I wonder why Dad never writes in New Horizons

[Croconaw]

I lived with my dad since first grade. My mom isn’t exactly in the picture. I’ve never really thought about it, game-wise. I would love if they gave you an option, but it’s not the end of the world. I remain neutral on this.

 

[Foreverfox]

Yeah, I'd never thought about this before, but this is a huge miss! Having the option to input a closest or preferred family member or even family friend would be great. I'm fortunate to have a good relationship with both of my parents, but I know that's not the case for everyone. It also doesn't account for people who have lost their mom and could have the pain triggered everytime they get a letter from mom in the game. Though honestly, that pain probably never leaves. ☹

 

[Imbri]

I also have a friend who lost their mom a year ago and they get extremely sad everytime they get a letter.

I lost my mom about 3 months ago, and yes, it makes me tear up to get the letter, but it also makes me smile. I used to tell my mother about my 'game mom' sending me care packages, which made her chuckle. She used to say I got spoiled in and out of the game.

 

[oak]

I went through all my mail and you're right, dad didn't send a letter! How strange. It's sad they missed this detail.

 

[Berrymia]

i mean, i'm not particularly close with either of my parents, but i don't and never have associated my in-game parents with my real ones. they're the parents of my character (who, to be fair, is never modeled after me anyway) not me. i just think it's a little shortsighted for the game to put so much emphasis on the mother to the point of even taking out the father's day letter in NH. it's not like there aren't people with single dads or two dads or just crappy moms. dads can be just as, if not more, affectionate and caring than mothers. feels like a bit of a kick in the face to all of the ones that are for nintendo to act like only a mom would remember to write to you and send you gifts.

That’s very true! Dads need representation too

 

[Stikki]

Probably the least risky option, given that the vast majority of players have a mother in their lives as opposed to a father. Also in many cultures, it's more on the mother to do the nurturing side of things, which I guess would include letter writing and sending gifts.

Of course it would be great if we could just choose, but that still leaves people like me who aren't close to either. Maybe choosing between parents would trigger kids in broken homes too, if their parents were making them feel like they had to choose.

I just never think about it too much. I know it's not my actual mother sending them (we don't tend to say "mom" here anyway, so it feels like a whole different person). One of my other characters is an elderly lady though, so I get amusement out of seeing her mother - who would be around 150 years old probably - still sending her letters haha

 

[Pyoopi]

It'd be a cool aspect to have the dad write letters and have his own set of items. Handmade dad items sound way better than mom's (I don't like the set).

 

[VanitasFan26]

Yeah I am not sure why our Dad was forgotten about. Maybe they thought that our Mom cared more about us so she writes letters to us, I bet our Dad must've broken with our Mom and he never bothers to send us letters of how we are doing and how he's doing. Of course this is just me being speculative but still.

 

[-Blue-]

i mean, i'm not particularly close with either of my parents, but i don't and never have associated my in-game parents with my real ones. they're the parents of my character (who, to be fair, is never modeled after me anyway) not me. i just think it's a little shortsighted for the game to put so much emphasis on the mother to the point of even taking out the father's day letter in NH. it's not like there aren't people with single dads or two dads or just crappy moms. dads can be just as, if not more, affectionate and caring than mothers. feels like a bit of a kick in the face to all of the ones that are for nintendo to act like only a mom would remember to write to you and send you gifts.

Kind of lowkey reminds me of Pikmin 2's artifact log. Olimar finds relics/treasures and writes descriptions for them. Two of them are chess pieces I think. One is Queen and is deemed something like valuable piece and the other is the king and is titled worthless. Olimar's description describes them as something like it reminding him of his great mother/useless father.

I feel it's more of a culture thing because Nintendo is based in Japan where the father's are not very present in their kid's life because they are overworked. Heck Ness's father can never meet him and just calls him on the phone because he is always overworked. The actual title of the game is Mother in Japan and I remember Iwata or someone mentioning they named it that because of that very reason. All of the mother's in each game play a part to a degree. Ness needs to call his mom because he gets homesick and that affects him during battle, Lucas is devastated by Hinawa's death and Flint abandons him in search of Claus clinging on to hope to find him ect.

 

[daringred_]

Kind of lowkey reminds me of Pikmin 2's artifact log. Olimar finds relics/treasures and writes descriptions for them. Two of them are chess pieces I think. One is Queen and is deemed something like valuable piece and the other is the king and is titled worthless. Olimar's description describes them as something like it reminding him of his great mother/useless father.

I feel it's more of a culture thing because Nintendo is based in Japan where the father's are not very present in their kid's life because they are overworked. Heck Ness's father can never meet him and just calls him on the phone because he is always overworked. The actual title of the game is Mother in Japan and I remember Iwata or someone mentioning they named it that because of that very reason. All of the mother's in each game play a part to a degree. Ness needs to call his mom because he gets homesick and that affects him during battle, Lucas is devastated by Hinawa's death and Flint abandons him in search of Claus clinging on to hope to find him ect.

the only difference being that the character isn't supposed to be a direct stand-in for you in any of these examples. olimar, ness etc. are pre-established characters with their own families and stories. sure, there's clearly a pattern in their mothers being more present and their fathers being 'useless', but that's obviously not a universal experience -- including in japan where i'm sure there are plenty of single dads or households where the mother and father have reverse roles. i have no doubt it's more of a cultural thing, but it's clearly one that's changing and should. i think it would be great if nintendo acknowledged that in the next installment as unlikely as i find it that they will.

 

[konijntje]

I know what you mean but in Japan it is typically more true that mothers take on a more nurturing role, as it is a far more traditional country.

Things are changing kind of? But since Nintendo is international I still think they should have considered it especially since in-game dad used to send letters :/.

 

[-Blue-]

the only difference being that the character isn't supposed to be a direct stand-in for you in any of these examples. olimar, ness etc. are pre-established characters with their own families and stories. sure, there's clearly a pattern in their mothers being more present and their fathers being 'useless', but that's obviously not a universal experience -- including in japan where i'm sure there are plenty of single dads or households where the mother and father have reverse roles. i have no doubt it's more of a cultural thing, but it's clearly one that's changing and should. i think it would be great if nintendo acknowledged that in the next installment as unlikely as i find it that they will.

Nintendo is probably a bit more old-fashioned and that is why it's taking them longer to get there. I just remember reading interviews through the years with some of the Nintendo big-names talking about how they came about making their games. And in some cases it was their childhood (present mother/absent father) Like the Mother series is the biggest one. And if you have the same names directing a majority of the games (at that time) they will probably draw from that experience more.

I'm just suggesting why there's a lack of a father's presence in the earlier games and that he/they are outright gone in NH. Plus the fact that they just cut out a lot of content for little or no reason.

 

[konijntje]

I will be real with all of you and just say that Dad's letter and a lot of missing content is probably because Nintendo is being erm ergonomic*

*lazy

 

[-Blue-]

I wouldn't call it lazy so much as they thought they could probably get away with the bare minimum. And for a while that worked for them. If it weren't for the lockdown and pandemic, this wouldn't had flown with the majority. I get it, there is a pandemic going on, but many other companies still managed to get estimates and deadlines met at a reasonable time. NH on the other hand had us waiting from March until August for cotton candy.

 

[konijntje]

I wouldn't call it lazy so much as they thought they could probably get away with the bare minimum. And for a while that worked for them. If it weren't for the lockdown and pandemic, this wouldn't had flown with the majority. I get it, there is a pandemic going on, but many other companies still managed to get estimates and deadlines met at a reasonable time. NH on the other hand had us waiting from March until August for cotton candy.

It's even funnier considering the game was DELAYED.

 

[Orius]

Kinda appropriate, considering my relationship with my late father, hah.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Maybe he got the address wrong

 

[Rosch]

I haven't been paying attention, but in some of Mom's letters, doesn't she mention our dad?

 

[konijntje]

I haven't been paying attention, but in some of Mom's letters, doesn't she mention our dad?

Well yeah but he used to actually write on Father's Day, though he admitted he was bad at writing letters compared to Mom.

 

[Xara]

agreed! like you said, he didn’t have that big of a presence in previous games compared to mom, but his absence in new horizons is definitely noticed — i was honestly quite sad when i didn’t get a letter from him for father’s day lol. it’s such a small thing, but it’d be nice if nintendo added him in one day, along with a dad series! the mom items are honestly some of the best in the game imo, so i can only imagine how cool a dad version would be! we’ve already got the father’s day mug and thank-you dad aprons, but a few more things definitely wouldn’t hurt aha. :’)