Mother 3, the incredibly well-received follow up to cult classic Earthbound is coming to the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console. According to a tweet sent by the Japanese Nintendo twitter :

“The Gold Mario and Lucas amiibo will be released on December 17. Mother 3, which stars Lucas, will be released on the Wii U Virtual Console on the same date.”

The Gold Mario amiibo has already been released when Mario Party 10 came out earlier this year. Perhaps this is part of a restock/reprint of the fairly sought-after figure? Also Mother 3 being released on Wii U would complete the Mother trilogy. Overseas, we have received both Earthbound and more recently Earthbound: Beginnings which is the first official release of the original Mother. Fans have waited for a long time to see an official release of Mother 3 outside of Japan. Nintendo of America has even acknowledged this demand on MULTIPLE…DIFFERENT…OCCASIONS . Now nearly 10 years since its release in Japan, is it finally the right time to release Mother 3 outside of Japan?

SOURCE

Thanks Will for the translation