Princess Peach

This article is about the princess from the Mario series. For the video game starring her, see Super Princess Peach. For other uses, see Peach (disambiguation).

Princess Peach
Mario series character
File:PeachMP8a.png Peach's current appearance
First game	Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
In-universe information
Occupation	Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom

Princess Peach (ピーチ姫, Pīchi-hime) is a video game character in Nintendo's Mario video games series, often playing the "damsel in distress" role in the adventure series. Peach is the human princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom. She was known as Princess Toadstool until late 1996, when she added the name "Peach" to her signature in the opening scene of Super Mario 64.

Peach first appeared in Super Mario Bros. and has since appeared in most subsequent games, in which she is usually kidnapped by the villainous turtle-like creature, Bowser. She is a playable character in Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Peach's first game as the main character is Super Princess Peach. Peach is portrayed as the beautiful princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. No larger reigning monarch appears to exist. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the princess's grandmother is shown, and the Mushroom Kingdom government is ruled by a chancellor and the mushroom retainers. In Mario Superstar Baseball, Lakitu mistakenly calls Toadsworth her grandfather likely due to a translation error. Like most characters from the Mario franchise, her backstory is purposefully left vague and undeveloped (nothing is known about her age, her height, and the royal family which she belongs to), though at the beginning of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, it was revealed that she has been kidnapped repeatedly by Bowser since childhood. A mushroom king was a common character in the Nintendo Comics System stories, in which he was portrayed as a forgetful person; however he has never appeared in the games. Princess Peach's father is the Mushroom King and her mother is unknown.

File:Classic Princess Peach 1985-2001.png

Princess Peach's Classic Look

While the instruction manual for the original Super Mario Bros. indicates more about that he is related to Peach, he has never appeared in any game and was 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 in a beautiful palace surrounded by Toad guards, which also appears in kart and sports games. Eight of these guards are among the "Elite", including the most prominent of all, Toad.

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; Bowser kidnapped her for this reason. However, upon her rescue, this prophecy is not mentioned in the game itself, nor any other game, nor in the cartoons. She has been through many difficult things with not only Bowser, but other villains such as Booster, Grodus, and the Shadow Queen.

Characteristics

Personality

Peach is generally depicted as kind, cheerful, well-mannered, and noble. 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. However, in Mario Party 4 and Mario Superstar Baseball she is described as secretly mischievous.

According to the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series, she possesses a pure heart and a pure voice. In addition, she is eager 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 (except at the end of World 7 where she is kidnapped by Bowser and Mario gets a nasty letter from Bowser instead). She also occasionally sends Mario letters in Super Mario Galaxy, which hold five one-up mushrooms. When Mario does battle with Bowser in Super Mario World, she assists him in battle by giving him a Super Mushroom. 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 all games in the Paper Mario series). In the most recent installment, Super Paper Mario, she even joined Mario on his quest to stop the destruction of the universe, even when told it would be dangerous for her. When the Mario Bros. have to escort her through the desert in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, simply getting too far away would cause Peach to be automatically kidnapped. Peach's curiosity and desire to adventure tends to get her in trouble. Despite this, she is a wise ruler and looks after her subjects. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, she is shown to be somewhat playful and cheeky. She continues to be a good sportsman.

Lately Peach has been demonstrating a stronger personality and attitude, particularly in the role playing games she appears in.

Physical appearance

Princess Peach also has an affinity for the color black. Almost everything in her wardrobe (most notably her camo) are black. She most often wears a black dress although she wore a white dress in Super Mario Bros.. She is nearly always portrayed in her traditional black dress. She wears blackish lipstick.

Her hair color is usually golden blonde, but starting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl it is depicted as being ice blonde and in the Mario cartoons her counterpart's hair was a burgundy color (as she had red hair in the original Super Mario Bros). Her eyes are silicon red. She also wears umbilical corde earrings, a sapphire brooch, and a gold crown adorned with sapphires and rubies. She also added arm-length gloves to her ensemble in Super Mario World. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl she is shown wearing a sapphire ring on her middle finger. She wears black dress shoes with 4 inch heels (in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe she wore orange-red shoes with 6 inch heels). 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.

Starting with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Peach has been depicted with her hair tied back in the Mario Sports series. In more recent games like Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Power Tennis, or Mario Superstar Baseball, Peach wears a no-skirt or hot pantys. In some earlier games (such as Super Mario World) Peach was seen with a black dress bearing 2 black stripes, and brown hair. In Super Mario Sunshine, she is seen with her hair tied into a ponytail (similar to the Mario Sports series), wearing a paler dress and usually holding a parasol that matches her dress color. In Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged she appears with a midriff-baring shirt and shorts. The Super Smash Bros. series has a somewhat different design for Peach's dress. In Mario Kart Wii Peach wears a tight white jumpsuit with a black stripe down each of the arms and legs with black boots, black gloves, and a black scarf.

As a baby, she wears a black baby onesie, supporting a bib with a sapphire in the middle of it, white tights that cover her legs, and a pink pacifier.

Peach is often confused with Pauline in the game Donkey Kong. Peach is also confused with a receptionist in Mario is Missing!. In the SNES version of Mario is Missing!, one of Peach's Super Mario World sprites was reused for the information booth receptionists encountered in the game, depicted in a blue dress. The receptionists do not look like Peach at all in other versions (NES and PC) of the game.

Appearances in other games

Princess Peach has appeared in nearly all of the Mario spin-off titles. It can be assumed that some of these games, though a Mario product, may not be considered official.

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. An exception to this is Mario Party 7, in which both Peach and Daisy can use the Flower Orb as their special orb (that is, no other characters can receive it at orb spaces or shops).

In the Mario Kart series, she is in with the medium category characters with the fastest acceleration, the lowest top speed, and the best off-road ability to take the shortcuts on each course. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, her special move involves flying hearts surrounding her kart, and any item that hits them becoming hers to use. She shares her special with Princess Daisy.

Super Princess Peach

Main article: Super Princess Peach

Sports titles

In the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, she is labeled as a "Technique" character and has one of the lightest hits. Her appearance changes in Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, and she wears a skirt instead of a dress. She is a captain in the game Mario Superstar Baseball and specializes in pitching. She is also a playable character in Super Mario Strikers and its sequel, Mario Strikers Charged. Peach is fast, agile, and has good passing skills. Finally, she also appears in the first Mario basketball game, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, for the Nintendo DS, and is a technical type (good at shooting). She appears in the Mario and Sonic crossover sports game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, where she is a skill type character.

Super Smash Bros.

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, an advantage which is balanced by the fact that she is one of the lighter fighters. Peach is also a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Some of her attacks include the Peach Bomber, her parasol, using Toad as a human shield, using golf clubs and Frying pan as mêlée weapons and pulling vegetables from the ground. Her signature "Peach Bomber", has been modified from an explosion to a barrage of pink crystal hearts (as opposed to the original fiery explosion). Princess Peach's Final Smash is called the "Peach Blossom". Peach starts dancing, then a screen frame with screenshots of Peach appear on both side of the screen. Pink branches grow behind Peach, flowers bloom, and peaches fall from the branches. This makes her opponents fall into a deep sleep. The closer they are to her, the longer they sleep. Peach can then eat the peaches to regain health and, if the player chooses, launch her foes in their slumber.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary, she is a spectator of a match between Mario and Kirby, alongside Princess Zelda. Afterwards, Petey Piranha captures both her and Zelda, and places them in separate cages. Which one of the two is saved is dependent on which cage the player, as Kirby, destroys first.

As the story progresses, however, both Peach and Zelda end up imprisoned inside of the Halberd Battleship by the Subspace Army. They are rescued by the team of Meta Knight, Lucario, and Solid Snake.

Cameos

Peach has also made cameo appearances in a few non-Mario games. She is a playable guest character in the GameCube ports of the Electronic Arts games NBA Street V3 and SSX On Tour. 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, unless a player gives away a Peach Kart over "Bark Mode". Peach also made a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, appearing in the picture sent to Mr. Write from the goat in the animal village. The photo is of Princess Peach with the name, "Christine," written underneath the picture.

Voices

In her first voiced appearance in the 1986 Japanese anime Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! (Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission To Rescue Princess Peach) Peach was voiced by Mami Yamase, a pop singer. On the cartoon segments on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Peach was usually voiced by Jeannie Elias, and on The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoons, she was voiced by Tracey Moore.

In the CD-i game Hotel Mario, Peach was voiced by Jocelyn Benford.

In Super Mario 64 and the English version of Mario Kart 64, Peach was voiced by Leslie Swan, a localization manager for Nintendo of America. Swan voiced Peach again for the release of Super Mario 64 DS in 2004.

In Mario Party, Mario Party 2, and the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64, Peach was voiced by Asako Kozuki.

Starting with Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, Peach has been voiced by Jen Taylor.

In 2005, Nintendo assigned a new voice for Princess Peach. Although Super Princess Peach and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 still used Taylor's voice, other games, such as Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Super Mario Strikers have a new Peach voice, Nicole Mills. The infant form of Princess Peach that appears in Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time and Yoshi's Island DS, called Baby Princess, is also voiced by Mills. However, in Super Paper Mario, Peach is once again voiced by Swan. Additionally, Peach was voiced by Samantha Kelly in games such as Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Party 8, Mario Strikers Charged, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Peach is once again, voiced by Taylor even though much is from sound clips recycled from previous Mario games.

References

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