Every Version Of Princess Peach Ranked

Princess Peach deserves a nap. In the past 30-odd years, she's had a minor name change, traveled the galaxy, developed a strange relationship with a plumber named Mario, and been kidnapped approximately 1,000 times. There's no rest for royalty in the Mushroom Kingdom, but somehow Peach doesn't seem to mind.

Peach embodies the kind of optimism most people wish they could have. When Bowser captures her yet again, she finds a way to break free or sneaks messages to the friends she knows are coming to save her. When she gets bored with the royal life, she tries her hand at Olympic sports or a new career in the medical field. Nothing slows her down.

That's not to say Peach is always ... peachy. She's done some terrible things in her time, but she always finds a new way to approach the future with a smile on her face. There have been great representations of Princess Peach (sometimes known as Princess Toadstool), and there have been some less great ones, too. For the love of Peach, we've ranked all of her appearances from worst to best.

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" may have been many fans' first experience seeing Mario and his friends outside of a video game, but old school "Mario" players have been here before. While Peach was bizarrely absent in the original "Super Mario Bros." movie, she made regular appearances in "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show," a cartoon produced by DiC Entertainment in 1989.

"Super Show" opened every episode with a live-action segment following Mario and Luigi just being goofy plumbers before switching over to cartoon storylines featuring more characters from the games. Back then Princess Peach went by Princess Toadstool, and she regularly found her life turned upside down by King Koopa, later known as Bowser. This version of Peach, and everything else about the show, is sure to trigger some intense nostalgia for anyone who used to tune in on a weekly basis. For everyone else, the strange style and simplified storylines might feel more than a bit dated.

Believe it or not, there's been an ongoing manga series focusing on the adventures of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach for the past 30 years. "Super Mario-kun" first debuted in 1990, and there have been more than 50 volumes of the series released so far.

Many of the manga arcs follow the general outline of various "Mario" games, which means that Peach finds herself forced to the sidelines more often than not. She gets kidnapped over and over again, and Bowser's quest to capture her often leads to destruction and chaos raining down on Peach's kingdom. Luckily, Mario and Luigi are always able to step in and save the day.

"Super Mario-kun" typically favors a version of Peach that is more of a plot device than real character. The series doesn't push the envelope in any real way, but thanks to the pure amount of content it has to offer, there's hardly a better place to see the details of Peach's life in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"New Super Mario Bros." reinvigorated the classic series with a 2.5D art style and a slew of new worlds to explore, power-ups to try out, and challenges to tackle. The series began in 2006 on the Nintendo DS, but it inspired iterations and sequels that spanned the 3DS, Wii, and Wii U. It didn't dramatically reimagine the "Super Mario Bros." franchise, but it updated many aspects of the game in fun ways.

What it didn't do was improve on Princess Peach's characterization. Though she'd become a playable character in "Super Mario Bros." games well before 2006, the new series once again relegated Peach to a damsel-in-distress role. Mario and Luigi got to step up and be the heroes, while Peach got dragged from one castle to another by Bowser. It's hard to fault the series for making that decision, considering this was a revamp of the older games and the need to rescue Peach has been a primary motivation for the entire franchise. Still, this outing felt like a backwards step for the princess.

Explosive voices and time travel are just a couple of the wilder subjects explored by the "Mario & Luigi" games. The series kicks off with "Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga," an RPG that ever so slightly remixes Princess Peach's classic role in the "Mario" franchise. In that game, a pair of villains called Cackletta and Fawful steal Peach's voice, and now the sound of her replacement voice causes massive explosions. Bowser is so concerned with Peach's new ability that he actually teams up with the Mario Bros. to help get her regular voice back.

The brothers are always the main heroes of the story, but the series never stops finding novel ways to present Princess Peach. In "Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time," some reality-bending shenanigans introduce Baby Peach to the mix. When it comes to sheer inventiveness, the version of Peach seen in this series deserves some major kudos.

We can't talk for too long about games that give Princess Peach a chance to shine without touching on the "Mario Kart" series. Just like "Mario Party," this franchise puts Peach on equal footing with all the other "Mario" characters and allows her to compete for the top spot, rather than a situation in which everyone races to rescue her. Depending on the power-ups Peach gets during a race, she might actually end up ruining Mario's day more than Bowser ever did.

"Mario Kart" also gives Peach a chance to show off her sense of style. Every game gives her the opportunity to flaunt a new kart and display her latest racing outfit. Some of the games even dedicate entire courses to the princess. "Mario Kart 64" introduced the Royal Raceway, which was renamed the Peach Circuit in later games. After all Peach has been through, that's the least she deserves.

"Paper Mario: The Origami King" debuted on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 and brought fans back to the beloved "Paper Mario" franchise in style. In the game's story, Peach falls under a spell cast by the evil King Olly. The spell not only transforms Peach into an origami version of herself, but also alters her mind and makes her a creepy puppet under King Olly's control.

Mario naturally steps in to save the day, and with the help of a few other characters manages to put an end to King Olly's evil plan and return Peach back to her normal, paper self. "The Origami King" gave us one of the most unique Princess Peach designs to date, but sadly it didn't do much to set her apart in terms of personality. An evil, mind-controlled Peach could have been a fantastic secondary antagonist, but Peach is once again just shuffled into the damsel in distress role.

"Paper Mario" has been delighting fans for decades, but there's one more version of Princess Peach introduced in the mini-franchise that we need to address. 2004's "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door" transformed Peach – literally – into an antagonist battling against Mario.

In the game Peach is kidnapped yet again, this time by an evil mastermind named Sir Grodus. Because this is "Paper Mario" Peach, she's not content to just sit around and wait for Mario to rescue her. She tries to escape on her own and ends up playing right into Sir Grodus's plan to resurrect the Shadow Queen.

Sir Grodus orchestrates the game's events so that Peach's body can be used as a vessel for the Shadow Queen's return to the Mushroom Kingdom. In the final chapter of the game, the Shadow Queen rises in Peach's body, and Mario has to fight her head-on. By the end, Peach is returned to normal, but her brief time as a villain has opened new doors that some future "Mario" game could (and should) explore.

What does Princess Peach do in her downtime? Well, 1990's "Super Mario World" tried to show us, but it turns out that Peach can't even go on vacation without having to deal with Bowser. At the beginning of the game, Peach, Mario, and Luigi are hanging out in Dinosaur Land (which sounds like it might not have been the best choice for a relaxing vacation in the first place), when Bowser shows up and kidnaps her.

Luckily for Peach, the Mario Bros. are prepared to jump into action, and they manage to free the princess yet again with some assistance from Yoshi. She kisses her rescuer on the cheek, and all of them return to Yoshi's house to watch some dino eggs hatching. When the game was re-released on the GameBoy Advance, one additional cutscene showed us Peach's idea of a good time: riding Yoshi on the way to a picnic with the Marios.

All in all, "Super Mario World" gave fans a bit more of Peach's personality by showing her at play for once.

There's one iteration of Princess Peach that not only had a great story, but also caused a minor controversy for "Mario" fans. At first glance, 2002's "Super Mario Sunshine" looks like a fairly formulaic 3D "Mario" game, but it actually broke the mold in a couple of ways.

The game sees Mario, Toadsworth, and Peach heading out for a vacation to Isle Delfino. As they're preparing for the trip, Peach notices some ominous things, like a shadowy figure in a promotional video for the Isle and a similar figure following them to the airport. Peach tries to warn the others about what's going on (showing that she's much more perceptive than them), but they're preoccupied up until Peach is kidnapped by the mysterious Shadow Mario.

Peach is later held captive by Bowser Jr., who claims that Peach is actually his mom. Peach is shocked by the revelation, which is later proven a lie, but she doesn't deny the possibility outright. Her reaction has fueled fan discussion and speculation for years.

As you've no doubt noticed, there are almost too many stories about Princess Peach being kidnapped to count. While some stories show Peach helping Mario save the day, those instances are actually few and far between. Most of the time, Peach is just a damsel in distress — but in at least one story, she's a damsel you really don't want to mess with.

"Super Mario Adventures" was an ongoing story told in the pages of Nintendo Power in 1992. It's unlike any "Mario" story that came before it, because Peach is as much a hero as Mario and Luigi. She gets kidnapped by Bowser, but she forcefully resists his plan to marry her and ends up plotting and succeeding in her own escape. Mario later gets captured himself, and Peach ends up leading an assault on Bowser's castle to free him. This version of Peach is exactly what we'd like to see more of in the franchise.

Mario has arguably been in love with Princess Peach from the very beginning of the "Super Mario Bros." franchise, but Bowser has been in love — or at least obsessed — with her for the same length of time. "Super Mario Odyssey," a sort of spiritual successor to the "Super Mario Galaxy" franchise, saw Mario and Bowser competing for Peach's affections head-on.

To her credit, this is the game in which Peach decides that she's had enough with the both of these guys. After Mario saves Peach from Bowser's forced marriage plan, she turns them both down and decides to travel through the game's many kingdoms on a sightseeing adventure of her very own.

Thanks to the Nintendo Switch's graphics and some stellar art direction, Peach's design in this game is top-notch. The game shows off plenty of great costumes for the character while she explores the kingdoms, but while those are all nice, the best thing to see in this game is Peach getting to take a much-needed vacation without being chased down by anyone.

After decades of winning over the hearts of video game fans, Princess Peach finally landed on the big screen in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." The movie version of Peach shows off plenty of the traits that she's developed in the games over the years: She's the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, usually wears pink, and rocks Peach's biker outfit from "Mario Kart" when it suits her. The movie manages to include just about everything that fans have always loved about Peach, plus it avoids putting her into a position where she needs to be saved by Mario yet again.

The movie also introduced an interesting twist for Peach's character. She reveals that, like Mario, she first came to the Mushroom Kingdom through a Warp Pipe when she was still a baby. This could mean that she's from the same world as Mario, but her origins could also be tied up with a larger story in some other mysterious world. After this glorious introduction, Peach's full backstory is just one of many things we desperately want to see in the sequel film.

Determining which of Princess Peach's innumerable appearances is the best isn't as hard as it might sound. In the decades that Peach has been around, she's only had one opportunity to be the lead protagonist. In 2005, the Nintendo DS gave us "Super Princess Peach" and made Peach the heroic star of her own story.

The story of "Super Princess Peach" is really nothing new: Bowser has a new plan to take on the Mushroom Kingdom. This time, however, it involves capturing the people who've ruined all his other evil plans. With Mario and Luigi held captive, the responsibility for stopping King Koopa lands on Peach's shoulders.

Peach takes on typical "Super Mario" challenges in this game, but she approaches them in her own way. Thanks to the help of a transformable, sentient umbrella called Perry, Peach has access to a wide range of abilities, but she also has her own built-in strengths. She can build up her "Vibe Gauge" to access new superpowers by tapping into four different emotions. The gameplay pleased fans and critics, and the title as a whole gave Peach the leading role she's always deserved.