As you all know by now, every couple of weeks Shigesato Itoi is releasing little bits of tasty Mother 3 game information at his Mother 3 Website. This information ranges from pictures, screenshots, sprite rips, fan art, and who knows what else in the future!
Here is our recently updated collection of all known Mother 3 OFFICIALLY RELEASED game screenshots!

* 07/03/2006 *

  OFFICIALLY RELEASED GAME MEDIA - view official site (jap).

• World of Mother 3 Map! That's right, this is the officially released overworld map of the land of Mother 3! This map image was released by Itoi on March 6th, 2006. Looks like an interesting map indeed. I am curious about the resolution, however.. It leads me to believe this is a drawn rendition of the actual in-game map. Probably the overworld map used in the strategy guide. Definitely strays away from the typical "Mother map style". How exciting!
• Volcanoes, mountains, towns.. Looks like we can make out several different areas, perhaps a forest area, mountain, volcano, desert, town, with so many other possibilities.

• Image #1: Our main character (probably one of Flint's boys) running around in a volcano. Check out the new enemy, some sort of crazy floating serpent! Reminds me of an EB0 enemy.. Looks like our main character is running for a present with his dog.. Guess it looks like he'll be around alot after all!
• Image #2: Finally, a battle scene screenshot! Here we see our main character (names translate to: Flint and Boney!), dealing a 24pt blow to a bat! Looks like the same battle engine is being used for MOTHER3! Neat psychedelic background, turnbased EarthBound style fighting.. Are those two individual enemies or together do they comprise one? So many possibilities! Looks great!

Here is a rough translation of the caption written by Shigesato Itoi for the release of the above enemy/battle sequence images:

  WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
We see from the picture of our main character (looks like this is finally confirmed) running around in the volcano, and from other media released regarding Mother 3, that many elements from EarthBound have been imported and modified slightly to fit the specs of the GBA. The volcano looks very familliar (Fire Springs), the present looks re-modeled and fantastic, and this floating serpent insanity looks like it'd make for an interesting fight! We can also see that our friend 'the dog' has reappeared here in this party. My guess now is that the main character and the dog come as one. Cant wait to see how that works out in battle!

Perhaps the greatest part of this release of media, and one of the most anticipated, BATTLE SEQUENCE SHOTS! We can see from this image that Mother 3 will be using the same battle engine from EarthBound, or at worst, a highly re-modified replica of it! Our main character deals a blow of 24HP to one of the bats. Notice how this battle is being fought by two characters! They are Flint and Boney! Could this be our main character and the dog!? What a crazy idea! Looks like alot of EB64 elements made it in after all! A psychedelic background also reappears in this sequence, and looks terrific! Cant wait to see more!

• Image #1: WOW! Whats this? A truckstop? Store? Whats with the buffalo? I cant even BEGIN to explain that big white floaty thing. Check out the party of three! A new cast of characters!
• Image #2: Quite a haunting scene! Check it out, ghosts playing piano, eating, drinking, and being all around merry. Looks like our lone party member has joined them for the evening?
• Image #3: This looks like the entrance to SOMEPLACE important! DC+MC is written on the sign. Could this be a character reference? Scientific reference? Notice some elephant statues similar to those seen in Dalaam (SNES) reappear here.

  WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
Well, it looks like it is official! THERE WILL PROBABLY BE NO NESS IN MOTHER 3! Looks to me from this new batch of pictures, that Ness has been replaced with this re-appearing blonde-haired boy, and now, we see that at certain points, there are two other totally new characters in his party!

  On second inspection of Ness not re-appearing in this title, it does in fact make sense with the progression of the series. As well, remember how great it was to play EarthBound for those first few times, and really get to know your characters progressively throughout the whole game? You are left at the end with a total feeling of joy and sorrow for the characters. You are the characters. Where would this element of gameplay be if the old cast returned? I dont doubt for a second it'd be a fun game to play, but nowhere near as impacting im sure! Nintendo is now trying to appeal to a NEW generation of RPG'ers, and this is how it's done, folks!

Official Message from Shigesato Itoi - 20/02/2006 - from his site, translated by Kyosuke of StarMen.net fame

• "Getting back my original intention, it was decided that "Mother 3" was to be worked on quietly, and because of that, the information is also being kept moderate. However, sometimes there are things that do not concern the details that I can't help wanting to talk about, and when that happens, I would like to write them down.

  The truth is, last weekend my base work came to a close. Of course, if needed, I may still help out by way of e-mail and the like during the final tuning stages, but everything is completely written. Even up until the very last nameless minor character's lines. Just up until the other day, I faced a problem. "Should I let myself delve back in to make it a little bit better? No matter how in over my head?" This last month has been work to stop myself from doing so. Because if I were to keep working on it, it would never see a release.

  Funny enough, it's to about the point where even if I had a really good idea out of the blue, it'd be better not to even say anything.

  I feel happiness in that it's actually going to come out. I feel joy in that it's going to be unleashed. I also feel the sadness knowing that this work is now over. I feel a weakness inside.

  It's alright now.
  I think I'll be able to announce new information soon.

  *Whew.........*"

Wow. That Shigesato sure is a perfectionist, it seems. I can relate to his feelings of never being satisfied. The Mother series definitely seems to have a nice warm spot in his heart! It is great to hear the game is indeed complete, and ready to go now, though. Thanks, Mr. Itoi!

• Official Mother 3 Deluxe GameBoy Micro - Holy crap that looks great! A sweet release to say the very least! Oh the joys of playing Mother 3 on this beautiful machine..


• Mother 3 Franklin Badge! - I don't know yet what purpose this badge serves, perhaps a discount on the GBM, but regardless, it's really cool looking, and protects you from thunder! Bet you wish you had one, huh! Avoid trees during rain!


• Official Collectable Mother 3 "Deluxe Box" Game Package - looks like Itoi is gonna go the same route with the box for Mother 3 as he did for EarthBound, and make it a biggie! Definitely a cool box! Makes me want to get mine 1000x more!

  WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
We have learned they will be releasing this awesome custom Mother 3 GameBoy Micro Deluxe and killer gamepack in Japan. And, I'm also 1000x more excited than I was before, and a little more angry. I really wish I could have the opportunity to own that Deluxe GBMicro, or Franklin Badge. Oh well, maybe one day.. until then, lets try and make it a reality!

OFFICIAL MOTHER 3 SCREENSHOTS POSTED: 2006-02-14

• Image #1: We see what seems to be a main character, and his dog, in a typical EarthBound town. Some familiar sprites here; the three women at the bottom of the screen! exciting.
• Image #2: We see the image centered on a character that resembles Flint (EarthBound 64 RIP). The dog is back in this picture, and looks like he is a part of this character's party. What could this possibly mean?!
• Image #3: We see the "main character" once again with his dog as his shadow, this time in a dinosaur museum of somesort. Could this be a different room of the Fourside Museum we never saw in EarthBound? Different city alltogether? Ack!

  FAN CREATED EARTHBOUND IMAGERY (NOT real screenshots! Caution!)

• EarthBoundHQ.com Animated Mother 3 Screenshots

• EarthBoundHQ.com Animated Mother 3 Screenshot

• Created by: Taylor Shute

• Created by: Erik Gough

• Oh yay, they say! I ripped these from the original screenshot..

This section is updated everytime new information is released!