Nintendo is often criticized for "Mother 3" lack of an international release. IGN referred to the "Mother" series as "neglected" in regards to "EarthBound" being the only game to be released outside Japan across the decades until 2015. Bob Mackey of "1UP.com" wrote of "Mother 3" that "no other game in the history of time garnered such a rabid demand for translation," and Chris Plante of "UGO Networks" wrote that the lack of an official "Mother 3" English localization was one of 2008's "worst heartbreaks". Frank Caron of "Ars Technica" said that the fan translation's "massive undertaking ... stands as a massive success" and that "one cannot even begin to fathom why Nintendo wouldn't see fit to release the game in the West."