Ever since its reveal, MOTHER 64 has been subject to speculation and rumors. With a lack of information at hand, the rumor mill began to spread full force following its cancellation in 2000. Thankfully, over the years fans have accumulated a gold mine of material to help clarify the truth on these matters! Below is a collection of the most famous mysteries, new and old.

The Mystery of the “Ness” Character

The oldest of the rumors stemmed from the appearance of a “Ness lookalike” character seen in the Shoshinkai 1996 video. Lacking any reference to distinguish who this character might be, many were lead to believe Ness would indeed be appearing in the game.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, just weeks before Shoshinkai 64 Dream conducted an interview with Itoi. Here, he announced the previous heroes wouldn’t be returning. Instead, the game would feature new protagonists with “a different outlook on the world.”

Many modern day fans believed this character was an early version of Claus. In some scenes, he appears right beside Lucas, who is also bearing his original brown haired design. While there are similarities to draw from (with Claus even sporting a yellow and blue striped shirt in the MOTHER 3 we know and love), this in fact wasn’t the truth.

According to Itoi in a February 1997 issue of Dengeki Nintendo 64, this character was never intended to represent someone in the game, but was actually a special guest made for the video! He explains, “…this boy probably won’t appear in the actual game. I would like to think of him as a special appearance to make the world of “MOTHER” easier to understand.”

The MOTHER 3.5 Expansion Disk

The existence of a disk expansion called MOTHER 3.5 eluded fans for over two decades. After the Fall of the Pig King iteration of the game was announced, many wondered if the developers would follow in Ocarina of Time‘s footsteps with an expansion disk. IGN happened to report this would be the case on August 13th, 1999:

“Though the game was shifted over to cartridge from its original 64DD form last year, MOTHER 3‘s producer also made mention of a 64DD expansion disk for the title, which is currently being called ‘MOTHER 3.5.’ No details regarding the expansion have been made available, though it is expected to serve up an entirely new quest and characters, but utilize the same game engine as the cartridge game”.

Many have questioned the validity of this report; and most have found clues pointing towards it either have being fabricated or mistranslated. In an interview with Game Walker Magazine, Miyamoto implied that the team were considering the possibility: “Currently, we have a 256-megabit cart now. It can store much more data than in the past. So I think DD will be used for additional data so you can play the game once again after you complete it…”

It is possible IGN‘s report misconstrued Miyamoto’s words from the very same interview and came up with the rumor of 3.5. Other sources such as a blog called Myself and Nintendo stated developers who attended Spaceworld ’99 informed only a cartridge release would be happening.

The most revealing piece of this puzzle however came straight from the game’s designer, Akihiko Miura‘s mouth. Speaking with OkeijiDragon on Twitter, Miura scoffed, “I think there might be a plan about releasing add-on product for miserable 64DD platform, but no specific action was done.”

And thusly, it can be determined that MOTHER 3.5 was nothing but a fable, and no such expansion disk ever got off the ground!

“How Complete Was the Game?”

The answer to this question varies depending on who you ask. Some fans say it was “just a demo,” while others might be adamant “it was almost done!”

Even the words of Itoi, Miyamoto and Iwata remained uncertain at the time, with percentages varying from 30, to 60, or even 80%!

The roundtable discussion published on the morning of MOTHER 64‘s cancellation gives us the most concrete idea over the state of the prototype. According to Iwata, “all we had left was data input—all we had to do was create whatever remained, and we’d be good to go.“

Contrary to belief, the game was not canceled due to the MOTHER 64‘s team unfamiliarity with 3D. Many to this day claim this, but interviews tell of the team taking their time experimenting and studying books about physics! In truth, the final nail in the coffin was the release of the Dolphin, which Iwata informs: “the honest truth is that we couldn’t go on. It would have had far too much an impact on other projects like Project Dolphin. The reason we’re quitting is not that it’s not going well, or because the end is not in sight” .

In an interview with Yomiuri News Stream, Itoi stated they were told the game needed another year to reach completion. Despite what most people say, MOTHER 64 got a lot further than most would believe!

As the fans continue to dig for new info, hopefully many more mysteries will continue to be solved!