Game news Almost 40 years old and fitter than ever: the most famous princess in the video game world didn’t always look 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 the main character, almost 20 years after Super Princess Peach. A paltry number when compared to the 120 games in which they appear but especially highlighted alongside its 39 years of existence in the world of video games. Quick look back at the evolution of the princess of the mushroom kingdom.
Before Peach, it wasn’t Peach
On September 13, 2025, Princess Peach, a famous video game figure, will celebrate forty years since her first appearance with Super Mario Bros. She plays the captive of Bowser, the king of the Koopas, and must be freed by Mario since only she can “break the curse on the Mushroom Kingdom”. A role to which we will return later since Peach is not the first damsel in distress that the mustachioed plumber must save!
In Donkey Kong, released on arcades in 1981, Mario must save Pauline: a damsel in distress held captive by the monkey who gave its name to the video game. Like Mario and DK, it is for a story of rights 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 modeled on Olive Oyl (also Popeye).
In 1985, the NES (aka the Famicom in Japan) came out with Super Mario Bros. Donkey Kong gives way to Bowser and Pauline to Peach. Replacements still unjustified today which we can assume were made to better fit the less realistic universe than that of the arcade game. That being said, they will be found in the Mario vs Donkey Kong game series as key characters. It is in Super Mario Odyssey that Pauline makes a notable appearance (with a level that looks like a tribute) and is even playable in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Mario changes appearance: a new design that does not pass in 1985
Without justification therefore, it is Peach who is the new chosen one of Mario’s heart from 1985. Shigeru Miyamoto, after having successfully designed the models of Mario, Donkey Kong and Pauline, seems not to be satisfied with that of the new characters . He then asked Yoichi Kotabe (an animation expert, friend of Takahata and Miyazaki) to propose new models for the characters.. It was by wanting to redesign Bowser that he ended up redoing everything, as he explains in an interview with newspaper Le Monde in 2018:
My only initial reference was the cover of Super Mario Bros., which Mr. Miyamoto had designed. When I looked at it, to me, Bowser was a hippopotamus. He told me that, in the script, it was a turtle. For his design, he was inspired by the demonic ox king from Saiyuki (Alakazan, Little Hercules), a Toei animated feature film from 1960. But to me, he still looked like a hippopotamus. So, I took inspiration from the Chinese trionyx, the most aggressive turtle I know, to redesign it and give it this really nasty look. I also ended up redrawing the characters of Peach and Donkey Kong, as well as Luigi. I wanted to differentiate it, to have on one side a more dynamic Mario, full of energy, and a more timid Luigi, on the reserve.
This is how Peach enters the scene with blond hair, a pink dress and a calmer air than her first version. However, the technical limitations of the NES forced Nintendo to swap some of its features : the dress remains white, the eyes are not blue while the hairstyle remains brown. A blessing in disguise since they will be kept for certain animated television series. We then have to wait until the 90s to see what will be the model of the princess over the next thirty-five years.
A princess who quickly regains magical powers
As more video games come out, Princess Peach maintains her role as damsel in distress but appropriates her own arsenal. It was from Super Mario Bros 2, released for the first time in 1988 in the United States, that Peach displayed the ability to float. An attribute that is easily explained: Super Mario Bros 2 is in reality the adaptation of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic) where Peach regains Lina’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, serves as a sequel but was considered too demanding for non-Japanese players and was therefore not produced.
A few years later, Peach fills her equipment. With Super Mario RPG (1996 then remake on Nintendo Switch in 2023), she gets a parasol. Enough to justify its floating power in future platform games, but also the opportunity to see it with new capabilities. Perhaps to go hand in hand with her initial role as Super Mario Bros since, as we recall, it is only she who can lift the curse.
Peach’s Final Smash.
We can often associate our abilities with the area of kindness and love. She assumes the role of healer in several titles but, even in fighting games like Super Smash Bros., certain attacks are for example illustrated using hearts (her special side for example, or her Final Smash). Something that we find in Super Princess Peach, the only video game available today where she is the protagonist (despite the 120 in which she appears). She teams up with a magical umbrella and relies on four distinct emotions to successfully complete levels.
Since 2023, the superhero-like princess
In almost forty years of appearance, Princess Peach has barely emancipated herself from this clichéd shackles of damsel in distress only support of a male character (Mario in this case). An observation recognized by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. In an interview given to the media Variety on the occasion of the release of the Super Mario Bros film (April 2023), he declared:
In the games, Peach remained a damsel in distress rescued by Mario for a while, but we wanted to make her a playable character and a more powerful princess. We took that even further for the film.
A transformation that can be seen since the two roles are reversed. A plumber in New York, Mario arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom without any talent. It is the princess of the kingdom who will train him in order to repel Bowser and to recover his brother. She is the one who puts on the gloves despite a war that looks like David against Goliath. A resilient Peach far from her representation in many video games. A path to take for Nintendo? It’s hard to be sure. In any case, we can say that the Kyoto company takes the subject to heart. As evidenced by the release on March 22 of Princess Peach: Showtime exclusively on Nintendo Switch. The second video game with Peach as the heroine, who has all the weapons in hand to steal the spotlight from Mario.