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163-516: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy . It is the first installment of the Wario series and a sequel to 1992's Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins . The story follows Wario traveling to a distant island to steal and sell a valuable statue to purchase his own castle out of envy of Mario 's, which he attempted to take over in

326-608: A true 3D platformer is a French computer game called Alpha Waves , created by Christophe de Dinechin and published by Infogrames in 1990 for the Atari ST , Amiga , and IBM PC compatibles . Bug! , released in 1995 for the Saturn , has a more conservative approach. It allows players to move in all directions, but it does not allow movement along more than one axis at once; the player can move orthogonally but not diagonally. Its characters were pre-rendered sprites, much like

489-488: A "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it. Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to Donkey Kong and later games in the genre, such as Super Mario Bros. (1985). Donkey Kong spawned other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms. Computer and Video Games magazine, among others, referred to

652-557: A "victimization record" for Princess Peach that detailed her many kidnappings within the series, commenting, "There are few women with more kidnappings under their belt than her royal mushroom highness." In an article about the impact of princesses on girls, Peggy Orenstein of The New York Times said that she loved Peach but noted that "her peachiness did nothing to upset the apple cart of expectation". She considered Peach to be an ideal postfeminist solution by "the melding of old and new standards". Josh Straub of Game Informer cited

815-452: A 1980 arcade release by Universal , is sometimes credited as the first platformer. Another precursor to the genre from 1980 was Nichibutsu 's Crazy Climber , in which the player character scales vertically scrolling skyscrapers. The unreleased 1979 Intellivision game Hard Hat has a similar concept. Donkey Kong , an arcade video game created by Nintendo and released in July 1981,

978-401: A 2D plane are called 2.5D , as they are a blend of 2D and 3D. The first platformers to simulate a 3D perspective and moving camera emerged in the early-mid-1980s. An early example of this was Konami 's Antarctic Adventure , where the player controls a penguin in a forward-scrolling third-person perspective while having to jump over pits and obstacles. Originally released in 1983 for

1141-464: A 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure , for its Dreamcast console. It used a hub structure like Super Mario 64 , but its levels were more linear, fast-paced, and action-oriented. Princess Peach Princess Peach is a character in Nintendo 's Mario franchise . She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original Super Mario Bros. game as Princess Toadstool . She

1304-814: A December 1993 release date, the game was later re-released on the Nintendo 3DS 's eShop Virtual Console download service in Japan on December 14, 2011, and in 2012 in Europe on February 16, and North America on July 26. The game could be downloaded along with its predecessors, Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins . In the United States, it was the top-selling Game Boy game in March and April 1994. By 1997, 4 million units had been sold worldwide. The game has sold 5.19 million copies worldwide to date. Game Informer ' s Ben Reeves called it

1467-557: A Princess Peach Dress, Princess Peach Wig and, after completing all the tasks, a Princess Peach Tennis outfit. In Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023), Princess Peach is one of several playable characters alongside Mario, Luigi, and others. The game centers on their visit to the Flower Kingdom, which is disrupted when Bowser steals the Wonder Flower and transforms into a flying castle. Princess Toadstool's Castle Run ,

1630-462: A balance between open-ended and guided exploration. Another platform-adventure released that year, Pony Canyon 's Super Pitfall , was critically panned for its vagueness and weak game design. That same year Jaleco released Esper Boukentai , a sequel to Psychic 5 that scrolled in all directions and allowed the player character to make huge multistory jumps to navigate the vertically oriented levels. Telenet Japan also released its own take on

1793-655: A boss fight with one of Bowser's henchmen. In New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012), the Mushroom Kingdom is again under attack from Bowser and his Koopalings, who kidnap Peach. The game involves Mario and Luigi traveling through platform levels, collecting coins, and fighting bosses to save the princess. In Mario's 2012 Wii U debut, New Super Mario Bros. U , the action takes place in Dinosaur Land. The plot involves Bowser and his Koopalings taking Princess Peach hostage and Mario and friends making their way to

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1956-481: A bouncing car that jumps on various platforms such as buildings, clouds, and hills. Jump Bug offered a glimpse of what was to come, with uneven, suspended platforms, levels that scroll horizontally (and in one section, vertically), and differently themed sections, such as a city, the interior of a large pyramid, and underwater. Irem's 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol combines jumping over obstacles and shooting attackers. A month later, Taito released Jungle King ,

2119-525: A brief burst of episodic platformers where the first was freely distributed and parts 2 and 3 were available for purchase. The abundance of platformers for 16-bit consoles continued late into the generation, with successful games such as Vectorman (1995), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995), and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995), but the release of new hardware caused players' attention to move away from 2D genres. The Saturn , PlayStation , and Nintendo 64 nevertheless featured

2282-494: A castle. After exploring the island, stealing the pirates' treasures, and infiltrating their Syrup Castle, Wario confronts the leader of the pirates, a female buccaneer named Captain Syrup. She summons a genie to destroy Wario, but he defeats the genie and Syrup destroys the castle with a large bomb as she escapes. In doing so, the pirates' biggest treasure is revealed: the giant gold statue of Princess Peach. However, Mario appears in

2445-534: A common term for the genre by 1989, popularized by its usage in the United Kingdom press. Examples include referring to the " Super Mario mould" (such as Kato-chan & Ken-chan ) as platform games, and calling Strider a "platform and ladders" game. The genre originated in the early 1980s. Levels in early platform games were confined to a single screen, viewed in profile, and based on climbing between platforms rather than jumping. Space Panic ,

2608-566: A fortress by the X-Nauts, leaving Mario to collect seven Crystal Stars while trying to find her. Players control Mario, but at the end of each of the eight chapters, the gameplay switches to Peach as she wanders around the fortress while attempting to escape. Peach is again kidnapped in Super Paper Mario (2007), in which Mario must set off to recover eight Pure Hearts in order to find her. During gameplay, Peach teams up with Mario as

2771-450: A forward-scrolling effect similar to Sega's 1985 third-person rail shooter Space Harrier . 3-D WorldRunner was an early forward-scrolling pseudo-3D third-person platform-action game where players were free to move in any forward-scrolling direction and could leap over obstacles and chasms. It was notable for being one of the first stereoscopic 3-D games . Square released its sequel, JJ , later that year. The earliest example of

2934-539: A game based on Super Mario Bros. 2 , which was released in 1990 on the Nelsonic Game Watch, was the first game to feature Princess Toadstool as the sole playable character. In 1993, she appeared in Mario is Missing! , an educational game developed by The Software Toolworks . Peach is a playable character in most Mario spin-offs, including Mario Sports games, where she is a recurring character. She

3097-413: A heart. She is a returning character in the kart racing game series Mario Kart and appears as one of eight playable characters in the first video game Super Mario Kart (1992). A variation named Cat Peach was introduced as one of three playable characters in the first DLC pack for Mario Kart 8 in 2014. The game also debuted a variation named Pink Gold Peach. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe features

3260-423: A helicopter, thanks Wario and takes the statue away in front of his eyes. Still holding the genie's lamp, Wario summons the genie and wishes for a castle. The genie tells him that he requires money to grant his wish, and so Wario gives him all the coins the player has collected over the course of the game, plus trades in all the found treasures for more coins. Exactly how well the genie grants Wario's wish depends on

3423-609: A high quality of animation. The 1988 shareware game The Adventures of Captain Comic was one of the first attempts at a Nintendo-style platformer for IBM PC compatibles . It inspired Commander Keen , released by id Software in 1990, which became the first MS-DOS platformer with smooth scrolling graphics. Keen's success resulted in numerous console-styled platformers for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, including Duke Nukem , Duke Nukem II , Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure , and Dark Ages all by Apogee Software . These fueled

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3586-796: A letter addressed to Mario, signing it "Peach". From the 1996 game Mario Kart 64 onward, the name Peach is used in Western versions. Several voice actors have provided the English voice for Princess Peach. Since the 2007 Wii game Mario Strikers Charged , Peach has been voiced by Samantha Kelly. She has also previously been voiced by Jen Taylor . Her other voice actors include Jeannie Elias in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! , Tracey Moore in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World , and Leslie Swan,

3749-479: A localization manager for Nintendo. 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

3912-413: A mushroom head. Other merchandise designs created around the time of the first game depicted Peach with straight, long blonde hair wearing a red skirt, illustrating that her design was not finalized until later games. When discussing Peach's design for Super Princess Peach , released in 2005, Miyamoto said that it was important for Peach to be "Peach-like", meaning that she evokes the "free optimism of

4075-418: A mysterious doppelgänger of Mario. Shadow Mario is secretly Bowser's son, Bowser Jr. , in disguise, and, after framing Mario for polluting the island, he kidnaps Peach. Bowser Jr. initially accuses the princess of being his mother, but after Mario defeats Bowser and rescues Peach, Bowser confirms that Peach is not Bowser Jr.'s mother. New Super Mario Bros. (2006) returned the series to 2D platforming on

4238-559: A named character—Mario, which became a mascot of the company. The term platform game gained traction in the late 1980s, as did the alternate form platformer . During their peak of popularity, platformers were estimated to comprise between a quarter and a third of all console games. By 2006, the genre had experienced a decline in sales, representing a 2% market share as compared to 15% in 1998. In spite of this, platformers are still being commercially released every year, including some which have sold millions of copies. A platformer requires

4401-631: A number of successful 2D platformers. The 2D Rayman was a big success on 32-bit consoles. Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 helped revitalize interest in Capcom 's Mega Man character . Castlevania: Symphony of the Night revitalized its series and established a new foundation for later Castlevania games. Oddworld and Heart of Darkness kept the subgenre born from Prince of Persia alive. The difficulties of adapting platformer gameplay to three dimensions led some developers to compromise by pairing

4564-600: 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. Sam Loveridge of Digital Spy described Peach as one of the most iconic female game characters of all time, naming her an icon that transcends gaming and commenting that she "acts as one of Nintendo's main mascots on

4727-566: A pipe, but she is eventually captured by Bowser. Rather than remaining idle, she demonstrates resourcefulness in various ways, including tricking her way out of her cell, escaping from a window using a yellow cape, and popping out of a pizza box holding a bomb in an effort to save Mario. Princess Peach is also prominently featured within Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood 's immersive Super Nintendo World areas. A costume character meet-and-greet with her

4890-553: A playable Peach, as well as Cat Peach, a baby version of Peach, and Pink Gold Peach. Mario Kart Tour increased the number of playable options and includes Cherub Baby Peach, Kimono Peach, Pink Gold Peach, Vacation Peach, and Wintertime Peach as alternate costumes. In 1996, the princess appeared in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars . She is one of the party members and the final character to join

5053-530: A playable character in Mario spin-offs and other video game series, including Mario Sports games, Mario Kart , Mario Party , Paper Mario and the fighting game series Super Smash Bros. . Peach is one of the best-known female protagonists in video game history, having appeared in more video game titles than any other female character. She has also appeared in official merchandise, comics, and animated series. In The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), she

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 - Misplaced Pages Continue

5216-530: A playable character where she can perform a floaty jump. In Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012), she and the Toads are enjoying a sticker festival in the Mushroom Kingdom until Bowser arrives to cause chaos, resulting in Mario collecting stickers to save the kingdom. In the 2016 follow-up game Paper Mario: Color Splash , Mario, Peach, and Toad are invited to Prism Island, which is being drained of color. When Peach

5379-490: A plot device rather than as an individual character and that her role was to provide Mario with a reason to exist. Feminist organization Sister Namibia was critical of the fact that Peach always needed to be rescued by reasoning that "it propagates that women are helpless and in constant need of saving" and "[she] serves quite literally as a trophy for the completion of Mario's quest. She is ultimately just another object or reward for Mario to use". Mike Fahey of Kotaku created

5542-446: A princess". He explained that she was designed to convey an image of strength, rather than being protected by Mario, due to many Nintendo developers being used to a matriarchal figure at home. Miyamoto said that Peach's name came from associating princesses with girls, and when thinking about girls, he would think of pink. In Japan, Peach's name has always been Princess Peach ( ピーチ姫 , Pīchi-Hime , Princess Peach) since her debut in

5705-406: A quest to rescue them with the help of her talking umbrella, Perry. During the game, she must navigate levels, release captured Toads, and finally face Bowser. In gameplay, she can stomp on enemies and attack them using Perry in various ways. Peach's health is measured with a heart meter. She also has a Vibe meter, which governs her four emotions, joy, gloom, rage, and calm. Each emotion power provides

5868-585: A quest to save Peach after both she and her paper version are kidnapped by Bowser. She is also set to appear in the upcoming Mario & Luigi: Brothership (2024). Peach is the protagonist and playable character of Super Princess Peach (2005), a platform game with mechanics similar to Super Mario games. Set on Vibe Island, the game begins with Bowser using the Vibe Scepter to capture Mario and Luigi, resulting in Princess Peach embarking on

6031-507: A sequel to Super Mario Galaxy with a 3D platformer on the Wii titled Super Mario Galaxy 2 . Like its predecessor, the game centers on Princess Peach being abducted by Bowser, requiring Mario to travel through various worlds to save her. The Nintendo 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land (2011) begins with Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach at the outset. The player controls Mario as he navigates through eight worlds to rescue her, with each ending in

6194-571: 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

6357-679: A shield, jumping upwards and using her parasol to float down, and her final smash, Peach Blossom. Peach is one of several playable Mario characters that appears alongside characters from the Dragon Quest series in Itadaki Street DS , a Monopoly -style board game published by Square Enix . In May 2016, a Super Mario Mash Up Pack released as downloadable content for the Wii U edition of Minecraft featured Peach as one of 12 skins used as playable Nintendo characters. Peach's Castle

6520-470: A shift in design. Later 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie , Spyro the Dragon , and Donkey Kong 64 borrowed its format, and the "collect-a-thon" genre began to form. In order to make this free-roaming model work, developers had to program dynamic, intelligent cameras. A free camera made it harder for players to judge the height and distance of platforms, making jumping puzzles more difficult. Some of

6683-406: A side-scrolling action game some platform elements: jumping between vines, jumping or running beneath bouncing boulders. It was quickly re-released as Jungle Hunt because of similarities to Tarzan . The 1982 Apple II game Track Attack includes a scrolling platform level where the character runs and leaps along the top of a moving train. The character is little more than a stick figure , but

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 - Misplaced Pages Continue

6846-725: A teenager with a rebellious personality to appeal to gamers who saw the previous generation of consoles as being for kids. The character's speed showed off the hardware capabilities of the Genesis, which had a CPU clock speed approximately double that of the Super NES. Sonic 's perceived rebellious attitude became a model for game mascots. Other companies attempted to duplicate Sega's success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms with attitude. These often were characterized by impatience, sarcasm, and frequent quips. A second generation of platformers for computers appeared alongside

7009-517: A turning point for the character, but ended up as "an average platformer with a questionable central mechanic" by focusing on her "getting emotional". In his review of Super Princess Peach , Mark Bozon of IGN thought that Peach's emotion powers and use of coins to shop were "borderline insulting" and seemed like "a girls game made by guys". Mike Sholars of Kotaku felt that the introduction of Rosalina in Super Mario Galaxy impacted

7172-402: A unique ability; joy powers her to float in a cyclone, gloom creates floods of tears, rage engulfs her in flames, and calm restores her health. Peach appears in two turn-based crossover games between the Mario and Ubisoft 's Rabbids franchises. In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle , the player begins with three characters, one of which is Rabbid Peach , a Rabbid version of Peach, who has

7335-521: A variant named Dr. Peach was introduced as one of ten playable characters in the mobile puzzle game Dr. Mario World . Her special skill cleared a row of objects when her skill meter was full. Another variant named Dr. Fire Peach was later added in 2020. Peach stars in the Nintendo Switch game Princess Peach: Showtime! , which was released March 22, 2024. With a focus on a theatrical theme, it centers around Peach saving Sparkle Theatre from

7498-406: A worldwide scale." SyFy also described Peach as one of the "greatest video game heroines of all time" for being a tough female character that "embraces the power of being a high femme". Alyse Knorr, writer for Kotaku , noted that Peach is one of many examples of the damsel in distress trope that recurs throughout history, commenting that she is such a damsel cliché that she mainly existed as

7661-529: A worthy successor to the first two Super Mario Land titles. Pocket Gamer awarded the Virtual Console re-release a 9 out of 10. Nintendo Life similarly awarded the game 9 out of 10, praising the game as one of the best platforming games for the Game Boy system. Wario Land , the sequel to Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins , was designed to promote Wario to a starring role and expand

7824-592: Is a playable character in the fighting game series Super Smash Bros. and has appeared in every game since being introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee . Upon her debut in Melee , her moveset included the ability to float in the air and throw turnips at opponents. Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduced her final smash, Peach Blossom, which causes opponents to fall asleep and take damage. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , her fighting moves include using Toad as

7987-409: Is based on the main theme of Wario Land . Platform game The genre started with the 1980 arcade video game Space Panic , which has ladders but not jumping. Donkey Kong , released in 1981, established a template for what were initially called "climbing games". Donkey Kong inspired many clones and games with similar elements, such as Miner 2049er (1982) and Kangaroo (1982), while

8150-452: Is capable of engaging in battle and protecting her subjects without it being at the expense of her femininity. Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly responded positively to Peach's characterization in the film, calling her "a female protagonist for the Rey generation" but also a relatable character for older players. Hope Bellingham, writer of GamesRadar+ , appreciated her active role in

8313-474: Is in a vector game called Major Havoc , which comprises a number of mini-games, including a simple platformer. One of the first raster -based platformers to scroll fluidly in all directions in this manner is 1985's Legend of Kage . In 1985, Enix released the action-adventure platformer Brain Breaker . The following year saw the release of Nintendo's Metroid , which was critically acclaimed for

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8476-401: Is kidnapped by Bowser after inviting Mario and Luigi to her castle for a party, requiring Mario to retrieve seven Star Spirits in order to rescue her. Players can play as Peach in sections of the game as she repeatedly attempts to escape the castle. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004), Peach invites Mario to the town of Rogueport for a treasure hunt, but she is kidnapped and held in

8639-533: Is kidnapped by the main series antagonist, Bowser . In most of the games, her role is to be a captive until she is eventually rescued by Mario. In several multiplayer games of the series, she is a playable character , such as Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Bros. Wonder . Outside the series, she has appeared as the protagonist and player character of several video games, including Princess Toadstool's Castle Run , Super Princess Peach , and Princess Peach: Showtime! . She makes regular appearances as

8802-473: Is kidnapped, Mario and a paint bucket companion named Huey must save the island and Peach. In Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020), Peach and the Toads are folded into origami versions by King Olly, so Mario and friends must fight to restore them. In the role-playing video game series Mario & Luigi , Peach is a recurring character. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003), Bowser recruits Mario and Luigi to help him restore Peach's voice after it

8965-458: Is located in her pavilion. The interactive "Power-Up Bands" feature a design based on her dress. Peach is voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). Her casting, alongside the rest of the principal cast, was announced via a Nintendo Direct in September 2021. In the film, Peach is Mario's guide and romantic interest, having been raised by the Toads from infancy in

9128-440: Is one of 12 team captains that can be selected for play. In Mario Strikers: Battle League (2022) Peach is one of the ten playable characters, each of whom can perform a unique move called a Hyper Strike. Peach's special move involves kicking the ball into a heart-shaped arch and temporarily stunning other characters. Alongside Mario and Sonic, Peach is one of 14 additional playable characters that appear in Mario & Sonic at

9291-470: Is one of four playable characters that appear at the beginning of Mario Golf (1999). She is one of several playable characters appearing in Mario Tennis in 2000. In Mario Golf: Advance Tour (2004), Peach is one of the Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants against which the player competes in story mode. In Mario Superstar Baseball (2005), she has a star move, which gives her the ability to obscure

9454-536: 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

9617-485: Is the princess regnant and head of state of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides in her castle along with Toads . Since her debut, she has appeared in the majority of Mario video games as the main female character and the romantic interest of Mario . She has been voiced by Samantha Kelly since 2007. As the lead female character in the Super Mario series, Peach's role is typically the damsel in distress who

9780-405: Is the only way to undo the chaos caused by Bowser to the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach's relationship with Mario is a central element of the series, yet it remains ambiguous. Although Nintendo describes them as friends, suggestions of a romantic relationship between Peach and Mario recur throughout the series. Peach made her debut as Princess Toadstool in the 1985 platform game Super Mario Bros. on

9943-411: Is used to attack enemies, break through blocks and open hidden treasure chests. There are additionally three unique helmets that Wario can obtain, with their own abilities. The Bull Helmet increases Wario's strength and doubles the length of his shoulder charge attack, allowing him to smash through blocks more easily. It also gives Wario the abilities to stick onto ceilings and perform a "butt stomp" into

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10106-417: Is voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy . Peach has received a mixed reception, with much commentary being critical of her longstanding repetitive role as a princess waiting to be rescued. She has been described by critics as one of the most iconic and influential female video game characters. Princess Peach was preceded as Mario 's romantic interest by a character named Pauline (originally named Lady) that appeared as

10269-527: The Mario Party series since the first Mario Party , which was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. In the first game, she is one of six playable Nintendo characters that can be selected in a party of one to four players. One of the game's 2D board maps is named "Peach's Birthday Cake". Peach appears in the Paper Mario series from the Paper Mario video game (2000). In the first game, she

10432-626: The Atari 2600 , with 256 horizontally connected screens, became one of the best-selling games on the system and was a breakthrough for the genre. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was released on the ColecoVision that same year, adding uneven terrain and scrolling pans between static screens. Manic Miner (1983) and its sequel Jet Set Willy (1984) continued this style of multi-screen levels on home computers . Wanted: Monty Mole won

10595-683: The MSX computer, it was subsequently ported to various platforms the following year, including an arcade video game version, NES , and ColecoVision . 1986 saw the release of the sequel to forward-scrolling platformer Antarctic Adventure called Penguin Adventure , which was designed by Hideo Kojima . It included more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, RPG elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings . In early 1987, Square released 3-D WorldRunner , designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nasir Gebelli . Using

10758-530: The Master System with Alex Kidd in Miracle World . It has horizontal and vertical scrolling levels, the ability to punch enemies and obstacles, and shops for the player to buy power-ups and vehicles. Another Sega series that began that same year is Wonder Boy . The original Wonder Boy in 1986 was inspired more by Pac-Land than Super Mario Bros. , with skateboarding segments that gave

10921-549: The Nintendo DS . The game centers on Princess Peach being kidnapped by Bowser Jr. and Mario traveling through eight worlds to save her. Peach initiates the events of the 2007 Wii game Super Mario Galaxy by asking Mario to come to her castle because there is something she would like to give him. The plot involves Bowser kidnapping Peach and transporting her castle into outer space. Mario's quest requires him to complete levels and collect 60 power stars before he can travel to

11084-446: The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The story involves Bowser (named King Koopa) kidnapping her and hiding her in one of eight dungeons, necessitating Mario and Luigi to find and rescue her. After navigating his way through eight worlds and defeating King Koopa over a pit of lava, Mario receives a "Thank you Mario!" from the princess as a hero's reward. A sequel to the game was released in Japan in 1986 as Super Mario Bros. 2 and

11247-611: The Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, became the archetype for the genre. It was bundled with Nintendo systems in North America, Japan, and Europe, and sold over 40 million copies, according to the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records . Its success as a pack-in led many companies to see platformers as vital to their success, and contributed greatly to popularizing the genre during the third and fourth generations of video game consoles. Sega attempted to emulate this success with their Alex Kidd series, which started in 1986 on

11410-454: The Sega arcade game Congo Bongo (1983) adds a third dimension via isometric graphics . Another popular game of that period, Pitfall! (1982), allows moving left and right through series of non-scrolling screens, expanding the play area. Nintendo 's flagship Super Mario Bros. (1985) was a defining game for the nascent genre, with horizontally scrolling levels and the player controlling

11573-461: The Super Mario series so that it no longer needed to rely on the concept of saving the princess and enabled Peach to be more than a plot device. Bryan Vore of Game Informer praised Super Mario 3D World for being the first game in 25 years of the mainline series since Super Mario Bros. 2 to include Peach as a playable character, saying that it demonstrated Nintendo's willingness to change

11736-459: 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

11899-537: The virtual camera , it had to be constrained to stop it from clipping through the environment. In 1994, a small developer called Exact released a game for the X68000 computer called Geograph Seal , which was a 3D first-person shooter game with platforming. Players piloted a frog-like mech that could jump and then double-jump or triple-jump high into the air as the camera panned down to help players line up their landings. In addition to shooting, jumping on enemies

12062-492: The 13th best Game Boy game and called it the most successful spin-off from the Mario series. In the United Kingdom, it was the top-selling Game Boy game for three months in 1994 , from May to July. GamePro named it the best Game Boy game at the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show , praising the new power-ups and the multiple endings. In their later review, they deemed the game faster, more challenging, and more fun than its hand-held predecessors. They particularly commented that

12225-413: 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 , an evil version of Peach named "Walupeach" was pitched by Shugo Takahashi, co-founder of Camelot Software Planning , but the concept was rejected by Miyamoto before seeing

12388-558: The 2011 version of the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition and GameSpot , which described her as "arguably the most famous woman in video game history". Time named Peach as one of the most influential video game characters of all time, describing her as the "quintessential damsel in distress", but noted that Nintendo had improved her status over time by making her a playable character and introducing her in other game series like Super Smash Bros. Peach

12551-564: The 2013 Wii U video game Super Mario 3D World , Peach was suggested by producer Yoshiaki Koizumi . The game was the first in the mainline series since Super Mario Bros. 2 to feature her as a playable character. Koizumi thought she could offer a more competitive choice in multiplayer. He also hoped that players would be able to play alongside their girlfriends or wives. Peach has the ability to use her gown to float while jumping, allowing her to avoid gaps and other obstacles. She can use power ups that provide various effects and boosts, such as

12714-472: The Dragon Helmet. Players can also collect a Starman to gain temporary invincibility. If Wario takes damage from an opponent or obstacle, he will shrink, losing his shoulder charge move, and will remain small until he collects a clove of garlic, a helmet, or reaches the end of the level. If Wario is hit while small, or is hit by an instant kill obstacle, such as pits or lava, he will lose a life and all

12877-468: The Enchanted Castle , which was only modestly successful. That same year, Capcom released Strider in arcades, which scrolled in multiple directions and allowed the player to summon artificial intelligence partners, such as a droid, tiger, and hawk, to help fight enemies. Another Sega release in 1989 was Shadow Dancer , which is a game that also included an AI partner: a dog who followed

13040-481: The Game Boy's best. The game was the first in the Wario series, which consists of five Wario Land sequels and several related titles. It was one of the best-selling Game Boy games of its release year and sold over 5.1 million copies worldwide to date. Wario Land was re-released on the 3DS 's Virtual Console in 2011 in Japan and 2012 in North America and Europe. Wario Land features gameplay markedly different from

13203-596: The GameCube versions of the Electronic Arts games NBA Street V3 and SSX on Tour . In 1986, a Japanese anime film was produced titled Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! . Written by Hideo Takayashiki and directed by Masami Hata, it was based on the events of the first Super Mario Bros. video game. The story involves Princess Peach escaping from the video game world into Mario's world before being captured and pulled back to

13366-480: The Hedgehog into 3D. Their project, titled Sonic Xtreme , was to have featured a radically different approach for the series, with an exaggerated fisheye camera and multidirectional gameplay reminiscent of Bug! . Due in part to conflicts with Sega Enterprises in Japan and a rushed schedule, the game never made it to market. In the 1990s, platforming games started to shift from pseudo-3D to "true 3D," which gave

13529-568: The Mario universe. Wario Land spawned five popular sequels: Virtual Boy Wario Land , Wario Land II , Wario Land 3 , Wario Land 4 , and Wario Land: Shake It! . Other Wario titles have been released following the success of Wario Land , including Wario World , Wario: Master of Disguise , and the WarioWare Inc. series . Several Mario spin-off titles have referenced the original Wario Land . In Mario's Super Picross , Bull Wario, Dragon Wario, and Small Wario appear in

13692-499: The Mushroom Kingdom by King Koopa. Mario and Luigi are lured into the Mushroom Kingdom by a dog in order to save her. In September 1989, Peach appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! , a cartoon series by DiC that only aired for one season. In this incarnation, she is referred to as Princess Toadstool and is a redhead. She is voiced by Jeannie Elias in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and Tracey Moore in

13855-440: 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 repeatedly been

14018-419: The Mushroom Kingdom. Director Aaron Horvath said that Luigi became the victim Mario must save, to substitute Peach's traditional role in video games as the damsel in distress , so she can remain a strong monarch and protector of the Toads. Taylor-Joy said that she was concerned before taking the role, but that her portrayal of Peach as a strong, capable leader was "the way she was supposed to be". A song from

14181-697: The Olympic Games (2007). In the baseball game Mario Super Sluggers (2008), Peach is one of the main characters that can be chosen for the player's team once before disappearing, unlike secondary characters who can be selected multiple times. As well as being a playable character in Mario Golf: World Tour (2014), Peach also has a course named "Peach's Playground". She performs a special move in Mario Tennis Aces (2018), which involves spinning and leaping and finishing with

14344-529: The World Tour mode involves Peach being kidnapped by Bowser. After she is unlocked, Peach can use her floaty jump ability during gameplay. Peach begins the Nintendo Switch game Super Mario Odyssey (2017) being abducted by Bowser, who wants to marry her. She is confined to Bowser's flying boat, while Mario must travel the world to rescue her. At the end of the game, Bowser and Mario compete for Peach's affections, but she rejects them both, opting to travel

14507-446: The ability to heal allies and perform a stylish dash, which can kill multiple enemies. After being unlocked at the end of World 2, Peach is also a playable character and carries a short-range shotgun called a boomshot and tosses grenades at enemies. She also has the ability to perform a healing jump to heal allies. Peach and her Rabbid counterpart return along with other Nintendo characters in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope . In 2019,

14670-529: The acrobatics evoke the movement that games such as Prince of Persia would feature. B.C.'s Quest For Tires (1983) put a recognizable character from American comic strips into side-scrolling, jumping gameplay similar to Moon Patrol . The same year, Snokie for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers added uneven terrain to a scrolling platformer. Based on the Saturday morning cartoon rather than

14833-485: The antagonist Grape and her minions, the Sour Bunch. With the help of Stella, the theater's guardian, she can change into various outfits with specific abilities. Her transformations include Swordfighter Peach, Patissier Peach, Kung Fu Peach, Detective Peach, Figure Skater Peach, Mermaid Peach and Mighty Peach. The game is the first to feature Peach as the protagonist since the release of Super Princess Peach . Peach

14996-596: The background of the Wario stage selection screens. Subsequently, in Picross 2 , Wario is depicted wearing his safari helmet that was introduced in this title. Similarly, Wario's Amiibo board map in Mario Party 10 features his safari helmet as a background element. In Mario Kart 7 , Wario's bull transformation appears as a billboard on the Wario Shipyard racetrack. Additionally, the music track of this course

15159-463: The backgrounds were not as cluttered as in the previous games, making the action easier to follow, that the music was less obtrusive, and that the sprites were better detailed. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a unanimous 7 out of 10, criticizing that the game is too easy but praising the new power-ups and strong graphics. Power Unlimited gave the game a review score of 85%, describing it addictive, long and varied, and called it

15322-538: The ball with hearts. Peach is one of seven core characters that is playable in every game in the Mario Strikers series. In the soccer game Super Mario Strikers (2005) she is one of the team captains or strikers. Peach is one of several Mario characters that can be selected to play for a team of three on the basketball court in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (2006). In Mario Strikers Charged (2007), Peach

15485-415: The basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest -heavy games. Another Capcom platformer that year was Bionic Commando , which popularized a grappling hook mechanic that has since appeared in dozens of games, including Earthworm Jim and Tomb Raider . Scrolling platformers went portable in the late 1980s with games such as Super Mario Land , and

15648-463: The cat suit, which gives her the ability to crawl and climb walls like a cat. When Peach gets the Fire Flower power up, she transforms into Fire Peach, where her dress changes from pink to red and white and she can throw fireballs. In the mobile game Super Mario Run (2016), Peach is one of several playable characters and is unlocked following the completion of the World Tour mode. The story of

15811-430: The center of Mushroom Kingdom to save her. The game offers multiplayer for up to four players, featuring Mario, Luigi, and two Toads as playable characters. The game's director, Masataka Takemoto, explained that Princess Peach was not included as a playable character because he wanted all of the characters to have the same moves as Mario, and Peach was not well suited for that. Although not initially planned to appear in

15974-526: The center of the universe to rescue the princess. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) was the first 2D side-scrolling platform game in the series to introduce multiplayer, with up to four players choosing to play as Mario, Luigi, or two Toad variations. Miyamoto said that Peach was not included as a playable character because her skirt would require special programming. The game opens with the princess being kidnapped by Bowser and his minions, necessitating Mario and Luigi to rescue her. In 2010, Nintendo released

16137-653: The coins he had collected in that level. Unlike the Super Mario series, in which coins are typically used to earn extra lives, coins in this game are instead used as currency. They can be earned by collecting them, finding them in blocks, or shoulder charging enemies. If Wario has acquired 10 or more coins in a level, he can pull out a 10-coin piece, which he can throw at enemies, and pick up again if desired. They can also be spent to open level exits, or activate checkpoints . Extra lives are earned by collecting heart points, which are earned by defeating enemies or collecting Hearts, with an extra life earned for every 100 points. At

16300-609: The console as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, along with Super Mario World , while Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis . Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware: large stages that scrolled in all directions, curved hills, loops, and a physics system allowing players to rush through its levels with well-placed jumps and rolls. Sega characterized Sonic as

16463-421: The criteria of a platformer, and was billed as an action adventure . It used true 3D characters and set pieces, but its environments were rendered using a rigid engine similar to the one used by Wolfenstein 3D , in that it could only render square, flat corridors, rather than suspended platforms that could be jumped between. Sega had tasked their American studio, Sega Technical Institute , with bringing Sonic

16626-470: The damsel in distress of the main series, typically appearing at the end of the game to reward Mario after successfully rescuing her. She is a playable character in various spin-off games and has wielded several weapons, including a frying pan and a parasol. She also demonstrates magical power, such as the ability to heal in Super Mario RPG . In the first Super Mario Bros. game, her white magic

16789-457: The design, saying that it would be "just like Doronjo" from the Yatterman anime series. The design was pitched again by Waluigi's creator, Fumihide Aoki, for the 2004 video game Mario Power Tennis , but was rejected by Nintendo. Reflecting on Peach's role within the franchise, Miyamoto said that although Nintendo had intentionally kept her as a damsel in distress who is saved by Mario in

16952-419: The earlier Clockwork Knight . The game plays very similarly to 2D platformers, but lets players walk up walls and on ceilings. In 1995, Delphine Software released a 3D sequel to their 2D platformer Flashback . Entitled Fade to Black , it was the first attempt to bring a popular 2D platformer series into 3D. While it retained the puzzle-oriented level design style and step-based control, it did not meet

17115-431: The end of each level, the player can choose to either gamble the coins they have collected in the level in a game of chance, or spend them to try and earn heart points. Certain levels contain a locked treasure room, each of which contains a unique treasure. To acquire the treasure, the player must find the key in the level, carry it to the treasure room (Wario cannot use helmet abilities or the shoulder charge while carrying

17278-477: The end of the game, he must finally face Bowser and save the princess. After Bowser is defeated, the princess emerges from the stained-glass window that adorns the castle, having been captive within its walls. In the GameCube title Super Mario Sunshine (2002), Mario, Peach, and some Toads take a holiday to Isle Delfino. Upon arrival, they find the tropical paradise is being polluted with paint by Shadow Mario,

17441-611: The film, which was titled " Peaches " and written and performed by Bowser voice actor Jack Black , was released in April 2023. 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,

17604-477: The final amount of coins he is given: Wario can get (from best to worst outcome) a castle, a Chinese pagoda, a log cabin, a treehouse, or a tiny birdhouse. If the player collects all the treasures and has enough coins to reach the 99,999 limit, the genie will give Wario an entire planet with his face etched on its surface. Originally released for the Game Boy on January 21, 1994, in Japan and from March 13 to May 13 in North America and Europe after being delayed from

17767-521: The first award for Best Platform game in 1984 from Crash magazine. Later that same year, Epyx released Impossible Mission , and Parker Brothers released Montezuma's Revenge , which further expanded on the exploration aspect. The first platformer to use scrolling graphics came years before the genre became popular. Jump Bug is a platform-shooter developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei/Coreland and released to arcades in 1981, only five months after Donkey Kong . Players control

17930-541: The foreground and background, and the camera panning and curving around corners. Meanwhile, Pandemonium and Klonoa brought the 2.5D style to the PlayStation . In a break from the past, the Nintendo 64 had the fewest side scrolling platformers with only four; Yoshi's Story , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards , Goemon's Great Adventure , and Mischief Makers —and most met with a tepid response from critics at

18093-492: The formula. Chris Suellentrop, writer for The New York Times , opined that Super Mario Run was not a family-friendly game due to its "stale, retrograde gender stereotypes" and said that Nintendo had failed to update Super Mario for a contemporary audience by beginning the game with Princess Peach being a hostage. Sam Loveridge of GamesRadar+ felt that in Super Mario Odyssey , Nintendo "was playing him from

18256-470: The game a greater sense of speed than other platformers at the time, while its sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster Land added action-adventure and role-playing elements. Wonder Boy in turn inspired games such as Adventure Island , Dynastic Hero , Popful Mail , and Shantae . One of the first platformers to scroll in all four directions freely and follow the on-screen character's movement

18419-499: The game made her a "girl with some agency" and thought that her future was "no longer doomed with dead-end kidnapping" but now had limitless potential. Los Angeles Times ' writer, Tracy Brown, said that Peach started out as an unappealing character due to being simply a princess waiting to be rescued but was given more personality in later games. She further remarked that The Super Mario Bros. Movie incarnation had subverted her characteristics by depicting an empowered ruler who

18582-613: The game, she had the unique ability to float over obstacles. The game was made from a preexisting Japanese game named Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic to repurpose it for a Western audience, thus, Princess Toadstool was used in place of Lina, one of the characters in the Japanese version. In the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988), Mario embarks on a quest to rescue seven kings from Bowser's Koopalings , but eventually discovers that Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser. After Mario's quest to rescue

18745-498: The gameplay from its precursor but traded the frog-like mech for a cartoony rabbit mech called Robbit. The title was successful enough to get two sequels and is remembered for being the first 3D platformer on a console. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer said Jumping Flash was perhaps "one of the most important ancestors of every 3D platformer in the following decade." It holds the record of "First platform videogame in true 3D" according to Guinness World Records . Another early 3D platformer

18908-508: The games, they had wanted to develop her into a more powerful princess in The Super Mario Bros. Movie . He said that Peach was one of the characters in the film that evolved the most, as her role was changed from a princess that needs to be protected to one who fights for Toad . After the release of the film in 2023, Peach's appearance was updated on the box art for Princess Peach: Showtime! to make her appear more angry and determined like her movie counterpart. Peach's initial appearance

19071-419: The genre are walking, running, jumping, attacking, and climbing. Jumping is central to the genre, though there are exceptions such as Nintendo 's Popeye and Data East 's BurgerTime , both from 1982. In some games, such as Donkey Kong , the trajectory of a jump is fixed, while in others it can be altered mid-air. Falling may cause damage or death. Many platformers contain environmental obstacles which kill

19234-471: The genre as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games. "Climbing games" was used in Steve Bloom's 1982 book Video Invaders and 1983 magazines Electronic Games (US)—which ran a cover feature called "The Player's Guide to Climbing Games"—and TV Gamer (UK). Bloom defined "climbing games" as titles where the player "must climb from the bottom of the screen to the top while avoiding and/or destroying

19397-457: The genre continued to maintain its popularity, with many games released for the handheld Game Boy and Game Gear systems. By the time the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 launched, platformers were the most popular genre in console gaming. There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a system, featuring a mascot character. In 1989, Sega released Alex Kidd in

19560-412: The genre. A modern variant of the platform game, especially significant on mobile platforms, is the endless runner , where the main character is always moving forward and the player must dodge or jump to avoid falling or hitting obstacles. Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established game in the genre, Donkey Kong (1981). Shigeru Miyamoto originally called it

19723-438: The ground, which stuns nearby enemies and breaks through blocks underneath him. The Jet Helmet increases Wario's running speed and lets him fly in purely horizontal directions in the air, as well as to shoulder charge underwater. Finally, the Dragon Helmet lets Wario shoot long-ranged bursts of flames both on land and underwater, which destroy enemies and blocks on contact. This attack replaces his shoulder charge so long as he wears

19886-429: The key), break open the treasure chest, take the treasure, and finish the level. Upon finishing the game, each treasure the player has acquired is traded in for a set amount of coins. Even the least valuable treasure is worth roughly as many coins as the player would normally acquire over the entire game. The game's ending varies according to how many total coins the player has. After being ejected from Mario 's castle in

20049-454: The levels were open and had objectives. Completing objectives earned the player stars, and stars were used to unlock more levels. This approach allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for exploration, but it meant less jumping and more action-adventure . Even so, a handful of boss levels offered more traditional platforming. Until then there was no settled way to make 3D platformers, but Super Mario 64 inspired

20212-489: The maze game, Namco's 1984 Pac-Land is a bidirectional, horizontally-scrolling, arcade video game with walking, running, jumping, springboards, power-ups , and a series of unique levels. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani described the game as "the pioneer of action games with horizontally running background." According to Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto described Pac-Land as an influence on the development of Super Mario Bros. . Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. , released for

20375-399: The medium" and hoped that the movie would finally transform her image in the public consciousness. Logan Plant of IGN described Peach as "one of Nintendo's most iconic characters" and felt that Nintendo was finally giving her the attention she deserved in film and video games. Peach has been described as one of the greatest video game characters by game websites and publications, including

20538-405: The more linear 3D platformers like Tork: Prehistoric Punk and Wario World used scripted cameras that limited player control. Games with more open environments like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie used intelligent cameras that followed the player's movements. Still, when the view was obstructed or not facing what the player needed to see, these intelligent cameras needed to be adjusted by

20701-534: The new wave of consoles. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Amiga was a strong gaming platform with its custom video hardware and sound hardware . The Atari ST was solidly supported as well. Games like Shadow of the Beast and Turrican showed that computer platformers could rival their console contemporaries. Prince of Persia , originally a late release for the 8-bit Apple II in 1989, featured

20864-511: The obstacles and foes you invariably meet along the way." Under this definition, he listed Space Panic (1980), Donkey Kong , and despite the top down perspective, Frogger (1981) as climbing games. In a December 1982 Creative Computing review of the Apple II game Beer Run , the reviewer used a different term: "I'm going to call this a ladder game, as in the 'ladder genre,' which includes Apple Panic and Donkey Kong ." That label

21027-566: The original Super Mario Bros. in 1985. However, she was localized as "Princess Toadstool" in the English-language manual. The English version of Yoshi's Safari , released in 1993, contained the first usage of the name "Peach" in the Western world, though she was called Princess Toadstool in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 , released in 1994. In Super Mario 64 , released in 1996, she uses both names in

21190-408: The platform-action game, Valis , which contained anime -style cut scenes . In 1987, Capcom 's Mega Man introduced non-linear level progression where the player is able to choose the order in which they complete levels. This was a stark contrast to both linear games like Super Mario Bros. and open-world games like Metroid . GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as

21353-561: The player around and aid in battle. In 1990, Hudson Soft released Bonk's Adventure , with a protagonist positioned as NEC 's mascot. The following year, Takeru's Cocoron , a late platformer for the Famicom allowed players to build a character from a toy box filled with spare parts. In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, along with the eagerly anticipated Super Mario World . The following year, Nintendo released

21516-405: The player more control over the character and the camera. To render a 3D environment from any angle the user chose, the graphics hardware had to be sufficiently powerful, and the art and rendering model of the game had to be viewable from every angle. The improvement in graphics technology allowed publishers to make such games but introduced several new issues. For example, if the player could control

21679-481: The player to maneuver their character across platforms to reach a goal while confronting enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way. These games are either presented from the side view, using two-dimensional movement, or in 3D with the camera placed either behind the main character or in isometric perspective . Typical platforming gameplay tends to be very dynamic and challenges a player's reflexes, timing, and dexterity with controls. The most common movement options in

21842-498: The player's character upon contact, such as lava pits or bottomless chasms. The player may be able to collect items and power-ups and give the main character new abilities for overcoming adversities. Most games of this genre consist of multiple levels of increasing difficulty that may be interleaved by boss encounters, where the character has to defeat a particularly dangerous enemy to progress. Simple logical puzzles to resolve and skill trials to overcome are other common elements in

22005-993: The player. In the 1990s, RPGs , first-person shooters , and more complex action-adventure games captured significant market share. Even so, the platformer thrived. Tomb Raider became one of the bestselling series on the PlayStation , along with Insomniac Games ' Spyro and Naughty Dog 's Crash Bandicoot , one of the few 3D games to stick with linear levels. Moreover, many of the Nintendo 64 's bestsellers were first- and second-party platformers like Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie , and Donkey Kong 64 . On Windows and Mac , Pangea Software 's Bugdom series and BioWare 's MDK2 proved successful. Several developers who found success with 3D platformers began experimenting with titles that, despite their cartoon art style, were aimed at adults. Examples include Rare 's Conker's Bad Fur Day , Crystal Dynamics 's Gex: Deep Cover Gecko and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , and Shiny Entertainment 's Messiah . In 1998, Sega produced

22168-472: The previous game , Wario resolves to get his own castle, one even bigger and more impressive than Mario's. To fund this extravagant dream, he travels to Kitchen Island, where the Brown Sugar Pirates have hidden many treasures and coins, including a golden statue of Princess Peach , stolen from the Mushroom Kingdom . Wario intends to retrieve this statue and sell it back to Mario for the price of

22331-408: The previous game. The player traverses themed zones consisting of levels, each of which scattered with collectible coins which can be used to purchase items that aid the player in progressing through stages. Wario Land received positive reviews from critics, lauding its length and aesthetic quality, though reviewers were mixed on the game's difficulty. Retrospective reviewers have listed it as one of

22494-465: The previous two games in the Super Mario Land series. The game takes place on a route through several themed areas, which are split into several courses, culminating in a boss fight. Wario is able to jump on or bump into enemies to knock them over. Enemies thus stunned can be picked up and thrown at other enemies. When in his grown form, Wario is also able to perform a shoulder charge, which

22657-448: The princess from Bowser. The princess is again the victim of Bowser in the 3D platform game Super Mario 64 (1996), released on the Nintendo 64 . The game begins with Mario receiving a letter from "Princess Toadstool, Peach" asking him to come to her castle as she has baked a cake for him. Peach's Castle acts as a hub world and contains paintings that Mario can use to enter various worlds to complete challenges in order to win stars. At

22820-537: The princess is complete, she rewards him with a joke and a dismissive "Bye bye". Princess Toadstool returned as the kidnapped princess on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in Super Mario World (1990), which places Mario in a location called Dinosaur Land. Mario embarks on a quest that involves navigating through several locations to save Dinosaur Land from the Koopalings before rescuing

22983-532: 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,

23146-476: The repeated failure to find the princess in the first Super Mario Bros. game as one of the most memorable moments in gaming history, stating that reaching the end of a world and being told by a Toad, "But our princess is in another castle!" was a "method of torture" that forced the player to face another round of platforming. Peter Tieryas, writer of Kotaku , considered Peach to be the best character in Super Mario Bros. 2 and emphasized that her floating ability

23309-441: The start" by beginning the game with Peach being abducted by Bowser and ending it with a scene in which she rejects the romantic advances of both Bowser and Mario. He commented that Peach "shrugs off all those years of being the damsel in distress to forge her own path in the world as a single woman" and that in doing so Nintendo was clearly recognizing its female fanbase. Rebekah Valentine of IGN said that Princess Peach: Showtime!

23472-569: The story, describing her as "the brains behind the operation", even though Mario has the starring role. By contrast, Julia Glassman of The Mary Sue considered her film incarnation to be a common sexist trope where the badass female character must step aside for an average male by supporting and training him rather than taking the lead. Gene Park, writer of The Washington Post , felt that Peach had been empowered long before her movie incarnation due to being "the most visible woman in video games, having appeared in more titles than any fictional woman in

23635-479: The team. In gameplay, she can use defensive and healing moves or attack with a weapon, such as a frying pan or parasol. The game begins with the princess being kidnapped by Bowser, resulting in Mario setting off to rescue her. Although she was named Princess Toadstool in the original game, she was renamed Princess Peach in the 2023 remake released on the Nintendo Switch. She has been a staple character of

23798-489: The time. Despite this, Yoshi's Story sold over a million copies in the US, and Mischief Makers rode high on the charts in the months following its release. The term 3D platformer usually refers to games with gameplay in three dimensions and polygonal 3D graphics. Games that have 3D gameplay but 2D graphics are usually included under the umbrella of isometric platformers , while those that have 3D graphics but gameplay on

23961-490: The two follow up series The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World . Throughout 1992, Peach (named Princess Toadstool) appeared in a comic titled Super Mario Adventures , which was serialized in Nintendo Power . The plot involves Bowser proposing marriage to her and threatening to turn her subjects to stone if she refuses. After Mario is turned to stone, she and her troops pursue Bowser down

24124-437: The video game industry internationally. The following year, Donkey Kong received a sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. and later Mario Bros. , a platformer with two-player cooperative play . It laid the groundwork for other two-player cooperative games such as Fairyland Story and Bubble Bobble . Beginning in 1982, transitional games emerged with non-scrolling levels spanning multiple screens. David Crane's Pitfall! for

24287-526: The villain Fawful tricks Bowser into eating a type of mushroom that causes him to inhale the Mushroom Kingdom, forcing the brothers to save Peach after being trapped inside Bowser's body. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013), Mario and Luigi must work with a character named Prince Dreambert to save Peach after she is sucked through a portal into the dreamworld while staying on Pi'illo Island. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015) follows Mario and Luigi on

24450-455: The visual flash of 3D with traditional 2D side scrolling gameplay. These games are often referred to as 2.5D. The first such game was Saturn launch title , Clockwork Knight (1994). The game featured levels and boss characters rendered in 3D, but retained 2D gameplay and used pre-rendered 2D sprites for regular characters, similar to Donkey Kong Country . Its sequel improved upon its design, featuring some 3D effects such as hopping between

24613-511: The world on her own. In addition to her wedding dress, Peach wears a variety of outfits on her travels. Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) includes a story mode that tasks Mario with reconstructing Princess Peach's castle. By working through 100 courses, he can collect coins to pay for the construction of parts of the castle. When the castle is complete Princess Peach allocates jobs via the Taskmaster, which unlocks wearable Mii outfits, including

24776-413: Was Floating Runner , developed by a Japanese company called Xing and released for PlayStation in early 1996, before the release of Super Mario 64 . Floating Runner uses D-pad controls and a behind-the-character camera perspective. In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 , which is a game that set the standard for 3D platformers. It let the player explore 3D environments with greater freedom than

24939-453: Was a primary way to attack. This was the first true 3D platform-action game with free-roaming environments, but it was never ported to another platform or released outside Japan, so it remains relatively unknown in the West. The following year, Exact released their follow-up to Geograph Seal . An early title for Sony's new PlayStation console, Jumping Flash! , released in April 1995, kept

25102-561: Was also recreated as a location in the game. Peach has also made cameo appearances in non- Mario games. She is depicted in a painting in Hyrule Castle in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time . In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening , a character named Christine sends her picture to a letter writer named Mr. Write, but it is a portrait of Princess Peach. She features as a playable guest character alongside Mario and Luigi in

25265-562: Was also used by Video Games Player magazine in 1983 when it named the Coleco port of Donkey Kong "Ladder Game of the Year". Another term used in the late 1980s to 1990s was "character action games", in reference to games such as Super Mario Bros. , Sonic the Hedgehog , and Bubsy . It was also applied more generally to side-scrolling video games , including run and gun video games such as Gunstar Heroes . Platform game became

25428-604: Was cited to be an influence on other video game developers creating strong female protagonists. Tracey John, writing for Time , commented that Peach's repeated abductions had become a running joke and a pop culture reference. In 2018, a short comic "The Super Crown's some spicy new Mario lore" on DeviantArt and Twitter transformed Bowser into a monstrously sinister female resembling Peach that fans named Bowsette , which inspired numerous works of fan art. In May 2021, in an episode of Saturday Night Live , Grimes dressed as Princess Peach, while host Elon Musk starred as Wario in

25591-446: Was drawn by Miyamoto, who later asked Yōichi Kotabe to redraw Peach with his instructions. He had asked Kotabe to draw her eyes to be "a little cat-like" and wanted her to look "stubborn, but a little cute". A strategy guide titled How to Win at Super Mario Bros. , which was published around the time of the first Super Mario Bros. game in 1985, depicted the princess as a human on its cover, but also with an alternative design featuring

25754-412: Was eventually released in North America as part of Super Mario All-Stars in 1993, titled Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels . Like its predecessor, the game involves Mario or Luigi attempting to rescue the princess from Bowser. In 1988, the princess was upgraded to a playable character on the NES with the release of a second sequel titled Super Mario Bros. 2 . As one of four playable characters in

25917-473: Was found in any previous game in the genre. With this in mind, Nintendo put an analog control stick on its Nintendo 64 controller, a feature that had not been seen since the Vectrex but which has since become standard. The analog stick provided the fine precision needed with a free perspective. In most 2D platformers, the player finished a level by following a path to a certain point, but in Super Mario 64 ,

26080-472: Was sucked up into a device by a mystery guest and replaced with speech that converts to explosives. In the second entry, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005), the brothers must save Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom from being conquered by the evil Shroobs by traveling between the past and the present. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009) continues Mario and Luigi's efforts to save Peach after

26243-418: Was the first game to allow players to jump over obstacles and gaps. It is widely considered to be the first platformer. It introduced Mario under the name Jumpman. Donkey Kong was ported to many consoles and computers at the time, notably as the system-selling pack-in game for ColecoVision , and also a handheld version from Coleco in 1982. The game helped cement Nintendo's position as an important name in

26406-491: Was the first of Nintendo's solutions for fine-tuning jumping in platform games. Matt Kamen of Wired appreciated the plot of Super Mario Sunshine for having "a bit more impetus to a game than 'rescue Peach (again)'" and felt that this offered more depth and personality to the characters. Video Games Chronicle ' s Chris Scullion said that Peach's starring role in Super Princess Peach should have been

26569-532: Was the opportunity to see Peach "defined only by herself" rather than by Mario. Following the game's release, Tom Regan of The Guardian found the game to be disappointing and considered it to be "patronising" to its "capable heroine" and a wasted opportunity to celebrate the princess. Conversely, Polygon , IGN and Nintendo Life all responded positively and considered it to be the spotlight she deserved. Ashley Bardhan of Eurogamer said that, rather than casting Peach in her usual role of Bowser's victim,

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