The fan made Mother 4 has reappeared with the new name Oddity

You can always trust fans to pour their hearts into creating unofficial ports, sequels, and translations, which is what one team of volunteers has been doing for years to create what used to be known as the unofficial Mother 4. The fan made sequel to the long-dormant quirky RPGs has been in the works for years. It's reappeared after a long silence as its own non-Mother game—but with all the same goofy Mother vibes—called Oddity.

The Mother series of RPGs is near the top of my mental list of games that won't ever see another sequel. Mother 3 was released in 2006 and never launched outside of Japan. EarthBound (Mother 2) was the last to have an English translation and any chance of seeing the series again feels impossibly unlikely. A group of fans have been working to create their own Mother 4 game since before 2014 but it was beginning to feel like even the fan version of the series would never launch.

It won't, as it turns out, because the project is being re-branded as Oddity, a game that absolutely still looks like it could be Mother 4 but no longer has references to the series. The announcement comes in the form of a new reveal video posted to the team's Twitter page.

Given its origins, it's no surprise that Oddity has a very familiar sounding story. Baseball bat-wielding Travis Fields is off to save the world with some newfound powers that are definitely probably related to a "gate" that exploded nearby during a camping trip. The world seems to be in danger from a plethora of sources, according to the teaser's description on YouTube. "People are crabby, demons run amok, the moon's covered in creepy ooze, a bear did something..." it says.

Despite the name change, Oddity has all the retro weirdness that I'd expect of a true EarthBound sequel. Characters in the trailer have names like "Jacky Friendly." Combat screens have psychedelic colorful backgrounds. Your party members follow behind you in an orderly line. If Mother 4 is something you were looking forward to, Oddity is clearly still 98% that.

The team behind Oddity haven't given a release date, opting for a classic "It'll be out when it's ready." For now, the best place to keep up with the game appears to be its Twitter account.