Princess Peach

"Listen everybody, let's bake a delicious cake... for Mario."

Article by: Paul Watkins (watkinzez)
Pictured from: Mario Kart 64
Created by: Nintendo
First appearance: 1985

Bio

Every hero needs a dame. Mickey has Minnie, Shaggy has Scooby and Mario has Peach. Not content with staying put in her castle, the Princess repeatedly manages to get herself tied up in some form of kidnapping, disappearance, or what have you — managing to become the video game icon for damsels in distress. Nintendo aren't exactly ones for storylines — evil Koopa King Bowser sneaks away with Peach, Mario realises her absence, Mario sets off on a quest to reclaim his prize. The Princess is reportedly not to be in the running for Feminist of the Year.

When Peach isn't away in one of Bowser's vaults, she resides in her castle overseeing her land, the Mushroom Kingdom. A cohort of Toads attend to her every whim as she does whatever princesses do in their spare time, which seems to be anything not relating to the running of her kingdom. Over the years with Mario she has been known to take up many different pastimes: golf, tennis, cake baking, and kart racing (of which her above likeness depicts). It's a good life, royalty.

But boredom does eventually set in with this lifestyle — and so Peach goes on adventures of her own. It was her outgoing nature than convinced Mario to take her on his quest in Super Mario RPG — her compatibility with healing powers proved useful on the mission. Her curiosity helped Mario emerge victorious in both Paper Mario games, acting as an undercover agent when locked inside of the fortresses of her enemies. Spiffy.

Peach can also lay quite a smackdown if required — her Super Smash Bros. Melee appearance involves an arsenal of rackets, parasols and frying pans. Toad even sacrifices himself as a shield for his mistress. Now that's good service.

Selected game appearances

NES

• Super Mario Bros. (1985)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)

Super NES

• Super Mario World (1990)
• Super Mario Kart (1992)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993)
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)

Nintendo 64

• Super Mario 64 (1996)
• Mario Kart 64 (1996)
• Mario Party (1998)
• Mario Golf (1999)
• Mario Tennis (2000)
• Paper Mario (2000)

Game Boy Color

• Mario Golf (1999)

GameCube

• Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)

Nintendo DS

• Super Princess Peach (2005)
• Mario Kart DS (2005)
• New Super Mario Bros. (2006)

Wii

• Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

References

• Wikipedia - "Princess Peach"
• Princess-Peach.net - "Peach's Biography"
• TMK | Reference | Mariopedia | Princess Peach Toadstool
• GameFAQs: Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) Peach by Daniel Anderson