The Super Mario franchise recently crossed over with Animal Crossing, and in doing so highlighted the innate hierarchy of Super Mario. At the top, you obviously have Mario, followed closely by Luigi, Peach, and Bowser. These three vie for the coveted silver medal, and there are various games across the franchise in which each of them get to play second fiddle at one point. Narrowly behind that lot is Wario, standing on the third-place podium on his own. That’s probably because of his infamous onion breath. Wario is in Animal Crossing and Smash, he has his own spin-off games, and while Bowser’s constant presence does keep him down a little bit, he’s still given more love from the franchise than the rest of the supporting cast. After this, you’ve got Waluigi, Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi all scrambling over each other for fourth place – as if that’s something worth caring about, you don’t even get a medal. I know it’s a bit of a meme that Waluigi has been consistently disrespected by the Mario franchise, featuring neither in Animal Crossing nor Smash, but I’m not here to talk about him. Instead, I’m out here demanding justice for Princess Daisy.
I discovered the Mario games along the scenic route. I played Super Mario World on an old SNES that belonged to my uncle, but for the most part I bypassed the mainline games. Instead, I came to know Mario through the Mario Party, Mario Kart, and various Mario sports titles, and in those games, there was no real hierarchy. Everyone was invited. Not only the main cast mentioned above, but also the likes of Birdo, Dry Bones, Shy Guy, and even Monty Mole were invited along to join in the fun (cough make up the numbers).
While everyone got invited to the party, I still knew from popular culture and the order the characters were listed in that Peach was numero uno of the Princesses. Daisy then, with her brash, loud voice, bright orange dress, and tomboyish nature, seemed like the alternative, punk choice, so that’s who I typically opted for. I realise now that they’re both a bit bubblegum in their Disney-esque designs, but I saw Princess Daisy as a rebellious Hayley Williams against the more polished Britney Spears archetype of Peach. Am I putting too much of my own headcanon into two nominally developed characters from a party game where you race a turtle’s skeleton to see who can shake up a can of lemonade fastest? Perhaps. But it’s not just through my own made up narrative of Princesses Peach vs Daisy that Daisy reigns supreme. Canonically, she clearly deserves Peach’s place at the top of the tree.
Peach and Daisy are not actually princesses in the same kingdom, but oversee neighbouring kingdoms; that’s why Daisy only appears in mainline games infrequently. Daisy’s kingdom, Sarasaland, appears to have only been successfully invaded once, in Super Mario Land. It has also repelled several attacks from Wario in his spin-off games, while Peach’s Mushroom Kingdom has been attacked and conquered several times… usually by some turtles. Most recently, it was taken over by a folded up piece of paper. Peach is simply far too inept to be considered above Daisy in the Mario hierarchy any longer.
It is true that Peach does save Mario once, in Super Princess Peach, but this doesn’t really tip the scales back in favour. She’s still in the red went it comes to times rescuing against times being rescued. Also, why would Daisy waste her time saving a plumber who clearly only invites her to party’s because his brother has a crush on her? Especially when he never thinks to include her in his actual expeditions, where her experience as an effective kingdom ruler might be of actual value?
Also, while typically Princess Peach is the one kidnapped to kick off Mario’s adventures, Daisy is the one who drives forward the Super Mario Bros live action movie, aka the greatest Mario story ever told. I’m glad Peach is developing more of a personality these days, and while she’s still a bit of a damsel in Super Mario Odyssey, she gains more agency at the end of the game. But Daisy has been doing this for years, booting down the door and demanding her turn in Mario Kart instead of waiting politely like a good little girl.
Princess Daisy is not only a more interesting character, she’s a much better ruler of her kingdom, and deserves to be the top Princess in the Mario canon ahead of Peach. Oh, and they’re clearly gay together too.
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Stacey Henley is an editor for TheGamer, and can often be found journeying to the edge of the Earth, but only in video games. Find her on Twitter @FiveTacey
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