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Princess Peach

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Princess Peach
Mario series character
File:Peach SPP.jpg
Princess Peach, as depicted in promotional art for Super Princess Peach.
First gameSuper Mario Bros. (1985)
Created byShigeru Miyamoto

Princess Peach, Princess Toadstool or often simply, Peach is a video game character in Nintendo's Mario video games series, often playing the "damsel in distress" character of the adventure series.[1][2] Peach (known as Princess Toadstool until late 1996 in the west) is the princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, where many of the games are set.

Peach first appeared in Super Mario Bros. and has since appeared in many subsequent games, in which she is usually kidnapped by Bowser. She has also shown her fighting abilities in Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario RPG and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Despite being a leading character, Peach's first game as the main character, Super Princess Peach, was released worldwide in 2006.[3]

Character

File:Princess peach (smb1).png
Peach's appearance in Super Mario Bros., in which she is rescued by Mario.

Princess Peach is portrayed as the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. No larger, reigning monarchy appears to exist, and King and Queen Toadstool, her mother and father, rule the kingdom. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the princess has a grandmother, and the Mushroom Kingdom government is ruled by a chancellor and the Toads. Like most characters from the Mario franchise, her backstory is purposefully left vague and undeveloped. A mushroom king was a common character in the Nintendo Comics System stories, in which he was portrayed as a bumbling person of little intelligence.

While the instruction manual for the original Super Mario Bros. indicates the princess and the Mushroom King are related,[4] he has never appeared in any game and is never mentioned again. In Super Mario Bros. 3, it is revealed that the Mushroom Kingdom is part of a larger "Mushroom World" composed of seven neighboring countries, excluding the Mushroom Kingdom. Each of these are ruled by a different King, however, none of these monarchs seem to be related to her. Peach lives a solitary life, in a grand palace surrounded by Toad guards. Eight of these guards are among the "Elite", including the most prominent of all, Toad, the recurring Mario character, despite not being the most agile.

File:Princess Peach SMB2.gif
Princess Peach in her classic look.

Peach has always been depicted as a blonde. Also, in official artwork by Nintendo, her hair has been blonde since the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (a.k.a the lost levels).[5] However, due to the graphical limitations of the NES hardware, her on-screen sprite in the earlier Super Mario Bros. games displayed her with brown hair or red hair and outlines (presumably, this was the reason why Peach was depicted with red hair instead of blonde in the American cartoons).[1] This discrepancy was remedied in the SNES era with Super Mario World, in which was she shown with her proper hair color.

According to the American instruction booklet for Super Mario Bros., Peach is the only one who could undo the evil magic that Bowser had cast upon the Mushroom Kingdom; it was for this reason that Bowser had kidnapped her to begin with. However, upon her rescue, this prophecy is not mentioned in the game itself, nor any other game, nor in the cartoons. Oddly enough, on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Peach (known as "Princess Toadstool" or simply "Princess" at the time) was depicted as constantly being in search of someone who could defeat Bowser's (known as "Koopa" at the time) forces, despite the fact that Mario and Luigi could do just that (and also the fact that most of the people they were looking for turned out to be of little to no help whatsoever). Despite all this, however, she plays a magic-related role in most of the RPGs.

File:SMA-PeachDrag.jpg
Peach invades the Koopalings' tower dressed as Luigi.

By far, the most dynamic version of the Princess is in Nintendo Power's Super Mario Adventures comic serial (published throughout 1992 and later reprinted in a graphic novel). There, Bowser proposes marriage to Peach (then identified as "Princess Toadstool"), but she obviously rejects him, and in a hotheaded manner too, even when he briefly turns Mario to stone. Over the course of the comic, she also beats up the Koopalings, trashes several Koopa Troopas, and even threatens to blow up a tower while wearing Luigi's clothes, to the point that at the end of one installment, the Mario Bros. break the fourth wall to comment that "she sure stole the spotlight this month!" This version of Peach is so violent that Bowser has to hire a hypnotist to get her to marry him, leaving the Mario Bros. and the Yoshis to save the day in the final installment.

In the Super Mario animated series, she was always referred to as Princess Toadstool in all three shows, as that was the name American audiences were familiar with. She was also drawn differently than her game counterpart; while the color and style of her dress was the same, she wore a plain gold crown (instead of her usual gold crown laced with red and blue jewels), her hair color was changed to red, lacked her usual arm-length gloves, and she had unusually large forearms. This design was carried over (with some modifications) in the rest of the animated Mario series. In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Princess Toadstool (along with Toad) accompanied Mario and Luigi on their adventures. As most of the episodes in this series were movie parodies, she usually played a passive role, usually the damsel-in-distress, like the games. However, when occasion called for it, she was able to demonstrate heroic capabilities (such as in "Jungle Fever" and "The Trojan Koopa"), rescuing even her friends and standing up to King Koopa, much like her game character in Super Princess Peach.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the Princess took a more active role. Though she had her own castle (one she rarely used), she spent most of her time in Toad's house, or at least in the company of the Mario Bros. Princess Toadstool was also more directly involved in the storylines, saving her own kingdom herself, and even assisted in saving the "real world" from Koopa on a number of occasions: in several episodes she helped the Mario Bros. thwart Koopa invasions in New York City, the White House, Paris, and even the seven continents. As in the previous series, she made bold use of power-up items. She was a big fan of the pop duo Milli Vanilli and had a public feud with Kootie Pie Koopa, who was probably jealous of the Princess.

In the Super Mario World cartoon, Princess Toadstool's role was slightly diminished due to the addition of Yoshi. However, she still participated in the group's adventures periodically, and as the resident female character, adopted a motherly attitude towards the child-like Yoshi and Oogtar the caveboy. She was also shown running a primary school for the cavepeople's children, which was once attended by Koopa's youngest children, Hip and Hop Koopa.

Princess Peach is depicted as a very kind, well-mannered, and noble person, which is shown in most of her appearances. Her trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Melee describes her as magnanimous and willing to even play a tennis match with Bowser, despite all of the trouble he has caused her. According to the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series, she possesses a pure heart and a pure voice. Another trait in her personality is her eagerness to help out whenever possible. In Super Mario Bros. 3, she would send Mario special items and give tips via letter whenever the player completed an area. When she is kidnapped (which some crows in Twilight Town say is every weekend), Peach will do what she can to help Mario in his quests as seen in Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

Peach appears to have a flirtuous nature. She takes numerous "sexy" poses in SSBM and attacks using her rear eg bumps and rams. This tells us that despite being a very important figure, she is still a girl at heart.

Princess Peach also has an affinity for the color pink, as almost everything in her wardrobe (most notably her dresses) is seen to be that color. While she was being held captive in her own room in Paper Mario, Princess Peach and the young star kid, Twink, were looking for a secret exit. When Twink came across the princess' closet, he commented that it was full of identical pink dresses. Princess Peach rebuffed, saying that each one was unique and they all were very fashionable. She made the transition from her classic look (as seen above) to her modern look (shown at the top) in the game Mario Party 4. In Super Mario Sunshine, she wore a sleeveless dress with no gloves and, eventually, had her hair tied back as a result of the hot weather on Isle Delfino. In the Mario sports series (excluding the Mario Kart games) Princess Peach opts to wear a mini-skirt version of her dress and pink tennis shoes (instead of her dark pink high heels as they would not be suitable for sports games). Starting with Mario Kart: Double Dash, Princess Peach has been depicted with her hair tied back in the sports series as well. In Mario Superstar Baseball it seems that Princess Peach has traded in her mini-skirt for pink shorts, which seem to replicate those that Princess Daisy wears. In Super Mario Strikers, Peach is more risque by wearing a two-piece suit, which received both positive and negative reactions.

A Peach Doll is a doll that look precisely like Princess Peach. They first appeared in the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. One Peach Doll belongs to Gaz, who likes to recreate Mario's various adventures with dolls. The second doll belongs to Booster. He used it to plan his wedding to the real Princess Peach. A Peach Doll also appears in Paper Mario. The doll belongs to Goombaria (who calls the toy "Dolly"). Mario and Goompa find the doll in Jr. Troopa's territory, implying Jr. Troopa stole the doll from Goombaria. After Mario returns the doll to Goombaria, he'll get a Star Piece and a kiss.

The Mini-Peachs are cute Peach toys sold by the Mario Toy Company. They appear in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. The success of the Mario Toy Company was so good that it allowed them to expand to sell other Mini-toys, including Mini-Mario, Mini-Toad, and Mini-Donkey Kong toys as well. Mini-Peachs can be playable in the Construction Zone but Special Kit 2 has to be unlocked first. There are also Fire Mini-Peachs.

Peach's personality has varied greatly from medium to medium. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, she is shown to be somewhat unintelligent. When she wins a match, she is sometimes heard asking, "Did I win?" However, this comment can also be sarcastic, a taunt from Peach to her rivals.

Princess Peach is often confused with Pauline in the game Donkey Kong. Peach is also confused with Princess Daisy in Mario is Missing!. In Mario is Missing! Princess Daisy has blonde hair and a blue dress. In Super Smash Bros. Melee you can change Peach's color to this Daisy, or a normal Daisy.

RPG story

Super Mario RPG

In Super Mario RPG, Princess Toadstool is kidnapped by King Bowser early in the game, but is rescued by Mario. However, Mario, Bowser, and Princess Toadstool are sent flying out of the castle by a large sword named Exor, who was created by Smithy. After collecting three of the seven Star Pieces, Mario finds Princess Toadstool in captivity in Booster Tower, from which Mario and Bowser try to save her, but Booster rushes her off at the last minute to get married. They save her from getting married to Booster, and she soon joins the party. In battle, her abilities include various forms of healing and the ability to revive KO'd party members, as well as cause a storm of bombs to drop on an enemy (Psych Bomb). Her weapons include a Parasol, War Fan, Frying Pan, and a Special Glove to slap enemies with. This game show what some believe is her grandmother, a Toad (the species). This suggests that she may technically be at least part-Toad, not fully human if at all, or adopted. However, it can be explained that Princess Toadstool is using an endearing term to an old Toad, not that she is the Princess' grandmother. The Chancellor in the same game is also rumored by fans to be her father.

Paper Mario series

File:Peach Paper.jpg
Princess Peach as she appears in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

In Paper Mario, she is captured by Bowser yet again. Bowser somehow managed to place his own castle unnoticeably beneath her own, to lift Princess Peach's castle into the air during a party, and uses his newly acquired Star Rod to kidnap the revelers (except for Luigi, who happens to walk out at the last minute), turn invulnerable, and launch Mario out of the window, putting him near death. After Peach wishes for help, a Star Kid named Twink comes along, but he is too weak to save her, and so he helps to give hints to Mario about where to go next. In each Chapter, Peach sneaks around the castle gathering information to help Mario in his quest, utilizing different characters like Gourmet Guy and different items like the Parasol to further her Bowser-thwarting efforts. During the end battle, Peach plays an integral role. Once again Mario rescues her, this time with the help of the 7 Star Spirits and party members Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Bow, Parakarry, Sushie, Watt and Lakilester. Peach actually helped Mario save the Mushroom Kingdom. She sabotaged Bowser's plots by supplying Mario with a relatively constant stream of information, using Twink, a young Star Spirt, as her messenger.

In the sequel to Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Peach is kidnapped by Sir Grodus' X-Nauts, to use her to unlock the Thousand-Year Door.[6] Paper Princess Peach is often called down into TEC-XX's computer room, where he often asks her for a favor, and in return, lets her email Mario to help him in his quest. Peach teaches TEC about love and sneaks around the X-Naut Fortress for him. Princess Peach learns the truth behind the X-Naut's plans seconds late. She tries to e-mail Mario to reveal their plot involving the Shadow Queen, but is ultimately unable to stop them herself. She is then possessed by the Shadow Queen. However, upon being temporarily freed from the grasp of the Shadow Queen, she sends Mario all of "her power" that she can, supporting the theory that Peach has special powers (besides in Super Mario RPG).

Mario and Luigi series

In the Game Boy Advance game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Peach's voice is stolen by the evil witch Cackletta and her assistant, Fawful. Mario and Luigi venture out to the Beanbean Kingdom to reclaim her lost voice. Eventually, it is learned that they did not actually steal her voice, but the voice of a Birdo, who they used to impersonate Peach to avoid losing her voice. She was later captured by Cackletta, who had now possessed Bowser's body and is known as Bowletta, but the Mario Bros. later rescued her at Joke's End (by having Luigi wear Princess Peach's spare dress and pretend to be the real Peach while Mario taunted them for having kidnapped a decoy.) While retreating from the scene with the Beanstar on the Koopa Cruiser (which she now owned) Bowletta and Fawful realized that they had kidnapped a decoy, Luigi then abandoned ship with the Beanstar, but, rather than giving chase, Bowletta went back to the Mushroom Kingdom to take over Bowser's Castle.

In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Peach becomes the first person to use E. Gadd's newest invention, a time machine.[7] With the time machine, she travels to the past when she, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser were toddlers.[7] However the point of time she picked happened to be the time when the Mushroom Kingdom was being invaded by aliens, known as Shroobs.[7] Because of this, she ends up stuck in the past, supposedly abducted by the aliens. The player must rescue her. However, as the game progresses, players learn that she yet again played an integral role through the game.

From "Toadstool" to "Peach"

File:Super Mario World ending.gif
Peach with Mario and Luigi in Super Mario World (SNES version).

In Japan, the Princess's name has always been Peach, but when Super Mario Bros was released in America, Nintendo of America decided to rename her Princess Toadstool,[8] probably because she was the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, and a "toadstool" is a type of mushroom. She kept this name throughout the 8-bit and 16-bit video game eras. Often, however, in-game text only referred to her as "Princess" or "The Princess," most likely a result of space constraints. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars she was referred to as just "Toadstool."

The English translation of Yoshi's Safari (1993) was the first usage of the name "Peach" outside of Japan; however, the name did not catch on at that time. When Super Mario 64 was released in North America, she signed a letter to Mario as "Princess Toadstool" and then handwrote "Peach," which led many fans to believe that her full name is "Princess Peach Toadstool," with her first name Peach, and last name Toadstool. However, others think that "Peach" is her nickname, and she is of the royal house of the Mushroom Kingdom. It is also worth noting that she mentions a cake in the letter, and this could have led people to believe that she was mentioning the cake's flavor, considering very few people knew that her nickname was "Peach." In sequels and spinoffs, however, she has come to be known only as Princess Peach.[8]

Other appearances

Princess Peach has appeared in nearly all of the Mario spin-off/sports titles, ranging from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, to Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Since the first Mario Party, Peach has appeared in every single installment, including Mario Party Advance. However, like all Mario Party games, she has nothing outside of appearance and voice to set her apart from other characters.

In the Mario Kart series, she is among the lightest characters with the fastest acceleration, the lowest top speed, and the best off-road ability to take the shortcuts on each course. In the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, she is labeled as a "Technique" character and has one of the lightest hits. She is a captain in the game Mario Superstar Baseball and specializes in pitching. She is also a playable character in Super Mario Strikers. Her special move is the 'Royal Strike'. Finally, she also appears in the first Mario basketball game, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, for the Nintendo DS, and is technical type (good at shooting).

Peach has also made cameo appearances in a few non-Mario games, she is a playable guest character in the GameCube ports of Electronic Arts games NBA Street V3 and SSX On Tour.[9][10] Peach also made a minor appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, appearing in a painting within Hyrule Castle. A Princess Peach Kart toy can be found and driven in Nintendogs, although it is only found in the Labrador and Friends version.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Peach first appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the second game of the series. She has the unique ability to float for a number of seconds, much as she can in Super Mario Bros. 2, this is balanced by the fact that she is one of the lighter fighters.[2] This floating ability makes her a very good character for beginning players (who often find themselves attempting to return to the stage after being thrown).[2] Along with her recovery superiority, Peach boasts projectiles (in the form of turnips) and surprisingly strong attacks; in particular, one maneuver resembles Luigi's charged rockey where she rams her hips forward and if the opponent is struck, he/she is engulfed in fire. It is unknown if she will return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Voices

In Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 (US version), she was voiced by Leslie Swan, a writer for Super Mario 64. Nintendo, in respect[citation needed] to the original Mario 64, reused Leslie's vocals for the release of Super Mario 64 DS.[11] In Mario Party and Mario Party 2, she was voiced by Asako Kozuki.[12] Starting with Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, Peach has been voiced by Jen Taylor.[13] In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Peach is voiced by Nicole Mills.[14] In the cartoons, she was voiced by Jeannie Elias (in Super Mario Bros. Super Show) and Tracey Moore (in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World). In the 1986 Japanese anime film Suupaa Mario Burazazu: Piichi-hime no Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen (literally, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission To Rescue Princess Peach) she was played by Mami Yamase. Finally, in the CD-i game Hotel Mario, she is voiced by Jocelyn Benford.

In 2005, Nintendo assigned a new voice for Princess Peach. Although Super Princess Peach still has Jen Taylor's voice, other games, such as Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time and Super Mario Strikers have a new Peach voice, Nicole Mills.[14] The infant form of Princess Peach, affectionately called Baby Princess, is voiced by Nicole Mills. Baby Princess appears in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Yoshi's Island DS.[15] Please note that Jen Taylor stills voices Princess Peach in Mario Hoops 3-on-3.

Baby Peach

File:Mlss2 2.jpg
Baby Peach as seen in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

Baby Peach appears in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time for the Nintendo DS. In the beginning of the game's story, Baby Bowser attempts to kidnap her, only for Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to come to her rescue in the end. However, they all end up fleeing from the invading Shroob forces by leaving on Baby Bowser's Koopa Cruiser. Throughout the rest of the game, Toadsworth and his younger self, Toadsworth the Younger, have to keep her entertained to keep her from crying.

Baby Peach also appears in Yoshi's Island DS as a helper to Yoshi, Baby Mario, Baby Bowser, Baby Wario and Baby Donkey Kong to find out why a bunch of children had gone missing and why a mysterious floating castle appeared right on top of the peaceful Yoshi's Island. Baby Peach also appears breifly in the TV series in the episode Two Plumbers and a Baby. Peach is turned into a baby by the fountain of youth.

Playable appearances

Peach is Playable in the Following Games:

Trivia

  • The game "Super Princess Peach" is considered the first game in the Mario franchise to have a major female character (Peach) as the main character.
  • In one episode of the web cartoon Red vs Blue, Sarge jokingly calls Donut "Princess Peach" because of his pink-colored armor.
  • After Mario Superstar Baseball, in which Lakitu refers to Toadsworth as Peach's Grandpa, some rumors have been spread in some circles that Peach was raised by Toads at a young age. This has been given fuel from the fact her last name is believed to be Toadstool, she appears to have no family (aside from some references to her mother), the fact she rules the Mushroom Kingdom, and, aside from the Mario Bros. (as well as Bowser and other villains) only Toads are known to live/visit her castle.

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b Princess Peach analysis Nintendoland.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c Super Smash Bros. Melee Princess Peach character analysis Gamefaqs.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  3. ^ Super Princess Peach information Nintendo.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  4. ^ "Super Mario Bros. Instruction Booklet", page 1. Nintendo, 1985
  5. ^ Promotional flyer for Super Mario Bros. 2 Gamedic.jpn.org. URL Last Accessed April 13, 2006.
  6. ^ Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door plot summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  7. ^ a b c Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time Critical Analysis Gamespot.com URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference peach was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ NBA Street V3 information Amazon.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  10. ^ SSX On Tour information Amazon.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  11. ^ Leslie Swan actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  12. ^ Asako Kozuki actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  13. ^ Jen Taylor actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  14. ^ a b Nicole Mills actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  15. ^ Yoshi's Island 2 information Nintendo.com. URL Accessed June 18, 2006.
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