PEACH
Fighter Number: 13
Fighter Group: Melee Veterans
Franchise: Mario
Game of Origin: Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985 (US/JP), 1987 (EU)
The fair princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. Once again, as with any Mario character I shouldn't have to say too much about Peach herself.
We have the article right here at the wiki. So this will once more be more about personal thoughts on the character, and/or their place in Nintendo's history.
So Peach I may say…. is a bit mixed. She obviously deserves credit as one of the most well-known female characters in Video game history. The problem there gets into… just how much of the Mario series is spent just trying to save her yet again. It brings up many a question of how this just keeps happening at least in-universe. Obviously the real reason is just Nintendo wants to keep the story of the platformers relatively simple. Save the girl from the clutches of a fire-breathing monster. Practically a tale as old as old as we humans learned how to write. With stories of brave knights of the medieval age saving a princess from a dragon. Which makes for an action packed story just from the premise.
Though when it's gotten to the point where that same dragon keeps coming back and kidnapping the same princess over and over again you get into questions like. Why isn't Peach doing anything to make sure to stop this from happening. Is Bowser just too powerful for any security measures she's ever tried, or… is there perhaps a chance Peach allows this to happen to herself because it's more exciting then actually running the Mushroom Kingdom. Which either way it drops, has real concerns about Peach's ability to rule.
Not to mention the… implications that Nintendo's most recurring female character is known as pretty much
THE damsel-in-distress of Video games. Games such as the RPGs, the Strikers series (With her sassy attitude and
pop star-esque theme in Charged, and how she's pretty useful in Battle League thus far. Her hyper strike sometimes doesn't have to be perfectly timed to work, as Boom Boom may just put the ball in the goal himself due to Peach's heart magic), and Smash to an extent at least portray Peach as more powerful then she seems, or at the very least willing to try her hardest to help Mario under some limited capacity as she's still captured by Bowser. But the powers she has just adds more questions like why isn't she using those to at least try to fight being kidnapped by Bowser which puts more fuel to the fire that Peach actually is letting this happen in some fashion. Though Peach in the RPGs certainly rank as her best portrayals of the series.
Peach did at least get one game where the shoe was on the other foot with Bowser capturing Mario and Luigi in Super Princess Peach. I've never played it myself, but I've heard it goes some weird directions. And maybe slightly controversial that a core mechanic of the game seems to be based on Mood swings. Said controversy just part of how in a world that's still fighting for women's rights to be treated as equal to men. The pretty pink, damsel-in-distress princess that needs a man like Mario (Or Luigi for that matter) to save her constantly may not exactly… age well.
There's a reason some gravitate more towards Daisy who's only been on record to be kidnapped once and just became a spin-off regular showing her excitable tomboy personality and much more to Rosalina in that while Bowser does shrink her effectiveness in the beginning of Galaxy. She's not kidnapped and is actively there to help Mario in the adventure. Both Rosalina and Daisy mesh better in terms of showing girl power in the mushroom kingdom. That's not to say Peach doesn't have "girl power" vibes of her own. Just sometimes you have to wonder if in the early games where Peach was like the only female character in the roster, some girls might not have wanted to play as the token girl of the group known for needing Mario to save her all the time.
And I don't mean to rag on Peach too much, she's a pretty sweet character in the end. Just it feels like she may always be fighting her reputation as a damsel-in-distress, which only comes up yet again with every Mario game where the goal of the game is to save her. With all the spin-offs and the RPGs, we know there's more to Peach then meets the eye. But you can't help a fandom for wondering if there's something going on there after so many times.
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Being a unique and major Mario character obviously Peach is guaranteed a high spot. She's above Pac-Man, but I'm putting Peach lower then her recurrent kidnapper. Fighting bowser that many times to me feels a tad more on the memorable side then of the reward of having saved the Princess. And Peach didn't really get too much depth on her until the Mario RPGs showed up. Where by then, even if Peach always appeared as the reward afterward. There were many iconic encounters with Bowser before then. I will also say in advance that while Peach is THE most well-known female Nintendo character. She isn't the most merited female character overall, I'll get into it when we get to some character(/s) in mind I feel are higher then her
1. Mario
2. Link
3. Donkey Kong
4. Kirby
5. Luigi
6. Bowser
7. Peach
8. Pac-Man
9. Diddy Kong
10. Banjo & Kazooie
11. King K. Rool
12. Mr. Game & Watch
13. Sonic the Hedgehog
14. Bowser Jr.
15. Rosalina & Luma
16. Toon Link
17. Snake
18. Shulk
19. Pit
20. Ness
21. Jigglypuff
22. Duck Hunt
23. Steve
24. Lucas
25. Mythra
26. Min Min
27. Byleth
28. Wii Fit Trainer
29. Chrom
30. Dr. Mario
31. Dark Pit
32. Piranha Plant
