EarthBound 64


 * This page is about the unreleased game for the Nintendo 64. For the game on the Game Boy Advance, see Mother 3.

EarthBound 64, also known as Mother 3 was a planned game for the Nintendo 64 DD. The project was quickly shifted to a cartridge on the Nintendo 64, as the Nintendo 64 DD was shown to be very unsuccessful. Throughout development, the game received many subtitles, such as "Forest of the Chimera", and "Fall of the Pig King", but was commonly just referred as simply Mother 3. The story is very similar to the final product on the Game Boy Advance, being a group called Pigmasks turning animals into Chimeras. The game was said to have 12 playable characters spread across 12 chapters. Revealed characters include all the party members in the Game Boy Advance game, as well as others. These characters include, Flint, Lucas, Claus, Boney, Duster, Kumatora, Salsa, a character that may have been, or simply resembled Ness from the previous game, and two unknown characters. Developers had trouble making the game due to inexperience working in 3-dimensions.

Story
Although the story was generally the same as the game released in 2006, there were some major differences. EarthBound 64 supposedly took place 10 years after the events of EarthBound, and instead of eight chapters that spread across three years, EarthBound 64 had 12 chapters that spread across 10 years. During development, a "main" character had not been chosen, but if there was one, it would've been Lucas, the same in Mother 3 on the Game Boy Advance. One chapter was stated to have a character's 40-year old father disappear.

Development
EarthBound 64 was planned not so long after EarthBound was released. The game was planned to be a launch title for the Nintendo 64 DD, but was moved to a cartridge after the system was subjected to failure. The game was going to use a 256 megabit cartridge, the same kind that was used for The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. EarthBound 64 was also stated to utilize the Rumble Pak for the Nintendo 64 controller. The difficulty of developing the game discouraged the team to make a fourth game of the series. A trailer and a playable demo was on show at Spaceworld 1999. The game then delayed to March 22, 2000 for release. On August 21st, Shigesato Itoi confirmed the game's cancellation. After the cancellation, Itoi put up screenshots and music from the game on his website. One of these screenshots, showed a destroyed Onett, with a destroyed Monotoli Building behind.

Trivia

 * The billboard in the screenshot of Onett highly resembles the one used in the Onett stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee.