Mother 3

is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy with psychic abilities, and a party of characters as they attempt to prevent a mysterious invading army from corrupting and destroying the world. Like previous entries, Mother 3 focuses on exploring the game world from a top-down perspective and engaging in turn-based combat with enemies. Its development spanned twelve years and four consoles, beginning in 1994 for the Super Famicom and then transitioning to the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD add-on. It was initially canceled in 2000, but development was restarted in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. Mother 3 was never localized or released outside Japan, due to its release near the end of the Advance's lifespan and the company focusing on the Nintendo DS. However, it was a critical and commercial success in the years that followed and has generated a cult following, in which it received praise for its character development, stylized graphics, music, and story, but was criticized for its lack of innovation in the role-playing genre. The game is noted for its themes of grief and rebellion against tyranny, progressively more mature and dramatic tone than its previous two installments. An unofficial English fan translation was released by the Starmen.net internet community in 2008, and received over 100,000 downloads within a week. Mother 3 was re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2016. Mother 3 is a single-player role-playing video game similar to previous games in the Mother series. The player controls a party of playable characters who explore the game's two-dimensional fictional world, primarily shown from a top-down perspective. While navigating the overworld, the player may converse with non-player characters, obtain items, or encounter enemies. Winning battles against enemies awards experience points to the party, which is required for leveling up.