Princess Peach
Nintendo is most famous for their video game series “Mario World”. These games are played by many children, teenagers, even adults still enjoy their Mario fix from time to time, whether you are male or female, the “Mario World” games appeal to everyone. From the beginning, the plot of these video games is for Mario and Luigi to save Princess Peach who has been captured by an evil character called Bowser. Most of us are familiar with this game, and plot. After recently viewing and playing the game “Super Paper Mario” for Wii, it occurred to me that Princess Peach, was evolving. I was very much impressed by Nintendo’s choice to incorporate Princess Peach as a playable character and not just the damsel in distress, that the male characters are trying to save. I believe it is definitely overdue for Nintendo to portray Princess Peach in a light that allows her to be on equal playing field as Mario and Luigi, especially because Nintendo is such a popular gaming system for children.
I did some further research to find out what other games Princess Peach’s new and improved identity might be showcased and to my delight I found a game centered completely around Princess Peach and her quest to save Mario and Luigi from capture, how progressive! The game is called “Super Princess Peach” and it is for Nintendo DS. Below is an advertisement promoting the game, in which it shows female children in Princess Peach dresses, running through a number of army drills and crawling on the ground in mud. I was incredibly impressed.
However, after reading up on the game some more I realized that just because Nintendo is marketing the game in a way that suggests women are strong, and heroic, their methods in this game to put it lightly are insulting to women. If you have played traditional Mario World, you know that Mario can jump on the heads of his enemy’s and also gets bigger with a “magic mushroom”, can shoot fire when he gets a “flower” and can even fly when gets a “feather”. In actuality Mario’s powers are unlimited and are physical abilities. One would assume that Princess Peach’s powers would be equally significant since she is now the star of this particular DS game, however Nintendo has decided to grant Princess Peach with the powers of….Emotions.
Emotions
Yes, emotions. What is Nintendo trying to say? Females can be hero’s too because they have the ability to cry and somehow that “power” will get you through to the next level? I doubt you’d ever see Mario or Luigi shed any tears to fight off enemies. What interests me the most about this is that their advertising commercial (youtube video) for this game is completely opposite of what the game is actually portraying, which definitely plays into stereotypical views about women and their “emotions”. It is interesting because many people, perhaps parents as an example probably viewed this commercial and thought that it was a great/progressive game for their child, without even knowing how misleading it actually is.
In comparison the Japanese Television Advertisement that aired did not shy away from the fact that Peach uses her emotions in the game as her powers. You can check out that Advertisement here.
While Princess Peach has come great lengths in “Super Paper Mario” for Wii, it’s as if she has taken several giant steps back in “Super Princess Peach” for DS. I find myself wondering if this is an example of art imitating life, I certainly hope not.
Wow. I agree that the difference between that ad and the way you describe the game is huge. Crying, really? (Tom Hanks voice) There’s no crying in video games!
Why do you think the ad agency chose to go the way it did? Was this game developed in the US? What would you tell a daughter who wanted the game?
Haha I love the League of Their Own reference.
After doing a bit of research on the game, I came across the Japanese TV Ad, which is much different then the US TV Ad. In the Japanese Ad, the use of Princess Peaches emotions are showcased as her “powers”. They don’t shy away from the fact that the game is based around her emotions. Here is a link to the ad:
I think perhaps the US decided to take a different route is because they wanted the game to seem progressive even if it wasn’t or at the very least not to seem sexist to it’s American consumers. There is a definite cultural difference between how women are treated in the US as oppose to Japan.
After all Nintendo is a Japanese gaming system, so their cultural influence is embedded in the games whether intentionally or unintentionally.
No other words come to mind other than “OMG!” So do you think the bad guy is just afraid of a woman with her period or is it the cute pouting that helps her get her way? I think it is interesting that she is a strong sidekick, but when giving her own game, she turns into a crying little girl.
The commercial was great. Its so disappointing that it doesn’t follow through. Having such a strong commercial and weak game is actually insulting. It says “OK girls, we will let you think you are tough, but really, we know you will just break down and cry once push comes to shove.”
This is another reason I pray my future children hate video games as much as my husband and I! I don’t know what I would want to teach my kids, that in a girls world crying is OK or in a boy’s world girls can be strong by the side of a boy.
Very interesting. I have actually played Super Paper Mario (the Paper Mario games are some of my favorite Nintendo ever produced) and Peach’s powers quite useful in getting through that game.
I was totally shocked by the DS game though. I think it says something significant (and positive) about our culture’s perception of a woman’s strength that the advertisers would portray something so different from the game in order to promote it in the US.
I agree, I think that if not our own culture view’s (US) about it’s women being strong at the very least other countries (Japan) view our women to be that way. It is intriguing and worthy of further research.
The commercial that you included for this game is so powerful. Seeing those young girls running those drills really makes a statement that the power women can have is the equivalent to a man’s! I do not think that the advertising would have been nearly as effective had they portrayed a group of young girls standing in the middle of a field crying! So really, what we have here is a completely mis-advertised product.
Now, as far as Nintendo making Princess Peach’s skills based on emotion, I don’t know if that is a terrible thing. Women being able to express their emotions is, in some ways, a beneficial ability that we have over men. Maybe Mario or Luigi would have been able to save the princess sooner had they been able to cry a little because they missed her and used some compassion to help find her!
‘Shigeru Miyamoto has been using this same plot for all has mario games for 20 years and we are tired of it. IT IS THE SAME THING EVERY TIME PEACH GETS KIDNAPPED AND MARIO SAVES HER!!! This joke is not funny anymore