Earthbound 64

EarthBound 64 was a role-playing game. The game would have had a large overworld for players to explore, with battles with enemies triggered by interacting with them in the overworld. After triggering a battle with an enemy, players would have had a brief opportunity to avoid entering combat, even against stronger opponents.

In combat, EarthBound 64 would have used a fighting style similar to its predecessors. Battle would be done on a black swirling background with "psychedelic imagery" from a first-person perspective, similarly to EarthBound. A circular battle menu would allow players to use a variety of options: "Check", "Items", "Stand", "Fight", "Strength", and "Magic". If Magic was used too much by a given character, they would be unable to select actions in combat for a short time.

EarthBound 64, known as Mother 3 in Japan, was initially conceived of for the Super Famicom (Super NES) that began development in 1994. Shigeru Miyamoto, head of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and the final game's producer, stated that it was "a commercial decision", since Mother 2 (EarthBound outside Japan) had sold well. By this point, Mother series creator Shigesato Itoi had worked on the series' earlier games and Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 and was experienced at pitching video games, so Miyamoto provided a team willingly.

The Mother 2 development team carried over to the new game's development, though several people left and the team grew in size. They forwent the usual prototyping phase and went straight into development expecting to create something unprecedented. Itoi said he wanted to make the game like a Hollywood film. In September 1994, he predicted that Mother 3's development would end around 1996 with a release on Nintendo's then-upcoming console, the Nintendo 64.

In 1997, a poll held by IGN stated that only 30% of readers would buy an N64 if it came packaged with EarthBound 64; 10% voted it as one of five RPG series they would like to see on N64. com in the same year showed that players were less likely to be willing to buy a 64DD to play the game compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which was also originally slated for release via the 64DD. Overall, however, the game was a highly anticipated title for N64 players. Famitsu readers ranked the game as one of their top ten most anticipated towards the end of 1999.

In a poll held by IGN in 2000, EarthBound 64 showed strong rankings, landing in the top twenty most wanted upcoming games, though fell lower on the chart than prior rankings due to a lack of new information released at the time. In another IGN poll held in Japan the same year, Mother 3 was ranked fourth on a list of games people were most excited to play.