Do girls need longterm rivalry?

[Dorayaki]

As we know, Mario boys are very well known for their rivalry relationships, but when it comes to recurring girls, they don't really rival each other or have other potential rivals. Girls show their rivalry side mostly when the opponents are boys. It sure has to do with the historical fact Mario heroines began as supporting characters before becoming heroes themselves.

When it comes to villainesses, not just that we haven't got a major villainess that ends up as a main cast, but most of their games happen to focus on boy vs girls (e.g. Luigi vs Hellen, Wario vs Syrup), so they don't really offer chances for girls only rivalry. Showtime seems to be one of the rare times when girl rivalry becomes the main theme in canon.

Additionally, altho Wendy is known to have a knot about Peach, her identity doesn't really allow her to appear as an individual rival to challenge Peach in both mainline and spinoffs.

I also don't think rivalry has to be about hero vs villain. The fact Wario and Donkey rival Mario could had offered a good chance for a team rivalry based on a friendly consesus. However, due to that DKC and Warioware girls are seldom invited to Mario sport games, it's not really an available option for most times.

Do you think Mario girls need rivalry? Or they can just live without it? What kind of rivalry would you love to see if it is a thing?

 

[Sparks]

Technically any Mario spin-off with a character roster (Mario Kart, Mario Party and Mario & Sonic for example) can have rivalries between female characters. It's just in the main games where that isn't shown. I will say Rabbid Peach isn't very fond of the real Peach, but I don't see that as a rivalry because they work together anyway.

You could also say that Edge has rivalries with the Spark Hunters, other female Rabbids. She still cares for them (well maybe except Kanya), but they were meant to stop the heroes, so they had to be, well, stopped!

I personally don't mind if there are rivalries or not. Princess Peach: Showtime! had Grape, but the entire game was geared towards girls, so the game is kinda like a fairy tale. At least, That's the vibe I get from it. It would be interesting to see more examples though, like the ones I mentioned above!

 

[Xiahou Ba]

You know, characters that have existing rivalries, when have they ever shown that in games as of late??? We don't really see Wario disparaging Mario in the games nowadays.

 

[Lily]

yeah I deserve a good longterm rival thank you for asking