Princess Peach was preceded as Mario's romantic interest by a character named Pauline (originally named Lady) that appeared as the damsel in distress in Mario's first video game, Donkey Kong, in 1981. Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, wanted to use the characters Popeye, Bluto, and Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoon as the main characters, but failed to obtain the license, so he transformed them into Jumpman (Mario), Donkey Kong, and Pauline. Donkey Kong established Pauline's role as the female character who is rescued by Mario and appears as the damsel in distress in subsequent games. With the arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Mario Bros., Pauline was replaced by Princess Peach. Miyamoto later said that Donkey Kong had been designed for arcades, which were frequented by male gamers, so Nintendo did not consider making a character that would be playable by girls. Several characteristics of Princess Peach were introduced in the 1996 role-playing game Super Mario RPG, including her use of a parasol as a weapon and a sleep spell ability that inspired her Final Smash in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Following the debut of Waluigi in Mario Tennis, a…

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Peach is the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and ruler of her subjects, known as Toads, a mushroom-like people. Although she has appeared in a variety of outfits, Peach typically wears her pink princess dress with puffy sleeves combined with long white gloves. Her royal abode is a large castle with white walls and red roof, adorned with a stained-glass portrait of the princess. Peach is the daughter of the Mushroom King (also named King Toadstool), a character that appears in the Super Mario Bros. comics and is mentioned in the manual for the first Super Mario Bros. video game but has never appeared in the video games. She is presented as one of the few humans in the kingdom, despite the Toads being the predominant race. Throughout the mainline series, the Mushroom Kingdom is under persistent attack from Bowser and his minions, and Peach's role is to be his kidnapping victim. Her age has never been officially confirmed, but it varies between mid-teens and early twenties.

Despite being the lead female character of the Mario franchise, Princess Peach has rarely been the protagonist of Mario video games. Since the first Super Mario Bros. video game, she has repeatedl…

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Peach has been merchandised across a range of official products, including plush toys and action figures. An amiibo of Peach wearing a pink gown was released for the Super Smash Bros. series in November 2014. In 2015, another version was released as part of a set of Super Mario amiibo. In 2017, a set of themed amiibo was released for Super Mario Odyssey, including an amiibo of Peach wearing a wedding outfit. A limited edition double pack featuring Cat Peach alongside Cat Mario was released for Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury in February 2021. In December 2014, a rare legless Peach amiibo resulting from a factory defect achieved a Guinness World Record for being the most expensive amiibo figure. Peach's color scheme and crown motif have been used to market themed controllers, including a pink Wii Remote Plus controller in 2014 and a pastel pink Joy-Con for the Switch in 2024. She has also featured in other licensed Mario products, including as an interactive figure in the Lego Super Mario range and as a Hot Wheels collectible.