In the Super Nintendo game EarthBound, in which Ness is the main character, Ness's father is referred to as Dad.

Dad saves the player's game and deposits money into Ness's bank account. How much money deposited depends on the number and strength of enemies that the player has defeated since the last deposit. Dad also tells players how much more experience they need to level up their characters.

Dad has been known to call Ness after playing for long periods of time (specifically, every two hours), asking the player to take a break. This is a feature designed to ensure that players do not become entirely absorbed in the game.

Dad is never seen; the only way he ever communicates with Ness is by telephone. This is consistent with EarthBound's prequel, EarthBound 0, where Ninten's dad is almost never seen and communicates only by phone. At the end of EarthBound 0, Ninten's dad's is shown from the back, but all features are obscured by his large coat. In fact in the end credits where the game shows all the characters from the game, "Dad" appears only as a ringing telephone.