The" - This issue probably doesn't happen anymore, but there's always a possibility for it. Sometimes, during battle, a player's name might have the word "the" in front of it, usually involving a line of text about a status effect. Conversely, the word "the" might not appear before an enemy's name during a status effect line, when it should be there. The Japanese language doesn't use things like "the", so the original programmers didn't design the game for this, and as a result, enemies and players share many (but not all) battle text lines about status effects. Fixing this will require a ton of work to reverse engineer the whole battle system, for now, if you notice any of this stuff, please overlook it.

Gift Box Transformation - Very rarely, when walking around, open gift boxes will turn into status ailment icons. It turns out this is actually a bug in the original Japanese game.

With the VBA-M emulator, sometimes the main menu music will seem to speed up. This is an emulator issue. This doesn't happen on other emulators or actual hardware.

Changelog

Version 1.3

lorenzoone, the Italian MOTHER 3 fan translator, spent approximately three years improving the English patch. This new version of the patch mostly fixes technical issues and bugs for a better gameplay experience. The game’s text is almost entirely the same as in previous releases.

Fixes of translation bugs/issues:

Fixed the Summary’s lag.
Made it so the menus’ writing buffer is properly cleared (Fixes leftover text issue).
Fixed some articles in text in the overworld.
Fixed missing articles in the battle text.
Fixed line of Debug Phrygia that was missing one entry.
Fixed text overflow in various boxes.
Made it so Soup and Stew are not drinkable.
Fixed various typoes in the Memo text.
Fixed line about the position of one of the Needles.
Fixed article within an highroad dog’s line.
Fixed small cursor’s issue in the naming screen.
Fixed issues with the stars in the Battle Memories.
Fixed “Text Slowdown” when printing text in CPU heavy areas in the overworld.
Made gray boxes in the overworld more precise.
Fixed memory OOB writes during Fassad’s low voice speech.

Fixes of the Japanese version’s bugs/issues:

Made it so the Thunder Tower’s frog can still move when in contact with the party (Fixes softlock).
Fixed New Game Plus bug (A patch will be made available that removes the fix for those who want it).
Fixed swapped gift boxes bug (A patch will be made available that removes the fix for those who want it).
Fixed Salsa’s reflect text during the Pork Tank’s battle.
Fixed various graphical/collision issues in the overworld.
Fixed Lucas’ talking bug in Chapter 5.
Fixed the Skull Gift Box glitch in 3 locations.
Fixed the Boney’s Sludge Pond Glitch (Could crash the game).
Fixed the Steel Mechorilla’s sounds.
Fixed door’s collision data for one bathroom in Chapter 8.
Fixed issue with actions being executed more times than intended.
Fixed flickering during Fassad’s low voice speech.
Fixed issue with Claus’ PP if the first battle is lost.
Fixed wrong text being displayed for the train’s requested money.
Fixed issue with Thomas disappearing in Chapter 1 after the notebook is collected.
Fixed issue with mouse talking directly to humans.
Fixed Debug Room’s Pigmask changing sprite in certain situations.
Standardized Boney’s minimum level during Chapter 4.
Fixed issue with Mementoes being used while in the inventory.
Fixed issue with Leder’s counter ticking when it shouldn’t and viceversa.
Fixed 0 damage being reported as > 0 if comboes are used.
Fixed minor graphical issues within some menus.
Fixed Nana’s age in Chapter 8’s concert.
Fixed Caroline’s bakery causing inventory issues in Chapters 1 through 3.
Fixed the Delete All Saves menu’s lag.
Fixed issue with quickly opening and closing maps.
Fixed the song set for Wess’ house right after Wess joins the party in Chapter 2.

Improvements:

Optimized text printing for a smoother experience.
Reduced the load on the GBA’s CPU in certain menus in order to ensure a smoother experience.
Added NPC in the Debug Room.
It allows accessing the other tables of the Debug Room.
It allows viewing the Attract Mode sequences.
Other useful features.
Improved Debug Room’s Staff roll option.
Improved some of the Debug Room’s warps.
Made it so all the Memoes can be seen.
Made it so the mother mouse’s text is different if only one mouse is missing.
Changed “BOM” to “BOOM”.
Updated some enemies’ sprites to match the translation.
Restored a trade with a ghost in the castle’s kitchen.
Restored one of Caroline’s lines for when Wess is in the party.
Made consuming cheese consistent for Claus.
Changed the “Ready-Set-Go” voice clip to the one featuring Lani Minella and Karmageddon.

For the other translations:

Made it easier for future translations to edit graphics.
Allowed more text per line and per screen in the Memoes menu.
Allowed more text per line in the overworld Debug menus.
Allowed more text per screen in the overworld notebooks.
Lowered the OAM footprint of names in the overworld.
Added guideline that shows which enemy uses which battle text line.
Added enemy articles in the main script.
Added program that allows for more custom text lines.
Added script that makes sure inserted files don’t overlap.

Version 1.2

A number of minor, rare bugs have been fixed.
A few rare typos and other text issues have been fixed.
Some bugs present in the original Japanese game have been fixed.
Script text encoding has been undone.
Duster's sound battle sounds play properly the original game had some problems with this.
And probably some lesser stuff that's been forgotten over time.

Credits

Main Team - JeffMan (hacking), Tomato (hacking, translation Chewy (misc. translation).

Additional Help - byuu, DoctorFedora, sblur, Exophase, harmony7 (ex. RPGe), Kevin_b_er, Gideon Zhi, demi, reidman, Jonk, Klarth, METC.

Additional Thanks To - mitch, NinjaBoyNeo, Zinco, Ninten1, npjpkac, post_it, HoshiNoRyuka, Classicworth, butsukoy, Ben Cocchiaro, chrono (and all the vba-m guys), Anthadd, Nutsjesmoar, psychomax, PKGINGO, BRPXQZME, PoeTrader, nightshade, Giovanni, Dr. Hobo, Jatopian, Phone, Artemis251, Tansunn, zyboser, Difegue, LarryTheCucumber, Gemini, Zip Code Ness, Fugitive, alezicarus, Meeellla, Plo, Firegirl, Kevin, Sling, Mr. Sword, PriestessPaula, Dr Shlub, EmpoleMew, Smash Bass, Clayman, Elobo, Subster.

And many others.

External links

Official website - http://mother3.fobby.net/
Author's website - http://tomato.fobby.net/
GitHub - https://github.com/jeffman
Romhacking.net - https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1333/