| 1994 | Development as a Super Famicom game begins |
| 1995 (maybe 1994) | Mother 3's development is announced |
| 1997 | Nintendo announces "Mother 3 - Forest of the Chimera" for the 64DD Sub-title later revised to look a little fancier and mysterious |
| 1999 | Nintendo moves Mother 3 to the Nintendo 64 platform |
| Summer 1999 | Nintendo announced "Mother 3 - Fall of the Pig King" 3D graphics, 12 chapters, Rumble Pak compatibility, May 2000 expected release date, 6,800 yen price all announced |
| Summer 1999 | Mother 3 is shown in playable form at Nintendo's Spaceworld event |
| August 22, 2000 | Announcement of Mother 3's cancellation is made |
| November 2000 | A game-related TV show host is told by Shigesato Itoi that he would like to release the canceled Mother 3 in one form or another, not necessarily as a game |
| 2002 | Rumors spread that Benimaru Itoh commented that there will be some developments concerning Mother 3 in the near future |
| April 14, 2003 | MOTHER 1+2 Commercials begin to air. In the trailer of some of them Mr. Saturn announces that MOTHER 3 is in development for the Game Boy Advance |
| April 15, 2003 | Shigesato Itoi answers questions about MOTHER 3 in an interview on Hobo Mainichi, in which he confirms that the game is currently in development as a Game Boy Advance game. |
| April 28, 2003 | Shigesato Itoi answers questions in another Hobo Mainichi interview that touches on MOTHER 3. This time he urges fans to forget about the game for now. |
| June 20, 2003 | MOTHER 3 enters the Weekly Famitsu Most Wanted Games list and debuts at #11. |
| July 2004 | Unverified rumor has it that Shigesato Itoi commented that he is working on a scenario script different from the N64 Mother 3, that he is about 60% done with it, and that it could go on sale the following year |
| November 2004 | A mysterious screenshot appeared on a Japanese gaming blog from a game that looked eerily similar to the MOTHER titles. While the source and subject of the screenshot were never discovered, it was thought to be either from MOTHER 3 or a fan-developed game. |
| Late November 2004 | In an interview with Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu, Shigeru Miyamoto said that MOTHER 3 was still in development. |
| Late September 2005 | Game developer Brownie Brown posted a job position on its website for a video game tester to work on a game for 4-5 months. |
| Late September 2005 | A flash animation appears in the “Project B” section of Brownie Brown’s website that featured a style very similar to the battle system found in MOTHER games. Speculation began that they were working on MOTHER 3. This speculation would later appear in Edge Magazine. |
| September 22, 2005 | Marvelous Interactive posts a cryptic flash animation on its website with a counter and a character that looked remarkably like Dr. Andonuts from EarthBound. Speculation began that Marvelous Interactive was working on MOTHER 3, but this was proven false when the countdown finished and the game revealed turned out to be Contact. |
| September 22 – October 4, 2005 | Shigesato Itoi writes on Hobo Mainichi that he is traveling to Kichijoji, where Brownie Brown is located, to work on “it,” a secret project. Speculation that the secret project is MOTHER 3 begins to excite MOTHER fans. He mentions meeting with a big group and working 15 hour intervals for this project. |
| October 14, 2005 | Shigesato Itoi mentions wanting to announce something, and asks for the patience of the reader to find out what it is. |
| October 19, 2005 | A Mr. Saturn figure appears very near to the webcam of Hono Mainichi’s website. This created speculation that the upcoming announcement was in fact MOTHER-related. |
| November 4, 2005 | Shigesato Itoi makes the announcement that he has been working on MOTHER 3 and it is nearing its release. He then goes on to say that he will keep quiet about the game until just before its release. |
| November 7, 2005 | Nintendo officially announces MOTHER 3 and announces a Spring 2006 release window by opening a MOTHER 3 webpage with basic information about the game. |
| November - December 2005 | Shigesato Itoi continues to go on the busy excursions to Kichijoji. |
| December 31, 2005 | Shigesato Itoi mentions on Hobo Mainichi that he mentions that he is putting in twice as much scenario work into this game as the previous two MOTHER games. He also states that production of the game is nearly complete and that it looks like it will make its Spring 2006 release. |
| January 24, 2006 | Shigesato Itoi announces Mother 3's release date of April 20, 2006 |
| January 26, 2006 | Nintendo officially announces Mother 3's release date |
| February 7, 2006 | Shigesato Itoi opens up his World of MOTHER 3 webpage which includes weekly updates with little bits of information about the game being unveiled until the game’s release, discovered by opening gift boxes. The first two gift boxes contain the game’s slogan and theme song: Theme of LOVE. |
| February 14, 2006 | The first screenshots are unveiled as well as a Theme of LOVE ringtone. |
| February 21, 2006 | More screenshots are unveiled as well as the announcement of the MOTHER 3 Deluxe Box |
| February 28, 2006 | Basic game information is presented. |
| March 7, 2006 | The world map is displayed. |
| March 9, 2006 | MOTHER 3 peaks at the #1 position on the Weekly Famitsu Most Wanted Games list, and holds the spot until its release. |
| March 14, 2006 | The first two characters are revealed, twins Lucas and Claus who were in the canceled Nintendo 64 version. Cellular phone wallpaper is also released. |
| March 21, 2006 | More of Lucas and Claus’s family is revealed. |
| March 28, 2006 | The first glimpse of the monsters of MOTHER 3 reveals creatures never before seen in the previous games along with some desktop wallpaper. |
| April 4, 2006 | More screenshots reveal a wide variety of locations to be found in the game. |
| April 11, 2006 | The update made known that the chapter system of the canceled game was retained in the Game Boy Advance version. |
| April 13, 2006 | MOTHER 3 receives a score of 35/40 from Weekly Famitsu. |
| April 18, 2006 | The final update revealed a heartfelt letter from Shigesato Itoi. |
| April 18 - May 1 2006 | Shigesato Itoi releases a series of interviews about MOTHER 3, one per day, in which he expresses his feelings on the game. A translation is yet to exist. |
| April 20, 2006 | MOTHER 3 is released in Japan and sells for 4800yen. |
| April 20, 2006 | The evening of MOTHER 3’s release date, Shigesato Itoi broadcasts a live interview on his website where he talks about MOTHER 3 with Hikaru Ijuin. |
| April 23, 2006 | MOTHER sells 205,914 copies in its first three days on the market. |
| May 3, 2006 | Shigesato Itoi announced that he had no plans on releasing a fourth installment in the MOTHER series. |
| August 1, 2006 | Shigesato Itoi releases a series of limited edition T-shirts via his website’s shop. Among them are two MOTHER 3 shirts, one bearing the MOTHER 3 logo and the other a large print of the Franklin Badge. |
| November 2, 2006 | MOTHER 3+ soundtrack album goes on sale. Those who preordered received a Mr. Disguised Saturn strap. The album featured “Live” and arranged versions of some of the game’s more familiar tunes. |
| Winter 2006 | Banpresto releases Mr. Disguised Saturn plush toys into its UFO catcher machines. |
| February 6, 2007 | MOTHER3i, a digital download soundtrack featuring various pieces of music from MOTHER 3 not found in MOTHER 3+, was made available through iTunes and other digital music download services in Japan. The album, along with MOTHER 3+, eventually made its way to iTunes stores around the world. |
| October 16, 2007 | The-King-Of-Games unveils a new series of MOTHER 3 inspired T-Shirts featuring the Ultimate Chimera. |
| October 17, 2008 | MOTHER 3 fan translation is released and the MOTHER 3 handbook is made available for pre-order. |
Info courtesy of MOTHER Party
