"Mother 3" did not receive an official release outside Japan. On October 17, 2008, Starmen.net released a fan translation patch that, when applied on a copy of the "Mother 3" ROM image, translates all the game's text into English. Reid Young, co-founder of Starmen.net, stated that when they realized Nintendo was not going to localize "Mother 3", they decided to undertake the task, for themselves and for fans of the game. The translation team consisted of around a dozen individuals, including project lead Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, a professional Japanese-to-English translator. The project took two years and thousands of work-hours to complete; it was estimated that the theoretical freelance cost of the translation was $30,000.