What happened to the babies recently?

[Dorayakiss]

Right now it's kinda shocking to know that babies exactly made no main appearance in home console titles. At this point, common people still remember them via the recently shut down Doctor World, the topselling Kart titles, and additionally the cameos from the 2023 animation movie

I think the weird part about their isolation is, babies do have own solid fanbase support, and seem to be a irreplaceable part of spin-off rosters. Their major advantage is to make up for the main cast which mainly consists of grown-ups (not counting other non-human species whose age are hard to tell).
Aside from visual diversity, Mario game is the number one family-friendly gaming brand, so I assume many family gaming occasions would still require underage characters to appear in the selection screen.

Altho Mario babies do have a major defect: their alterego status makes spin-off rosters less diverse, the other problem is we don't really see Nintendo try to push other original underage characters, like 9-volt, as reasonable replacement for the babies. So the recent rosters basically dissapoint both sides of the fans.

I mean even if we don't want babies to participate in very violent subject like football, party would definitely be a fun occasion to have babies and now we've got over ten Mario Party titles with zero playable babies.

Right now it feels like most spin-off subjects are done on Nintendo Switch. Unless Nintendo surprisingly annoucne new DLCs, babies are likely doomed in the current console era. We might get a new Baseball title but babies also have participated in this subject before.

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As for mainline, we've also not seen Yoshi title focus on babies in gameplay for a while. It especially embarasses Baby Daisy who was forced to debut in a spinoff decade ago, yet she's not got any major chance to shine.

I don't think the chance is high, but I think it's acceptible to have a second Yoshi title on NS as long as it gives more focus on babies.

 

[Koopa con Carne]

Playable Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are great to have in spin-offs, because they have some history in a critically acclaimed platformer and are enough to satisfy the wacky scenario of "what if you could play as a protagonist's young self?". The rest are dumb roster filler and should be an afterthought more than anything, really. Judging by the spin-offs released in recent years, it's safe to assume devs realized that additions such as Ninji, Chargin' Chuck, and Pauline are much more exciting than Baby Green Gold Cat Waluigi will ever be.

For the record, I like Wario but am completely indifferent towards his baby self, as a distinct character anyway. So it's not like my "bias" towards an adult Mario character contributes to my liking or disliking of their infant version.

 

[Wintertime Peach]

Uh uh, please don't lump or group Baby Peach together with Baby Daisy and Baby Rosalina. The only thing that she has in common with them is that they're baby princesses. In terms of game appearances/history, Baby Peach did NOT debut in a spinoff and has had at least 2 appearances outside of Mario Kart (Partners in Time and Yoshi's Island DS)

I'd say that Baby Peach is in the same tier as the baby bros. Or maybe just a notch below, and a whole tier or two above Baby Daisy/Rosalina in terms of relevance/importance. Something like this:

A Tier
Baby Mario & Baby Luigi

B Tier
Baby Peach

D/F Tier
Baby Daisy
Baby Rosalina

The rest of the babies I don't pay enough attention to, so IDK about Baby Wario, DK, etc.
I do think that Baby Peach has every right to be playable just as much as the baby bros.

 

[Revin]

they grew up :')

 

[Doctor Welfare]

Coming soon:
Teen Mario
Teen Luigi
Teen Peach
Teen Daisy
Teen Rosalina
Teen Wario
Teen DK

 

[Mcmadness]

I think all the complaints of too many babies got Nintendo to reign them in.

Personally I'm fine with Baby Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario and DK. The rest I often forget they exist.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I think all the complaints of too many babies got Nintendo to reign them in.

It's unfortunate that most of the complaints are from only a vocal portion of the fanbase. Many people who like them aren't online internet dwellers. Me and my sister years ago made an absurd amount of money from ad revenue from a video of Mario and Baby Luigi getting spooked off by Wario and a lot of people who bothered commenting coherently were like "I love baby luigi" and whatnot.

 

[Dorayakiss]

Uh uh, please don't lump or group Baby Peach together with Baby Daisy and Baby Rosalina. The only thing that she has in common with them is that they're baby princesses. In terms of game appearances/history, Baby Peach did NOT debut in a spinoff and has had at least 2 appearances outside of Mario Kart (Partners in Time and Yoshi's Island DS)

As for mainline, we've also not seen Yoshi title focus on babies in gameplay for a while. It especially embarasses Baby Daisy who was forced to debut in a spinoff decade ago, yet she's not got any major chance to shine.

I don't think this is a proper way to explain. That basically says Waluigi didn't deserve to exist as he was created just for spin-offs.

Arguably, unlike Waluigi, babies are established facts from the history and they can just legally exist for prequel stories. Like Baby Funky also definitely existed even if he's not visually seen in the canon.

Yoshi titles were supposed to offer a good chance for the babies to shine so I don't see the point to reject that.

BRosalina is the only one with problem since her canonical origin cannot fit in Yoshi series. If NIntendo really want to create her, they really should had done an extra story for it, like Rosalina gets cursed by Kamek and turns into a baby in modern timeline.

 

[Mcmadness]

You act like Nintendo cares about Mario continuity.

 

[Ray Trace]

I'm the community's Baby Ambassador so here's what I'll have to say about this topic.

The topic at hand acts like the neglect of babies has been a recent phenomenon...but in fact, baby appearances have always been very spotty overall. Baby Mario has the most playable appearances, and it's primarily in Camelot-developed games where he was introduced to begin with (that is the 64 sports titles). Even so, he still ended up missing Mario Power Tennis, got into Mario Tennis Open, but then missed every other title and he hadn't been in golf since 64 until his playable appearance in Mario Sports Superstars. Even at the peak of their popularity (in the GameCube era where they were introduced in Double Dash and starred in an RPG), they've only appeared in Double Dash and Mario Superstar Baseball for the GameCube, they were never considered for Mario Party at all.

Me personally, I think that's a missed opportunity for interesting and excellent characters to be playable as a regular part of the Mario cast. I fell in love with Baby Luigi because he's a goddamn ridiculous character in Double Dash. His entire conception (the utter gall to make him and his adult self playable at the same time), his destructive special item with a unique theme song, his entirely chaotic race track, the fact that he's a baby tossing bombs at people and punching things, plus being subject to all of the violence of that game, it's just great. He and Baby Mario ooze charm and chaotic energy combined that I don't think any other Mario character can ever capture, even if they are "original" and "unique" characters. To me, that's an exciting pick, which is more than I can say with generic mooks or characters like another Mario lady. Really amplifies how little I don't care about their backstory or if they have any franchise relevance, I love ridiculous characters just because I derive enjoyment being ridiculous.

I don't have as much to say with Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, and beyond. Again, personally, I think they tried to capitalize on how amazing the Baby Bros. were in Double Dash and Partners in Time but I think expanding it just got rid of what made the bros interesting to begin with. Now, I like Baby Peach and Baby Daisy but I don't think they're on the same level as the bros. who got opportunities to really shine as great characters thanks to Double Dash and Partners in Time.

Also PS I don't think Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are missing out by being left out of the mediocre Yoshi platformers, especially since Touch & Go is Baby Mario's best appearance in the series by far.

we don't want babies to participate in very violent subject like football

I mean I do. They're fictional, they can drive a vehicle, and they get splayed with iron spiky balls in Mario Super Sluggers. I'll never get the point of "we can't have children characters playable in this fictional franchise", playing as Baby Luigi in a violent Strikers game is part of his appeal.

Yoshi titles were supposed to offer a good chance for the babies to shine so I don't see the point to reject that.

All Yoshi titles did was meme Baby Mario's crying, it wasn't until something like Partners in Time that made him very charming and likable.

 

[Dorayakiss]

baby appearances have always been very spotty overall. Baby Mario has the most playable appearances,
they can drive a vehicle, and they get splayed with iron spiky balls in Mario Super Sluggers.

For their recent appearances, being doctors and drivers both don't really care about size difference so they're easier deals. Meanwhile in Football you need to make Baby Luigi jump and break Bowser's arm.
But sure I agree babies should be allowed to try more new subjects, so I'd love to ignore any realistic matter.

He and Baby Mario ooze charm and chaotic energy combined that I don't think any other Mario character can ever capture, even if they are "original" and "unique" characters.

Sure, I say unique but of course it needs to be both unique and fun, so that I honestly think many overlooked underages like Warioware kids are also supposed to be on the table even if Nintendo don't want babies anymore.

who got opportunities to really shine as great characters thanks to Double Dash and Partners in Time. All Yoshi titles did was meme Baby Mario's crying, it wasn't until something like Partners in Time that made him very charming and likable.

Partenr in Time was definitely a giant boost. It's a great game in both storytelling and mechanics, and also gives the babies more personalities and a reason to fit in the modern timeline. I do think the babies look more like own unique characters than sheer altergos after their experience with their future selves.

The bad part is it's hard to tell whether Nintendo still regard this game as canon (since Mario RPGs are overlooked overall). Really hope that a sequel to the recent movie is willing to take references from this game.

 

[AgentMuffin]

I have to wonder how much appeal the babies really have, in the grand scheme of things. A lot of children want to look more mature than their friends and develop an aversion to whatever they deem infantile (I myself remember chanting some less-than-polite things about Barney and Dora). Adults may be less insecure, but are they any more incentivized to play as baby characters? Maybe that's just a tough sell

I am curious why they haven't tried using Baby Yoshi to fill this niche, as it has a unique design (unlike the bros. and princesses, who lose a lot of their distinguishing characteristics in baby form), avoids raising questions about offscreen time travel shenanigans, and comes off more dopey puppy than wailing human baby. And WarioWare representation would also be good for including younger characters that kids might actually find cool, yeah.

 

[MeritC]

Am I the only one who still loved the super cuteness Baby Peach / Baby Daisy / Baby Rosalina counterparts to this day? I still have to say, the Baby Peach and Baby Daisy counterparts still were great for the Mario Super Sluggers installment, especially when they've scored home runs for their team there.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

The baby characters have more appeal than you think. They tend to have doodads of merchandise occasionally. It's telling that, for instance, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi got a plush years before Daisy did.

l love them and Mario & Luigi Partners in Time is probably the most appealing Mario game to me in a while in terms of protag interactions.

 

[MeritC]

The baby characters have more appeal than you think. They tend to have doodads of merchandise occasionally. It's telling that, for instance, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi got a plush years before Daisy did.

l love them and Mario & Luigi Partners in Time is probably the most appealing Mario game to me in a while in terms of protag interactions.

Just curious, did you play as the baby counterparts (Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Baby Peach / Baby Daisy) in the Mario Superstar Baseball / Mario Super Sluugers games in question?

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Of course! In Superstar Baseball I actually used Baby Mario more than Mario in the minigames at some point. I used to be very obsessed about Baby Mario back in the day, and he overtook Mario at some point.

We also made a team in Super Sluggers consisting entirely of babies and little characters. So we had like Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby DK, several Toads, and Bowser Jr. was captain, but we later had Mario lead the team of babies too.

Also continuing more about what I said earlier, I knew someone during college, a younger girl like between 9-13 if I can guess her age, and when we talked about Mario Kart 8 she did say her favorite characters were Baby Peach, Baby Rosalina, and Pink Gold Peach I believe. Basically all the "derided" characters. But I can totally see the appeal. The babies are cute, but Pink Gold Peach was probably very pretty. It was a cute anecdote but I do wonder how many people are like her out there.

 

[MeritC]

Of course! In Superstar Baseball I actually used Baby Mario more than Mario in the minigames at some point. I used to be very obsessed about Baby Mario back in the day, and he overtook Mario at some point.

We also made a team in Super Sluggers consisting entirely of babies and little characters. So we had like Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby DK, several Toads, and Bowser Jr. was captain, but we later had Mario lead the team of babies too.

Also continuing more about what I said earlier, I knew someone during college, a younger girl like between 9-13 if I can guess her age, and when we talked about Mario Kart 8 she did say her favorite characters were Baby Peach, Baby Rosalina, and Pink Gold Peach I believe. Basically all the "derided" characters. But I can totally see the appeal. The babies are cute, but Pink Gold Peach was probably very pretty. It was a cute anecdote but I do wonder how many people are like her out there.

I just hope you were able to nail home runs as Baby Peach and Baby Daisy in Mario Super Sluggers because I'm sure you'd love how super happy they get when they return to home base.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

It would be very charming I garner. I was really stoked seeing Baby Mario get a homerun. That kid was all over the place.

 

[Wintertime Peach]

I still remember that time in Mario Super Sluggers when I beat Bowser's team at the end of Challenge Mode for the second time using an all-girls team (plus purple Toad), and somehow, Baby Peach (of all characters) won MVP at the end:

(sorry about the crappy quality of the picture, it was taken with my 3DS since this was back when I didn't have a capture card yet or a cell phone, but you can see Baby Peach at the front there and the score is 13-3)

How does Baby Peach, one of the weakest characters in the game, win MVP against the toughest team in this game? She surely didn't hit any homers, but perhaps she was lucky and drove in a lot of runs? What I mean is, when it was her turn to bat, the bases were probably loaded and she got a hit which helped the runners reach home? I think that you can earn MVP points that way, not just hitting homeruns.
Also, I am sure that I had her as pitcher at one point in the game since she is one of the best pitchers in the game and she probably got a few strikeouts. Well done, Baby Peach

(also, this was back in 2015 when I briefly became a Daisy/Baby Daisy fan...never again)

 

[MeritC]

It would be very charming I garner. I was really stoked seeing Baby Mario get a homerun. That kid was all over the place.

This was for both the Mario Superstar Baseball game, the Mario Super Sluggers game, or did you manage to nail a home run as Baby Mario in both games?