Friendly for Girl players?

Do you hope more or more recurring female characters in Mario games ?

  • More

    Votes: 20 44.4%
  • Just now like this

    Votes: 12 26.7%
  • Less ?

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • No idea

    Votes: 12 26.7%

  • Total voters
    45

Dorayaki

King Bowser
Mariochauvin.png




It occurred to me when seeing this cover.....

In my early memories of spin-offs or game covers, Princess Peach often stands for the "only" heroine of Mario members, until the era of GC when several female characters became clearly recurring. It may be owing to the essence of Mario main games which correspond to the tranditional RPG, that a princess is saved by a brave hero (male) from the evil boss (male). Nowadays, new mainstream of RPG don't use this model anymore, though Mario stands for the classics.

Still, Mario series didn't fall down for this typical RPG model and disgusted by female players. One is that Mario series hold the main idea of easy plot setting and playable details of games, which is easy for female players to play and adopt without consciousness of gender.

Another is that the Mario characters, species or background share a simple, funny or even cute designs in favor of girls' taste, in other words they are less violent that other action games. In this point, other popular Nintendo series such as Kirby, Pokemon or Zelda Legends (toon type?) are also adoptable among female players, because they hold cute and adventurous properties at the same times.

Back to the topic, the only pity may be the overweight status of the only heroine for Princess Peach, which is led by the RPG model. But is it realy unsolvable? If not violating the idea of main plot, the components of Mario members......


recurring species : except for characters, most species such as villians have individual sex but not mentioned by each one, so they don't need attention if we suppose they account for both two genders.

plumbers : must not be to please housewives (or househusbands?) so many male plumbers appear. It seems to be unfair, but has some rules. Begin with the first hero Mario, Luigi is his twin brother from the idea of 2P, Wario is his rival since GB era (if rivals in the same gender didn't relate to equality) , and Waluigi who corresponds to the previous two was created. For diversity of characters, there are also actually no need for another female plumber. I'm a little curious about what if Nintendo gave Mario and Luigi another little plumber sister since the old Mario TV show?

royalty : we can't discuss it since those princesses are the most recurring heroines and can't fade, though few human princes appear in Mario series, and it's also fair for princesses as heirs to throne. Thanks to Daisy's recurring, Princess Peach gets her first female human friend though in the same identity.....

toads : as an additional role from RPG model, the gender of Princess Peach's loyal minion seems nonspecific. If not a boy Toad appeared since SMB or SMB USA, oppositely the maid Toadette could appear earlier that Toad. Also since Toadette's debut in MKDD, her status is still not ensured as significant as Toad in spin-offs?

bosses : the most recurring boss, Bowser is male, if not violating the RPG model. Or in the sense of love triangle (if exists), Bowser and Donkey Kong must be male in favor of Princess Peach and Pauline. For Bowser Jr., who is Bowser's child, is aimed to be like him so reasonably being male. But for minions, only one girl consisted in Koopalings is not natural. Except for Bowser, there are also some featuring female rivals in Mario series single games, such as Captain Syrup or Shadow Queen. Maybe it's considerable to make another female boss recurring.

dinasours : uh, in this story they are transexual. If judging stereotype or mental sex, suppose that Yoshi is male and Birdo is female. Yet though Birdo appeared earlier than Yoshi, it's wierd that Yoshi is more major than Birdo in recent games, either main games or spinoffs?

kongs : it's also not told why Donkey Kong's little partner is a boy, who is recurring with Donkey Kong as guests in Mario spinoffs and Smash bros. If Dixie Kong hold the first status in DDC, Diddy Kong could still reversely appear since DDC2. Another problem is that Candy Kong becomes a fading heroine......but generally, in DK series itself, the problem is less serious than Mario.

subseries : main Mario members seem to be unbalanced, but surprisingly other original subseries skip this problem. For Sport series, volunteers of athletes-to-be are boys and girls by half. For Warioware, not only female mambers join, but with various identities. For Paper Mario, villages of species aren balanced for sex, and even same with Mario's partners. Maybe some featuring female characters from subseries can join in the main series to solve this problem.



As stated above, the gender consciousness problem in Mario is not serious in face of many other action games of Wii and Xbox in fact, and Mario games have other properties to attract female players as well. But as the topic fading heroines referred, actually present main heroines or other female characters from subseries is not insufficient, it's just the problem that Nintendo haven't make use of their designs. Also if this problem can be improved, not only more choices for female playrs, but possibly a pioneer to encourage other famous companies to follow.


it's impossible or meaningless to force the gender ratio really be 1:1 as there are originally fewer female characters
but basically as the main and DK characters defined, according to fair roster, actually only Peach and Daisy is recurring more than 50% chances
that means the rest main cast: Birdo, Toadette, Rosalina ,Dixie, Candy and minorly Pauline, Tiny aren't recurring at all
before the need of new characters or using subseries, these girls are target to be solved
 
since when is Yoshi a tran? lol
 
Since Yoshi can lie eggs, while he's a male.
 
[quote author=me]I believe Birdos and Yoshis have no gender and reproduce in an agamogenetic fashion, somehow combined with self-fertilizing eggs. Each particular Yoshi or Birdo does have its own "gender" but it's just decided by the amount the creature decides to display its masculinity or femininity.[/quote]

Also, more females are beginning to appear in spin off titles besides Peach.

Daisy, Rosalina, Toadette, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy and possibly Red Paratroopa.
 
Is this a topic about Nintendo not being gender conscious? Because I'm not gonna read that massive text block up there but that would be absolutely silly.
 
I play video games based on their entertainment value, not on the characters specifically. I wouldn't like to change anything in the Mario series, simply because once you start adding/removing characters, it loses the classic "Mario" feel that we all know and love. They can stay in spin-offs and Mariokart, etc., but for the main series games, I would hate to see a permanent character change (i.e., Rosalina is good for SMG and SMG2, but let's not add her to any future games that have nothing to do with SMG).
 
Dorayaki said:
bosses : the most recurring boss, Bowser is male, if not violating the RPG model. Or in the sense of love triangle (if exists), Bowser and Donkey Kong must be male in favor of Princess Peach and Pauline. For Bowser Jr., who is Bowser's child, is aimed to be like him so reasonably being male. But for minions, only one girl consisted in Koopalings is not natural. Except for Bowser, there are also some featuring female rivals in Mario series single games, such as Captain Syrup or Shadow Queen. Maybe it's considerable to make another female boss recurring.
Cackletta and Princess Shroob are two more.

I don't think there should be many female bosses. It just seems better for them to be male, especially the main villains.
 
I tend to not care much what gender characters in a game are as long as its fun, especially with games like the Mario series, where gameplay takes a clear priority over storyline or character depth; I don't need to identify with the character I'm controlling in order to have fun playing a game like those that make up the Mario series, so if I have to control a male Italian plumber, then so be it.

That's not to say there isn't a problem here, though; the male to female ratio is an issue with many, many, many works of fiction, and it's often much worse than in the Mario series. There appears to be a prevalent expectation - unfortunately among people of either gender - that the majority of characters in any given work (that don't serve as a romantic interest for some male character) will be male; heck, non-human characters with no apparent gender are almost universally considered male unless they wear a bow on their head or something because it's become the norm that almost everyone is male unless a stereotypically "feminine" role needs to be filled (whereas male characters can be seen in practically any role).

Although it doesn't detract from my personal gameplay experience, it's quite worrying, and attempts to counter this seem more than needed if gender equality is ever going to be achieved in this respect, so I would definitely support the inclusion of more female characters (in varied roles; we've seen more than enough stereotypical princesses already); ideally, the ratio should of course be 1:1, though I doubt any established male-focused video game series like this are going to attain that goal anymore.
 
I don't like how there aren't any notable female characters in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Not even one.
 
Enough with estereotipes! It's time for girls to kick everyone asses in these games!
But seriously... I think there's a good point in what you're saying... I don't think that giving a female the place she deserves will do any damage to the games. They deserve it! Come'on nintendo!
So i say yes!
Off-TOPIC: i think there's a problem with my grammar...
 
I consider the playable Paratroopa to be female because it is colored red and has a high-pitched voice. Why does every female character need a stereotype to say it is a girl?
 
The problem is, most people would generalize that every animal whose gender is not known to be male, unless it has the characteristics of a stereotypical female. I find that kind of sexist. Just because it's not wearing a ribbon, wearing a dress, has long hair, or it's pink doesn't automatically mean it's male.

The generalization of female gamers is wrong. I'm a girl and I love Mario. If there was a female version of him, I'd still play as Mario.

So, I'd like the break the rule sometimes.

Pink, Cyan, Yellow, Purple, and White Yoshis are female in my POV. Paratroopa is female. Wiggler is female. Unless obviously stated (like Shy GUY), all other generic goons are "it"s. This way, I can reduce the male characters and increase the amount of female characters in some games.

Still, even creatively guessing the gender does not solve the problem of overabundance of male characters.
 
schmutz said:
I play video games based on their entertainment value, not on the characters specifically. I wouldn't like to change anything in the Mario series, simply because once you start adding/removing characters, it loses the classic "Mario" feel.
as mentione in th topic, it really changes when talking about other topics that changes the mode of Mario main games
but for characters, they are mostly about Mario members in spin-offs
the appearances of current heroines is not a change, but a current problem of Mario details
only if that you want to balance characters by relunctuntly designing new characters instead of recurring other old faces

Vellidragon said:
that the majority of characters in any given work (that don't serve as a romantic interest for some male character) will be male; heck, non-human characters with no apparent gender are almost universally considered male unless they wear a bow on their head or something because it's become the norm that almost everyone is male unless a stereotypically "feminine" role needs to be filled.
it makes me think about some theme parks that makes a female mascot by just giving ribbons to the male one = =
for Mario, I think it's not too serious since even female characters have a good sence of design
or like the text, female plumbers must have appeared

for romance? I think many Mario male characters want to have that, but fading heroines still exist = =


Fawfulfury65 said:
I don't like how there aren't any notable female characters in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Not even one.
I tohught that the balance of gender in DK series is good enough
for Country Returns, it just made some simplification for characters so many others didn't appear

Cosmopolitan said:
I consider the playable Paratroopa to be female because it is colored red and has a high-pitched voice. Why does every female character need a stereotype to say it is a girl?
species have average genders and I don't think you can say one specific species have only one gender = =
Koopa Troopas can have many colors on their shells, or you may refer to Paper Mario series
besides, species in Mario games is another topic

Scrub Jay said:
The generalization of female gamers is wrong. I'm a girl and I love Mario. If there was a female version of him, I'd still play as Mario.
I think it both esteems female players, not just for thir choices but also their feelings of the games
it also concerns the reuse of characters and diversity
surely I also often choose Mario bros as my character, it relies on the palyer's spirit
 
Wait, am I confused or is the picture in the OP suggesting that Yoshi is a girl? And are you suggesting that girls like cute, simple, nonviolent games? I thought that view was outdated already.

Fawfulfury65 said:
I don't think there should be many female bosses. It just seems better for them to be male, especially the main villains.

Why? I think girls make awesome bosses/villans. I love Bowser too though. There should be more girls, but probably as one-shots, like Goombella or Rosalina, and then they appear in the spinoffs. Actually, they should add Goombella to the spinoffs! That would be awesome.
 
Every playable Paratroopa, I assume, is the SAME Paratroopa. I'm not assuming every one of them is female.

Nearly every female Nintendo makes seems to be a freakshow :birdo: or a princess
 
ImperishableCat said:
Wait, am I confused or is the picture in the OP suggesting that Yoshi is a girl? And are you suggesting that girls like cute, simple, nonviolent games? I thought that view was outdated already.

Fawfulfury65 said:
I don't think there should be many female bosses. It just seems better for them to be male, especially the main villains.

Why? I think girls make awesome bosses/villans

Birdo and the queen thing from Super Mario Galaxy 2 are sure exceptions
 
Herr Shyguy said:
Is this a topic about Nintendo not being gender conscious? Because I'm not gonna read that massive text block up there but that would be absolutely silly.
You should read the whole thing. It's pretty funny.
 
Cosmopolitan said:
ImperishableCat said:
Wait, am I confused or is the picture in the OP suggesting that Yoshi is a girl? And are you suggesting that girls like cute, simple, nonviolent games? I thought that view was outdated already.

Fawfulfury65 said:
I don't think there should be many female bosses. It just seems better for them to be male, especially the main villains.

Why? I think girls make awesome bosses/villans

Birdo and the queen thing from Super Mario Galaxy 2 are sure exceptions

True. Very true.
 
ImperishableCat said:
Wait, Yoshi is a girl? And are you suggesting that girls like cute, simple, nonviolent games? I thought that view was outdated already.
Nope. It is just broadly means that Yoshi is not "male" instead.

Sure some female adult players can adapt violence or games with handsome heros to service eyes :P
but generally for younger girls and new players, nonviolent games are still prior choices
also I meant "cute things" broadly including designs and spcies in most Mario worlds

Scrub Jay said:
Nearly every female Nintendo makes seems to be a freakshow :birdo: or a princess
variety is a seasoning for life, I think there are also many different types of female in subseries
such as an outgoing teen athlete or a witch, student in species excluding human

Mason said:
Also, more females are beginning to appear in spin off titles besides Peach.
Daisy, Rosalina, Toadette, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy and possibly Red Paratroopa.
but a realistic problem as the topic said, only Princess Peach and Daisy can certainly appear in every spinoff
before the fading heroines or other possible female candidates, the present roster is not secure enough

babies would be excluded in sight of the limit of characters in formal spinoffs, owing to the same identity with their adault form
also what you mean would become that baby princesses can appear while other baby boys can't appear to maintain the balance
 
You can't just shoo off the baby characters. I believe that they have established their own identity now. Many females love cute characters, including Toad and the babies.
 
Scrub Jay said:
You can't just shoo off the baby characters. I believe that they have established their own identity now. Many females love cute characters, including Toad and the babies.
so it's maybe another topic since not all babies are girls to interfere this topic

and we can't reject baby boys as the primise of raising the proportion of amount of girls
though I 'd like to see them in next Yoshi series or other group games..... and Baby Daisy :-[
 
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