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keen-as-a-peach-2217 · 1 year ago

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If it’s not too much to ask, could you provide a rundown of Mario and Peach’s relationship throughout the history of the games — any developer insights and supporting material included if applicable? Their interactions have never failed to make me smile; I feel like every moment between them, no matter how simple, elevate my enjoyment of the games.

Do you have a favorite moment? For me, I think the ending of the first Paper Mario is my definitive Mario and Peach moment. Everything from the music to the scenery to how innocent it plays out perfectly encapsulates their relationship.

While other series, like Splatoon or The Legend of Zelda tend to have a greater focus on their worldbuilding and backstory, I think Mario’s greatest strength when it comes to its lore is its rich characters and how their relationships come together. You don’t follow the same main cast in The Legend of Zelda for more than a game or two at a time. With Mario, well - he’s always the same Mario. He’s familiar, and his personality is so strong that he continues to be the Mario we know, no matter the medium. It seems that Mario’s current primary developers, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura, feel the same way:

"No matter what worlds he takes on, Mario remains Mario. Maybe this is strange but I find that fact very comforting,"

[Source: Yoshiaki Koizumi, Director and Producer of the Super Mario series, CNN Business, September 2020]

“…you can take Mario, or a Mario franchise character, and put them in pretty much any situation and it makes it okay. […] Mario carries it off.”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Designer and Director of the Super Mario series, GameInformer, June 2017]

“Mario himself is a very strong character, so wherever he is he is strong enough to stand alone and be a good character. And even if he's next to a dinosaur, he's Mario!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Designer and Director of the Super Mario series, Metro, June 2017]

That’s not to say that Mario doesn’t have quite in-depth worldbuilding and backstory as well, but I think these characters are greatly understood by the people who work with them while largely being overlooked, misunderstood or written off by fans.

This is why relationships, like the one shared between Mario and Peach, can be such a highlight for players.

Mario and Peach, while not explicitly dating, are absolutely smitten with each other.

In fact, it seems that Mario instantly fell in love with Peach the moment he saw her, when she kissed him in Super Mario Bros.. Mario was so in love with Princess Peach that, according to the team behind Donkey Kong (Game Boy), it’s what caused Mario to break up with Pauline:

“Apparently the land of mushrooms is somehow in the vicinity of Donkey Kong's stomping ground that appears at the end [of Donkey Kong (Game Boy). Around that point, he meets Peach, and probably starts to have a change of heart [about Pauline] (laughs).”

[Source: Shigeru Miyamoto, Producer of Donkey Kong (Game Boy), Game Boy Donkey Kong Wonder Life Special - APE Inc. Official Nintendo Guide, June 1994]

“After that, Mario became famous, so Pauline must have gotten dumped (laughs).”

[Source: Masayuki Kameyama, Director of Donkey Kong (Game Boy), Game Boy Donkey Kong Wonder Life Special - APE Inc. Official Nintendo Guide, June 1994]

Paper Mario in its entirety is certainly a great example of Mario and Peach’s relationship. While the ending where they watch the fireworks is a highlight, the intro also showcases her attempts to spend time with Mario, eagerly awaiting him in the upper parts of the castle and wanting him to accompany her to the balcony.

“Oh! By the way, Princess Peach has been waiting for you.”

[Source: A Green Toad Girl, Staff of Princess Peach’s Castle, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“I think Princess Peach has been looking forward to seeing you since this morning, Mario. She's been restless... hee hee hee... How cute...”

[Source: A Pink Toad Girl, Staff of Princess Peach’s Castle, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“Oh, Mario! You came to the party to see me! You're so sweet! Thank you!♥ I was just resting a bit. It gets tiring, greeting all those guests out there! Nobody will bother us here. Shall we relax and chat, just the two of us? It was a lovely day today, so I'm sure it's comfortable out on the balcony right now. Would you accompany me, Mario?”

[Source: Princess Peach, Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

She gets worried about him while she’s kidnapped:

“I wonder what Mario is doing right now... I wonder if he's hurt... I'm so worried about him!”

[Source: Princess Peach, Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

Later on, we even learn that Princess Peach keeps a photo of Mario beside her bed, which she reacts to with a heart emoticon:

“A photo of Mario.♥”

She even gets embarrassed about it when Twink points it out.

Generally, the game makes an effort to highlight Mario and Peach’s love for each other beyond most other games in the series:

“Do you know of a place called Shooting Star Summit? It's near this castle. It's such a romantic place... It's definitely the best place for a date. Trust me. Maybe you ought to, you know, ask the princess to go there...”

[Source: A Toad, Resident of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

“Does Princess Peach have a special man in her life? She's such a lovely lady... Whoever she loves must be very special indeed...”

[Source: A Green Toad, Resident of the Mushroom Kingdom, Non-player Character in Paper Mario (Nintendo 64), February 2001]

Princess Peach has a very specific view of love, which she has actually expressed before in-game:

“Love... How do I explain? Love tells you when you want to be with a person forever. It makes you feel happy just to see that person happy, smiling...having fun. When you love someone, you will do anything to help when he or she is in trouble.”

[Source: Princess Peach, Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Playable Character in Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door, October 2004]

It’s pretty clear that when she says this, she’s thinking about Mario, between his obvious outwardly happy nature or his willingness to do anything to help her when she’s in trouble. This is reflected in Peach’s own actions in Super Princess Peach, when she saves Mario from Bowser’s clutches. It’s clear from her actions across various games that Peach would do anything to help Mario, and she’s comforted by him even in times of peril.

From taking Mario on a romantic vacation in Super Mario Sunshine, to talking about how caring he is with her paper counterpart, to her team name with him being “Cutest Couple” in Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, it’s clear that these two have a strong, devoted and loving relationship with one-another.

But when it comes to my personal favorite moment between them, I feel that my answer is quite a controversial one.

My favourite moment between Mario and Peach is the ending of Super Mario Odyssey.

Now, now. Put your pitchforks away. The main issue with this is that people tend to completely misinterpret the meaning behind this ending, and while I’m not going to go into too much detail here, I think it’s important to understand the intended themes of Super Mario Odyssey.

“[Super Mario Odyssey] is a journey following Mario to save Princess Peach, one of his most [beloved], so we wanted to make this an epic journey.”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, Vice, June 2017]

“Mario and Peach's relationship has been a big part of the games for a long [time], and in this game we're getting deeper into it!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, GQ, October 2017]

“I've always thought that Mario carries a bit of a torch for Peach. I think that's true even back in the 2D Mario games. If not, he wouldn't be wasting his time rescuing her over and over again. [As for if Peach feels the same way,] The heart of a woman is a mystery.”

[Source: Yoshiaki Koizumi, Producer of Super Mario Odyssey, GameInformer, June 2017]

It’s clear that Super Mario Odyssey’s story exists to highlight the intricacies of the relationship between Peach and Mario in ways that hadn’t been explored previously. This is why the ending of Super Mario Odyssey is so excellent to me.

“The ending of Super Mario Odyssey is the culmination of an adventure both magnificent and personal. An upbeat song plays in the background while the scene unfolds: the joy of being reunited with someone you've missed, the slight embarrassment that comes with thinking of the one you love, Mario and Bowser's open honesty, and Peach's independence. Through the theme of marriage - which had never been addressed in the series before we see another side of Mario, Peach, and Bowser. The relationship between the three looks like it'll continue for years to come. The odyssey they've embarked on is far from over!”

[Source: Kenta Motokura, Director of Super Mario Odyssey, The Art of Super Mario Odyssey, September 2018]

Mario finally makes his feelings known to Peach, through a proposal, but he does so in the worst possible way. Peach refuses to marry Mario because he was acting immaturely. Mario cannot handle losing control of a bad situation and often makes rash decisions. While the latter is sometimes a positive trait for him, in this instance it’s a flaw which caused him to fight Bowser for Peach’s hand. You can hear Mario grunting while attempting to push Bowser out of the way and get Peach to accept him.

This is not the Mario that Peach knows. It is not the Mario that she loves. Peach had just been kidnapped from her home, dragged around the world and almost forcefully married to a man she’s romantically repulsed by. She was rescued by the man she loves in the nick of time who was finally about to make his move and propose to her, before Bowser barged back in and ruined the moment, and Mario started acting irrationally. She was fed up, and rightfully so.

So she turns down Mario’s proposal, and leaves. Peach does not turn down Mario’s proposal because she doesn’t love him - it’s abundantly clear that she loves him very much - she turns him down because it was the wrong place, at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.

However, her love for the Mario she knows still rings true. Their relationship is so strong that even after all of that, they quickly recover, as is illuminated through Peach’s forgiveness. She takes a breath and calls out to Mario, inviting him to come home with her. It’s a showcase of the love they share for one-another, one more potent than we’ve seen before anywhere else. A truly well-crafted study of these characters and the intricacies of their interwoven lives.

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keen-as-a-peach-2217 · 1 year ago

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How in the HELL does this not have more notes, this is BEAUTIFUL 😭

What would a "Super Princess Peach" scenario look like with your version of Mareach? That is- Mario (and maybe Luigi) gets captured and Peach has to go rescue him.

Hello there!! Thank you for the ask!

I actually have Super Princess Peach but I've never finished it, maybe I should go to that next chance I get 😆 But I adore the concept, I don't have any projects like it atm but I'd love to work out some thoughts on it!!

I can't get enough of mutual pining/confession scenarios, so it would probably be something like that. And probably a whump story 😳 Bowser must be really motivated to get under Peach's skin and hurt her, and as much as it pains him, it seems like she really cares about the stupid little plumber man so it makes sense to create a plan to capture him.

And, though he would never lay a claw on Peach while under his jurisdiction, he doesn't have the same inclinations toward Mario so why not play around and torment the guy? After all, he's foiled his plans how many times by now? He doesn't have enough claws to count. So he gets a bit of a kick out of giving Mario a taste of what he's been put through. Also, Mario is furious about this, but he's not gonna let Bowser see a hint of pain. So he tries not to react, just so he wouldn't get any satisfaction. Unfortunately, this only makes Bowser angry and has him double down on his efforts to hurt him.

But Mario is powerless in this scenario, as Bowser has found some kind of weakness of his. There wouldn't be any point in threatening Peach as Mario knows Bowser wouldn't hurt her already, but maybe he threatens to do worse to Luigi. Maybe he finds some sort of neutralizer to Mario's Firebrand, and finds creative(painful) ways to keep him awake and hungry so that he begins to lose his strength.

And the whole time, Mario is fretting because he knows Peach. He knows that she's so kind and wonderful and she'll probably arrange to rescue him. But despite knowing her strength, he hates this because he doesn't want her to have to go through everything he does to get to the Dark Kingdom. All those enemies, all those tough conditions. He can't protect her while he's chained down in the dungeon. And this is really what's killing him, despite Bowser trying to break his will. All he wants is for the Princess to be safe, and kidnapping him makes him unable to serve her that way. This man would happily lay down his life for her, but instead he's useless and trapped in a deep dark cell without sunlight or consistent sustenance or rest. All his effort and pain is meaningless here.

He starts to think a lot about his feelings. About how sweet and perfect and beautiful the Princess is. He loves her, he's suspected that he has for a long time. But he would never dare to speak up and say as much to her. He thinks he is not worth her time, that he is beneath her in every way. He is content living out a life of service to her because that alone is a privilege enough. But now even that outcome is up in the air. Doubts of his ability to escape cloud his mind.

Meanwhile, Peach is losing her mind. She did not hesitate to mobilize, storming her way to Bowser's castle. Initially, she was nervous for the journey. But she was so furious that Bowser would do this, so enraged and terrified for Mario's wellbeing, that she did not even think for a second of turning back.

Mario had rescued her so many times. It was about time she returned the favor, no matter how much he insisted she would never need to. That sweet man, always so willing to stand by her side, to defend her, to fight for her. He literally traveled across the world and to the center of the universe for her.

Oh. She recognized sensations in herself that she had only read about. The way her heart pounded, the way his pain was her pain, the way his smile sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach. The warmth of his touch, that cute little bashful face he made whenever she kissed him on the cheek. He always stood at a respectful distance, but she wanted nothing more than to be close to him.

And now he was hurt. Now he was in trouble, and she was going to rescue him if it killed her.

The last thing Mario wants is for her to have to fight Bowser. Actually, that's the last thing Bowser wants, too. He doesn't actually want to battle her, considering he'd like to marry her in one piece and also he knows she is more than capable of hurting him. But the Princess that storms his castle is ready for war and nothing is going to stop her.

She fights, and being at the sidelines is more painful than Mario can say. All of his instincts compelled him to go to her side, to fight for her, but he was powerless. There was nothing he could do but watch and worry and cry out if she got hit. The terror that seized him, watching her battle for his freedom, was cold and unforgiving.

She comes out victorious in the end, because Bowser just cannot triumph over her sheer will and power. And here I think my version of this story would focus a lot on the aftermath 😫

What if Mario collapses as soon as the battle is over, because he was just able to hold on until it was over? Bowser never got the satisfaction of seeing him beat, but he's beaten anyway. Peach rushes to his side, in near tears. She'd gotten so far, done all this by herself, and she can't lose him now. She doesn't know the extent of what Bowser had done to him. But she is safe, the danger is over, and Mario's body finally shuts down after everything.

She flies to him and wrenches open the cell. He is free, but at what cost? She drops to her knees and eases him up to rest upon her, hands shaking.

Their reunion is electric. She can't even think about escaping the castle with him in this state. She can't think about anything.

"I'm okay," he promises her, his voice barely there. He is bruised and bloodied, but his eyes shine with a faint hint of relief. He was so scared for her, but she did it. She made it to him and he's so proud.

Peach just holds him, her voice shaking as she wraps her arm around him. "You're not," she says. Her eyes darken, her voice clouds with more anger. She is stronger now, bolder after her journey. "What did he do to you?"

Mario doesn't have the capacity to describe it to her, and he begins to go limp. His eyes slide closed. "You did...You did so good. I am so...I am pr-proud..." he fades off. He's not dying, he's just extremely weak.

She seizes him all the same and presses her lips to his in a last ditch effort to rescue and restore his strength.

They kiss. Even as her healing magic takes effect, she continues to kiss him, desperate and relieved all at once for his safety. His wounds begin to heal, and he starts to shift beneath her. His hand raises up to cup her cheek and he kisses her back. It was nothing like their chaste touches before, or like any kiss she'd ever given to him or anyone else. Mario sighs with his newfound strength and murmurs that he loves her.

Peach gives a delighted, teary laugh and throws her arms around him as she confesses that she loves him, too.

...

Or maybe something like that 😅

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