Sakurai also deconfirmed the possibility of Ridley in Smash in 2014/2015.
And, by "hardly acknowledging it," it somehow ends up being one of 3 series to have all its stages return in Ultimate, having more spirits than Metroid, Yoshi, Star Fox, F-Zero, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Kid Icarus, Wario, Punch Out, Xenoblade, Metal Gear, and Sonic, having a piece of art made by an official staff member of Mother 3 to celebrate Ultimate, having Mother 1 be localized, and having Earthbound on the SNES Classic and WiiU VC.
You're giving up too quickly
Not sure if it's too late to reply, but here I go (btw, I just want to make sure that you know there's no hard feelings in this, I'm just giving my opinions).
I don't think it's fair to compare Sakurai and Itoi because they are two completely different people. If Sakurai changes his mind a lot, that doesn't necessarily mean Itoi will. 13 years, and we're still waiting. I was 12 when I first played Mother 3 in 2008, so I definitely have not given up too quickly lol because I'd say I started really losing hope in 2017/2018 and that's fair because that's a decade of waiting.
Nintendo as a company does hardly acknowledge Mother. We're lucky that Sakurai gives it a lot of love in Smash. It's not like the heads of Nintendo themselves planned on bringing back every Mother stage, and including so many spirits. That all can be credited to the lovely work of Sakurai's development and spirit teams.
A person who has worked on some kind of media is allowed to create art for it after it is over without it hinting at a revival. Just look at Butch Hartman and his YouTube channel. He's still pumping out new artwork of the Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom even though both shows are cancelled and he has left Nickelodeon. Just because that Mother 3 staffer created art in celebration of Ultimate doesn't necessarily mean it's hinting at something. I think they just wanted to create a wholesome picture of the Mother 3 characters playing Ultimate.
And like I've said, Mother 1 was already localized for decades before it was released on VC. I don't think it took a heaping amount of effort to change the name and throw it on the eShop lol. EarthBound is a famous cult classic, that's why it's on the SNES Classic and Wii U VC. You know what else is on VC? Duck Hunt. But that doesn't mean it's hinting at a new Duck Hunt game.
I'm sorry for bringing my pessimistic views into this thread, I'll try my best to refrain from doing so in the future. However, I think a lot of the alleged "evidence" and "hinting" of a new Mother game is just really passionate fans looking too deeply at things that aren't supposed to be looked at so deeply. But I'm not gonna judge or criticize anyone for having hope, I'm just tossing around my thoughts. I used to have a lot of hope but after so much waiting it just bit me in the butt and I realized it's not worth my time to keep wishing for something that will likely never come to fruition.
But hey, to each their own, so if you guys really want to hope for a new game, then who am I to stop you?