Almost 40 and fitter than ever: The video game world’s most famous princess hasn’t always looked like this. A look at (almost) 40 years of evolution
Game news Almost 40 and fitter than ever: The video game world’s most famous princess hasn’t always looked like this. A look back at (almost) 40 years of evolution
Princess Peach: Showtime arrives on Nintendo Switch on March 22. This is only the second game where she serves as a main character, almost 20 years after Super Princess Peach. A paltry number compared to the 120 games they appeared in but especially highlighted with its 39 years of existence in the world of video games. Take a quick look at the evolution of the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Before the pitch, it wasn’t a pitch
On September 13, 2025, Princess Peach, a famous video game character, will celebrate forty years since her first appearance with Super Mario Bros. He plays the captive of Bowser, King of the Koopas and must be freed by Mario as only he can.Break the curse on the Mushroom Kingdom” a role we will return to later as Peach is not the first damsel in distress to be rescued by the mustachioed plumber!
In Donkey Kong, released on the arcade in 1981, Mario must rescue Pauline: a damsel in distress held captive by the ape that gives the video game its name. Like Mario and DK, it is for the rights story that Pauline’s appearance changes along the way. The monkey was to be taken from King Kong, Mario from Popeye while the damsel in distress was prepared on olive oil (also Popeye).
In 1985, the NES (aka Famicom in Japan) came out with Super Mario Bros. Donkey Kong gives way to Bowser and Pauline to the pitch. The replacement is still unreasonable today which we can assume was created to better fit the less realistic universe than the arcade game.. That said, they will be seen as main characters in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong game series. It is in Super Mario Odyssey that Pauline makes a notable appearance (with a level that looks like a tribute) and she is also playable in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Mario changes appearance: A new design that does not pass in 1985
So without justification, it is Peach who has been the new pick of Mario’s heart since 1985. Shigeru Miyamoto, after successfully designing the models of Mario, Donkey Kong and Pauline, is not satisfied with the new characters. He then asked Yoichi Kotabe (an animation expert, friend of Takahata and Miyazaki) to propose new models for the characters.. The desire to redesign Bowser ended up redoing everything, as he explains in an interview Newspaper Le Monde In 2018:
My only early reference was the cover of Super Mario Bros., designed by Mr. Miyamoto. When I looked at him, to me, Bowser was a hippopotamus. He told me that in the script it was a turtle. For its design, it was inspired by the monstrous bull king from the 1960s Toei animated feature film, Saiyuki (Alakazan, Little Hercules). But to me, he still looked like a hippopotamus. So, I took inspiration from the Chinese Trionics, the most aggressive turtle I know, to redesign it and give it a really badass look. I ended up redrawing the characters Peach and Donkey Kong, as well as Luigi. I wanted to separate them, on the one hand the more dynamic Mario, full of energy, and the more timid Luigi, on the reserve.
Thus Peach enters the scene with blonde hair, a pink dress and a calmer air than her first version. However, the technical limitations of the NES forced Nintendo to change some of its features : Dress remains white, eyes are not blue while hairstyle remains brown. A blessing in disguise as they will be hired for a specific animated television series. Then we have to wait until the 90s to see what the princess model would be in the next thirty-five years.
A princess who quickly regains magical powers
As more video games come out, Princess Peach retains her role as a damsel in distress but appropriates her own arsenal. From Super Mario Bros. 2, first released in the United States in 1988, Peach demonstrated the ability to float. One feature that can be easily explained: Super Mario Bros. 2 is actually an adaptation of Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic (Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic). Where Peach regains Lena’s powers. Enough to allow Nintendo to release a sequel to Super Mario Bros. in the West. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, released in 1986 on the Japanese archipelago, served as a sequel but was considered too demanding for non-Japanese players and was therefore not produced.
After a few years, Peach fills her tools. With Super Mario RPG (1996 then remake on Nintendo Switch in 2023), She gets an umbrella. There’s enough to justify its floating power in future platform games, but there’s also the chance to see it with new capabilities. Perhaps to go hand in hand with her early role as Super Mario Bros., because as we remember, she’s the only one who can lift the curse.
The final smash of the pitch.
We often associate our abilities with the realm of kindness and love. She has taken on the role of a healer in many titles but, even in fighting games such as Super Smash Bros., certain attacks are shown using the heart for example (for example her side special, or her ultimate smash). We find out in Super Princess Peach, the only video game available today where she is the protagonist (despite 120 where she appears). She teams up with a magical umbrella and relies on four different emotions to successfully complete levels.
From 2023, a princess like a superhero
In nearly forty years of appearances, Princess Peach has rarely freed herself from the clichéd shackles of the damsel in distress in support of a male character (in this case Mario). An observation acknowledged by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. In a given interview For media diversity On the occasion of the release of the Super Mario Bros. film (April 2023), he revealed:
In the games, Peach was a damsel in distress saved by Mario for a while, but we wanted to make her a playable character and a more powerful princess. We took it further for the film.
A transformation that can be seen as the two roles are reversed. A plumber in New York, Mario arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom without any talent. She is the princess of the kingdom who will train him to repel Bowser and retrieve his brother. He wears gloves despite his seemingly David-like battle against Goliath. A resilient pitch is far from her representation in many video games. The path to take for Nintendo? It is difficult to be sure. In any case, we can say that the Kyoto company takes this topic to heart. As evidenced by the March 22 release of Princess Peach: Showtime exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Another video game with Peach as the heroine, Who has all the weapons in hand to steal the spotlight from Mario.
