10 Video Games Stuck In Development The Longest
6. Mother 3
Mother 2 (also known as 'Earthbound' to those outside of Japan) had one of the lengthiest development spells for its day, being worked on for over five years before being released in 1994. The game did well in Japan, but poor sales in North America meant that a sequel for one of the '90's best-hidden gems wasn't necessarily going to be a shoo-in.
Development for a sequel to Mother 2 began soon after the game's release with the majority of the same team working on the title. The game was designed for the 64DD add-on for the Nintendo 64, but the leap from 2D graphics to 3D ended up causing some major headaches in the development department, putting the game on hold over the course of the lifespan of the 64, and the company's next home console, the GameCube.
Developers Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory persisted with the title, however, eventually releasing a top-down 2D RPG for the Game Boy Advance in 2006, 12 years after the release of Mother 2.
A Japanese-only release, Nintendo reportedly scrapped English localisation due to its emphasis on bereavement as a central tone and the inclusion of animal cruelty and drug abuse.