Princess Peach

Princess Peach (Japanese: ピーチ姫, Hepburn: Pīchi-hime, [piː.tɕi̥ çi̥.me]) is a character in Nintendo's Mario franchise. Originally created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Peach is the princess of the fictional Mushroom Kingdom, which is constantly under attack by Bowser. She often plays the damsel in distress role within the series and is the lead female. She is often portrayed as Mario's love interest and has appeared in all the Mario games to date, including Super Princess Peach, where she is the main playable character.

Concept and creation

Princess Peach's initial appearance was drawn by Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto later asked Yōichi Kotabe to redraw Peach with his instructions. He had asked Kotabe to draw her eyes to be "a little cat-like" and that she should look "stubborn, but cute". With Kotabe's influence, Princess Peach changed considerably throughout her gaming system. Peach was not a playable character in New Super Mario Bros. Wii because a satisfying mechanic to use her dress was not found, however, she is the main protagonist in Super Princess Peach and is a playable character in most Mario spin-offs such as Mario Party, Mario Kart and also sports games.

Super Princess Peach

Super Princess Peach (スーパープリンセスピーチ, Sūpā Purinsesu Pīchi) is a platform video game published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in Japan in October 2005, the United States in February 2006, Australia in March 2006, and Europe in May 2006.

It is the first game to feature Princess Peach as the main playable character. In the game, Bowser has kidnapped Mario, Luigi, and Toad instead of Peach and holds them hostage on Vibe Island, but Toad escapes from Vibe Island to the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach must go through eight worlds on Vibe Island to rescue Mario and Luigi.

Despite being praised for its role reversal in the plot, the game was criticized for the nature of how Peach attacked, as well as the simple gameplay. It sold 1.15 million units worldwide.

Plot

The game opens with Bowser at a summer villa in Vibe Island, a land that isn't far from the Mushroom Kingdom. When Bowser finds the Vibe Scepter, an object that affects everybody's moods, rendering them happy, sad, angry, and calm, he sends a Goomba and an army of Hammer Brothers to Princess Peach's castle to capture Mario and Luigi. With all of the Toad servants influenced by the scepter, the Hammer Bros. successfully captured Mario, Luigi, and Toad, but Toad escapes and retreats to the Mushroom Kingdom. Meanwhile, Princess Peach and Toadsworth returned to her castle only to discover a note from Bowser saying that he captured Mario and Luigi. Enraged, Peach leaves her castle to rescue Mario and Luigi. Before doing so, Toadsworth, who was reluctant to let Peach go, hands her a talking parasol named Perry.