The development of Mother 3, a role-playing video game from Nintendo, spanned a total of twelve years between 1994 and 2006 with a three year gap in between, and spanned four consoles and multiple delays. Following the commercial success of its predecessor, Mother 2 (EarthBound outside Japan), Mother series creator Shigesato Itoi was given the previous game's development team.
Inspired by Super Mario 64, the team set out to create a 3D game that ultimately exceeded the capabilities of the platform. Along the way, the team changed its console focus from the Super Famicom to the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD peripheral, for which the game was expected to be a 1998 launch game. Upon the commercial failure of the 64DD, the game was converted to cartridge. Itoi developed the game's concept during Mother 2's development and built a 12-chapter story with player-characters that rotated between chapters. Having been a producer during Mother 2, Itoi served as a scriptwriter during Mother 3's development.
A North American version was announced as EarthBound 64, but did not materialize when the 60 percent-complete Japanese release was canceled in August 2000 in reprioritization leading up to Project Dolphin (the code name of the GameCube). At the time, the game was estimated to need another two years of work.
After multiple years and failed petitions, Mother 3 was reannounced for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 within a Japanese television commercial for Mother 1+2, a port of Mother and Mother 2 to the Advance. The game kept its original story and received a graphical overhaul in a pixelated style similar to Mother 2. The game's themes included human psychology, renewal, and fungibility on the morality spectrum. Its music was composed by Shogo Sakai, and retained the quirky style of series composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. Mother 3 was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan, whereupon it became a bestseller. It has not been released outside Japan.