Theory #1: Pete’s Canon Wife (Harvest Moon: SNES)

Harvest Moon SNES was a landmark game. This game alone started a frenzy of other Harvest Moon titles, a collection of other farming sim games, and the spin off titles Rune Factory and Innocent Life for over twenty years. Even after so many years, this game is still fun to play today! Our hero named Pete (some of us called him Jack) inherited a farm from his grandfather and spent the next 9 seasons rebuilding it into a thriving business. You spend that time interacting with the people of Flowerbud Village, attend many events, and even marry the spouse of your dreams. When the game ends, you’ll see a collection of cut scenes detailing all the activities you’ve completed in that time. You’ll then receive a farming score before resetting the game to start over again.

The success of Harvest Moon SNES has allowed the developers to create a sequel called Harvest Moon: 64. In this game, two generations have passed and a new farmer (also named Pete) inherits the farm from the SNES protagonist. All the bachelorettes from Harvest Moon SNES have grandchildren who function as marriage candidates to this game. Harvest Moon: 64 has also been quite a success with many fans who remember this game fondly.

Times were good, and we all look forward to future games to add on to the Harvest Moon universe. But even though people were moving ahead, I still noticed one thing about these two games. If all the marriage candidates from Harvest Moon SNES have grandchildren who are not related to Pete in Harvest Moon: 64, who did Pete marry to have a grandchild of his own? We learn in Harvest Moon: 64 that neither Nina, Ellen, Eve, Ann, or Maria married Pete. They all married someone else and have granddaughters two generations later. However, Pete still has a grandchild who isn’t related to any of the Flowerbud girls. Pete’s son (unnamed) also lives in the city as a business man. So what happened? There is a huge gap between the events of Harvest Moon: SNES and Harvest Moon: 64.

To get our answer, we’ll need to look into some less popular and obscure games in the Harvest Moon series. To avoid any confusion, I’ll be calling the Pete from Harvest Moon: SNES as SNES Pete, while the other Pete as 64 Pete.

Harvest Moon has released three games for the Gameboy. The first game is a remake of the SNES game where you must farm and collect a farming score similar to Harvest Moon: SNES. What makes this game interesting is that all of the marriage candidates from Harvest Moon SNES make an appearance, but you cannot marry any of them. At first I thought that the hardware limitations of the Gameboy won’t allow marriage, but I learned that isn’t true. The real reason that marriage is not in he game is because marriage between SNES Pete and any of the Flowerbud girls isn’t canon. Harvest Moon: SNES doesn’t really have a story, and marriage to any of the marriage candidates would conflict too much with the overall story of the Harvest Moon series. So instead, the games on the Gameboy serves to tell the canon story of SNES Pete and Flowerbud Village.

In Harvest Moon: GBC2, SNES Pete’s story changes once again. This time, SNES Pete saves the farm from some company interested in buying it to build a theme park. Unlike Harvest Moon: SNES and Gameboy, this is the actual story of SNES Pete’s story. Once again, SNES Pete cannot get married in this game, because marriage is not canon just yet. But what is most interesting is the inclusion of another female character known as Sara. Sara is a playable character who isn’t canon in this game, but was only included to give gamer girls an avatar to play as. The story does not change if you play as Sara, but we learn that she is probably one of the most important characters in the Harvest Moon Flowerbud universe.

In Harvest Moon: GBC3, we finally get a story that happens between Harvest Moon: SNES and Harvest Moon: 64. Although not a complete story, we can definitely fill in the blanks based on the events of this game. In Harvest Moon: GBC3, we learn the origins of Sara and how she fits in the Harvest Moon’s canon story. Sara has a father who owns a farm in a place only known as “island” passed away. Similar to SNES Pete’s story, a company wants to buy the farm and demolish it. Sara rushes in to save it, but she has no farming experience. The mayor of Flowerbud Village volunteers SNES Pete to help Sara save her family’s farm. From here, you can play as either Pete or Sara.

Harvest Moon: GBC3 has four known endings that change based on whether or not you save the farm or who you play as. This is the only game in the Gameboy series that allows marriage as well. And unlike the other games with marriage, you can only marry the other protagonist. SNES Pete can only marry Sara. And Sara can only marry SNES Pete. Well, we did it! We found out who is SNES Pete’s canon wife and 64 Pete’s grandmother. But even though we learn who is SNES Pete’s canon wife, there is still a lot of details missing. If SNES Pete and Sara are married in the island, how did Pete end up back in Flowerbud Village? Why does SNES Pete’s son end up in the city? And what happened to Sara? One of the endings can explain this, but which one?

In ending #1 (playing as Pete), SNES Pete and Sara save the farm and live happily ever after. If you save the farm and never marry Sara, she’ll still end up pregnant at least. An odd ending, but neither of these doesn’t explain why SNES Pete ended up back in Flowerbud Village (unless we assume that he went to buy milk and never came home).

In ending #2 (playing as Sara), SNES Pete and Sara live happily ever after sitting under a tree with their baby. No clue as to the fate of the farm, the game just ends. Once again, no explanation as to how SNES Pete ended up back in Flowerbud Village.

In ending #3 (playing as Sara), SNES Pete completely loses interest in farming, and leaves Sara’s farm to pursue other goals. Sara can’t handle the farm by herself, so she sells the farm and the game ends. This one is definitely not the ending we are looking for as SNES Pete was still a farmer when he passed away in Harvest Moon: 64.

In the final ending of Harvest Moon: GBC3, SNES Pete marries Sara, but fails to save her farm. Sara becomes pregnant with two children, leaving SNES Pete to do all the farm work by himself. Once the game ends, SNES Pete returns to Flowerbud Village without his wife and children. Sara has divorced her husband then moved on with their children. Even though this ending is tragic, it is the only ending that matches the Harvest Moon: 64 storyline. SNES Pete returns to Flowerbud Village to resume as the farmer. Sara has moved to the city with her children where one of them grows up and becomes a businessman.

We will need to use our imagination to finish SNES Pete’s story. After Sara leaves SNES Pete, she settles in a city nearby where she starts a career as a single mother. SNES Pete does his absolute best to keep in contact with his children and formed a bond with his son. Despite his son being more interested in city life, he must have been close enough to his father to name his own son after him. As 64 Pete grows, he spends a lot of time in Flowerbud Village with his grandfather and the people who live there. After SNES Pete dies, 64 Pete decides to take over in his place even though he was not obligated to. Nobody knows what happened to Sara, but I believe that she continues to live during the events of Harvest Moon: 64.

It breaks my heart believing that such a tragic love story happened to the main character of Harvest Moon SNES. I tried my best to find some sort of alternate explanation to give Pete a happier ending, but only this story makes sense. This concludes my theory, a sad story about failure and loss that occurs between two people trying to save a farm while also being in love and starting a family. They tried to have everything, but ended up with nothing in the end. I will never know why was this story written this way. Considering the other things I’ve seen in the Harvest Moon series, I shouldn’t be too surprised.