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== Playable appearances ==
== Playable appearances ==
Games in which Princess Peach appears as a playable character. She was called Princess Toadstool in the NES and SNES Mario games in the North American versions, and changed to Princess Peach since the N64 Mario games.
Games in which Princess Peach appears as a playable character. She was called Princess Toadstool in the NES and SNES Mario games in the North American versions, and changed to Princess Peach since the N64 Mario games.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' 1985 --[[User:AmericanSights2008|AmericanSights]] 22:31, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' 1988
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' 1988
* ''[[Super Mario Kart]]'' — 1992
* ''[[Super Mario Kart]]'' — 1992

Revision as of 22:32, 6 May 2006

File:Peach SPP.jpg
Princess Peach, as depicted in the promotional art for Super Princess Peach.

Princess Toadstool or Peach (ピーチ姫, Piichi-Hime) is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario video games series, often playing the "Damsel In Distress" character of the adventure series.[1][2] Formerly referred to as Princess Toadstool in the early English translations, Peach is the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, the fictitious world where many of the games are set. Peach has long been suspected to have romantic feelings for Mario, although this has never been confirmed in the video games. However, there have been some small hints, especially in the RPGs.[3]

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 in North America in 2006.[4]

Character

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

Princess Peach is portrayed as being the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. No reigning monarchy appears to exist, although in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, she has a grandmother and a chancellor who appear to be in charge of ruling the Mushroom Kingdom.[5] Like most characters from the Mario franchise, her backstory is purposely left vague and undeveloped. Her father was a common character in the Nintendo Comics System stories, in which he was portrayed as a bumbling person of little intelligence.

While the King is also mentioned in the original Super Mario Bros. instruction manual, 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" comprised 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).[6] 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 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, although her sorcerous powers have been alluded to since (e.g. her ability to float in Super Mario Bros. 2. on the NES). This prophecy was seemingly abandoned in later games, and not mentioned in the cartoons. Oddly enough, on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Peach was depicted as constantly being in search of someone who could defeat Bowser's forces, despite the fact that Mario and Luigi could do just that (and also the fact that most of the folks 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.

Interestingly, while Peach is usually depicted as being content to simply bake cakes[5] and rely on her emotions to defeat enemies (as in Super Princess Peach), in Nintendo Power's Super Mario Adventures comic serial, Peach acted as macho as she could get. In this comic, she not only snaps back at the marriage-proposing Bowser, but she also beats up the Koopalings, trashes several Koopa Troopas, and even threatens to blow up a tower while wearing Luigi's clothes. Peach is so violent in this comic that Bowser has to hire a hypnotist to get her to surrender to him, perhaps so the Mario Bros. and the Yoshis can save the day in the last 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 of her dress was the same, her hair color was changed to red and she had unusually large forearms. This design was carried over in the rest of the animated Mario series. In 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, rescuing even the guys and standing up to Bowser, much like her game character in Super Mario Bros. 2. 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 Bowser 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 also ran a primary school for the cavepeople's children, which was once attended by Hip and Hop Koopa.

Princess Peach is 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 eagarness to help out whenever possible. In Super Mario Bros. 3, she would send Mario special items and give tips via letter whenever you completed an area. In Super Mario RPG, it revealed that Peach was outgoing and somewhat of a rebel, using a trick to go adventuring with Mario, but when she was discovered in Smithy's Factory by Toad, she apologizes and implies that she just wanted to help.

The RPG story

Template:Spoiler

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 resurrect 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 shows a relative; her grandmother, a Toad (the species). This suggests that she may technically be at least part-Toad, not fully human if at all. The Chancellor in the same game is also rumored to be her father, but there is very little to verify that statement. Due to her wish to subtly marry "someone" while Mario reacts, and the general theme of the ending where wishes come true, some say that Mario and Princess Toadstool on the pedestal shown by the final Star Piece implies that Mario and Princess Toadstool got married at the end of this game.[7]

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 uses his castle 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.

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.[8] 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. 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 magic 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 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.[9] With the time machine, she travels to the past when she, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser were toddlers.[9] However the point of time she picked happened to be the time when the Mushroom Kingdom was being invaded by aliens, known as Shroobs.[9] 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.

Baby Princess also 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. As a baby, Peach appears to be very temperamental and prone to bursting into tears.

From "Toadstool" to "Peach"

File:Super Mario World ending.gif
Peach with Mario and Luigi in Super Mario World.

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,[5] probably because she was the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, and "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 or the awkwardness of "Toadstool" as a woman's first name in Western cultures. In fact, only in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was she referred to as just "Toadstool."

The English translation of Yoshi's Safari 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 "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. In sequels and spinoffs, however, she has come to be known only as Princess Peach.[5]

The only current usage of the name "Princess Toadstool" is in ports by Flagship, an independent developer that often does ports and translations of games.

Other appearances

Princess Peach has appeared in nearly all of the Mario simulation 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, she has nothing outside of appearance and voice to set her apart from other characters.

File:Princess Peach-mkagp.jpg
Peach in Mario Kart Arcade GP.

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. She is also a playable character in Super Mario Strikers. Her special move is the 'Royal Strike'. She will also appear in the first Mario Basketball Game, Mario Basket 3on3, for the Nintendo DS.

File:PrincessPeach&PrincessDaisyGolf.PNG
Princess Peach and Princess Daisy in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.

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.[10][11] 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] Her ability to float, down smash, and powerful aerial attacks contribute to her being considered an upper-tier character by the competitive community.[2]

Voices

In Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64, she was voiced by Leslie Swan, a writer for Super Mario 64. Nintendo recycled Swan's voiceovers for Peach in Super Mario 64 DS.[12] In Mario Party and Mario Party 2, she was voiced by Asako Kozuki.[13] Starting with Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, Peach has been voiced by Jen Taylor.[14] In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Peach is voiced by Nicole Mills.[15] 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.

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.[15] There are many who still insist that Taylor plays her in games of today regardless of what is written in the credits in those respective games.

Other characters

Princess Daisy, the ruler of Sarasaland,[16] is a friend of Peach's, and is rumored to be Luigi's girlfriend.[17] Daisy was originally voiced by Kate Flemming from her introduction in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64.[18] The role was then voiced by Deanna Mustard in Mario Party 3 for the Nintendo 64, who has voiced Princess Daisy in all other appearances, including the upcoming Nintendo DS release, Mario Basket 3on3.[19]

The infant form of Princess Peach, affectionately called Baby Princess, is voiced by Nicole Mills. At present, Baby Princess has only featured in the newly released, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

Playable appearances

Games in which Princess Peach appears as a playable character. She was called Princess Toadstool in the NES and SNES Mario games in the North American versions, and changed to Princess Peach since the N64 Mario games.

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b Princess Peach analysis Nintendoland.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d Super Smash Bros. Melee Princess Peach character analysis Gamefaqs.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  3. ^ Evidence supporting a love interest between Princess Peach and Mario empiredx.com. URL Accessed May 1, 2006.
  4. ^ Super Princess Peach information Nintendo.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d Princess Peach Bio Peach-paradise.com URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  6. ^ Promotional flyer for Super Mario Bros. 2 Gamedic.jpn.org. URL Last Accessed April 13, 2006.
  7. ^ Email 93 indicates a player supporting Mario and Princess Peach marriage smbhq.com. URL Accessed May 1, 2006.
  8. ^ Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door plot summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  9. ^ a b c Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time Critical Analysis Gamespot.com URL Accessed April 22, 2006.
  10. ^ NBA Street V3 information Amazon.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  11. ^ SSX On Tour information Amazon.com. URL Accessed April 28, 2006.
  12. ^ Leslie Swan actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  13. ^ Asako Kozuki actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  14. ^ Jen Taylor actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  15. ^ a b Nicole Mills actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  16. ^ Princess Daisy analysis Nintendoland.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  17. ^ Princess Daisy character summary Jabob.efinke.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  18. ^ Kate Flemming actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.
  19. ^ Deanna Mustard actress summary Imdb.com. URL Accessed April 23, 2006.

External links

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