Not much was known about this third (some might say fourth) game in the MOTHER/EarthBound series before the game's release, but below we list everything we were able to find out. Shigesato Itoi said that he would not release anything too early for fear of getting people's hopes up.

I. MOTHER 3's release date is set for April 20, 2006 in Japan

• Itoi revealed MOTHER 3's release date on his blog on the 24th of January, 2006.
• On January 1st, 2006, Itoi stated on his blog that the game would in fact come out in Spring 2006.
• On November 7th, 2005, Nintendo of Japan officially opened a webpage for MOTHER 3. It states that the game is to be released in Spring 2006 with a price of ¥4800. The logo presented as the focal point of this page is the very same one used in the cancelled Nintendo 64 version.
• On November 4th, 2005, Shigesato Itoi made an announcement on his website that MOTHER 3 is nearly ready for release. His trips to Kichijoji every weekend are part of the final processing of the game. He is putting in a lot of energy to get the game finished. He also stated that he will not be releasing any specific information about the game until just before its release, as he has previously done with MOTHER 1+2.
• In a Weekly Famitsu interview, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that MOTHER 3 will come out and that it is currently being worked on for the Gameboy Advance.
• Itoi stated that he will not release any information too early.
• He also suggested in the same interview that he decided to make MOTHER 3 on the GBA while bug-testing MOTHER 1+2. Given the constant delays MOTHER 2 underwent, it's conceivable that MOTHER 3 could have a development time of 2 or 3 years.

II. MOTHER 3 is planned for the Game Boy Advance, not the Nintendo DS.

• November 4th, 2005, Shigesato Itoi announced on his website that MOTHER 3 is coming out on the Gameboy Advance very soon.
• Late November 2004, Japanese game magazine "Weekly Famitsu" printed an interview with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. In that article, he mentions in passing that MOTHER 3 is still being worked on for the GBA and that Itoi and old team members are working on it at "full power."
• MOTHER 3 has been pre-orderable on Amazon Japan since shortly after the announcement was made. The page lists the game as a GBA game.
• Shortly after, Nintendo of Japan put up a section for MOTHER 1+2. In it is a Mr. Saturn saying that they're working on MOTHER 3 too.
• On April 14, 2003, the MOTHER 1+2 commercial aired. At the very end, a Mr. Saturn says that they're working on MOTHER 3 for Game Boy Advance, too.

III. MOTHER 3 for GBA will have a similar story to the canceled N64 MOTHER 3.

• The recent screenshots show many of the characters from the canceled N64 MOTHER 3/EarthBound 64.
• A couple of Japanese sites - including MOTHER All-Stars Party - posted in July of 2004 that Itoi was about 60% done with the new story.
• In an interview on his site, Itoi mentions that he's taking a very different attitude toward the new MOTHER 3. English translation here.

IV. It is too early to say if MOTHER 3 will be released outside of Japan or not.

• Nearly two and a half years have passed since MOTHER 1+2 was released in Japan but it still has not seen an English-language release.
• However, Miyamoto was made aware of Starmen.Net's MOTHER 3 petition (which had over 30,000 signatures) and was impressed enough to mention that Nintendo fans are "really solid."