It seems Earthbound (as its known to us gaijin) really is over. In an obscure interview from Earthbound game designer Shigesato Itoi’s website, dated from July and dug up by Earthbound Central, Itoi interviews a young writer and exchanges some dialogue about his current career as a novelist and the difficulties of writing dialogue for a book versus a game. Buried at the end of a paragraph was this remark:

Itoi: “…but games demand many more lines of dialogue despite the fact that the main characters don’t talk, so I couldn’t keep making them. That’s why I felt deep down after making three [Earthbound games], “Well, that was a neat experience.”

Interviewee: So you’re done with them?

Itoi: Yes, that’s right.

While he has mentioned before that there were no plans for a MOTHER 4, some had hoped that as time went on, there would be a change of heart. Unfortunately, in the three years since he last made a statement, it appears that is not the case.

Sigh. Back to the MOTHER 3 ROM pages I go.

EarthboundCentral
via GoNintendo