The team reported that "the highest levels" of Nintendo of America knew about their project, though they did not intervene. The localization team planned to end the project if Nintendo were to make an announcement about the future of the game, or if they were asked to cease development of the translation. They acknowledged that the legality of the localization was unclear since the final translation required use of an emulator. The localization patch was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first week following its release. Along with the translation, the team announced the "Mother 3 Handbook", an English player's guide for the game that had been in development since June 2008. "Wired" reported the full-color, 200-page player's guide to be akin to a professional strategy guide, with quality "on par with ... Prima Games and BradyGames". "The Verge" cited the two-year fan translation of "Mother 3" as proof of the fan base's dedication, and Jenni Lada of "TechnologyTell" called it "undoubtably one of the best known fan translations in existence", with active retranslations into other languages.