Summary
- Goombella, the first companion in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, made a huge impression with her sassy nature and hilarious interactions.
- Pauline, Mario's original love interest, has returned to the spotlight as the Mayor of New Donk City, showcasing her larger supporting role.
- Princess Peach, the iconic female character, has appeared in the vast majority of Mario media, transitioning from a playable character to a damsel in distress and back again.
The Mario franchise is known for many characters, the franchise being so wide-ranging that even some of the less notable characters have had their own spin-off media and surprisingly large fan bases. However, the franchise has only more recently started to give more focus to the various female characters that have long been major pieces of the series.
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Some of the best characters from the Mario franchise are often left discarded and underrated, with many desiring more appearances.
However, despite the focus coming a little late, there have been over the decades several female characters in the Mario franchise who managed to make their presence known far and wide. From heroines to damsels in distress and everything in between, these are some of the best females in the history of one of the best gaming franchises.
8 Goombella
Number Of Appearances: 2
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- First Appearance: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
A character who hasn’t had many appearances, but made a huge impression, Goombella appeared as the first companion to join Mario in one of the best Mario games of all time. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door gave fans everything they desired in an RPG featuring Mario.
Goombella was the first companion to join Mario in his quest, and she was one of the faces of the game. Her sassy nature and hilarious interactions with other characters made her an instant fan favorite, but unfortunately, she hasn’t made many appearances outside the Paper Mario franchise.
7 Pauline
Number Of Appearances: 12
- First Appearance: Donkey Kong (1981)
It would be remiss to forget about Mario’s original love interest, though she doesn’t appear as frequently in modern games. Introduced as “Lady” or “Beautiful Girl” in Donkey Kong, Pauline was the damsel that Mario attempted to save from Donkey Kong in his original arcade game appearance. While Peach took over the role of Mario’s primary love interest, Pauline has returned more recently.
Appearing again in the Mario vs Donkey Kong franchise as a damsel, Pauline then took on a larger supporting role as the Mayor of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey. This and more recent appearances in games like Mario Kart 8 have given her a new role and returned her to the modern roster of female characters surrounding Mario.
6 Dixie Kong
Number Of Appearances: 16
- First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest
Introduced through mostly Donkey Kong games, but appearing in multiple different Mario games as well, Dixie Kong is known as the girlfriend of Diddy Kong and his partner in many adventures, including her first appearance in Diddy Kong’s Quest, where the two of them work together to try and save Donkey Kong.
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Dixie was the first female Kong to be playable in any game, and she is the most major of the female Kong characters to cross over to Mario games. She has appeared in Super Smash Bros games and various Mario Sports games as well. Known as a light-hearted individual with some sass, Dixie is a lover of adventure and bubblegum.
5 Birdo
Number Of Appearances: 21
- First Appearance: Super Mario Bros 2
First appearing as an enemy in one of the earliest Super Mario Bros games, Birdo has become a beloved favorite with fans. Romantically involved at times with Yoshi, this character is arguably the first transgender video game character, due to a mention of being “a male who thinks he is a girl” in a manual for Super Mario Bros 2.
However, this mention was removed from later editions, and Birdo has been treated as a female character since. Apart from a smaller appearance in Wario’s Woods, Birdo hasn’t appeared in many mainline Mario games since her inception but has been around plenty in spin-off games, with fans loving her design and character every step of the way.
4 Rosalina
Number Of Appearances: 30
- First Appearance: Super Mario Galaxy
The most recently added princess of the franchise, Rosalina is a watcher of the cosmos and the adoptive mother of the Lumas, who appear significantly throughout the Super Mario Galaxy games. Since her addition in the first of that series, she has become a more significant supporting character, as well as a playable one in many games.
Rosalina is a much more maternal figure, being an adoptive mother for an entire race than the other Princesses are usually shown to be in the games. She is known for being wise and kind and seems much more mature than the other princesses. She is playable in many spin-off Mario sport and kart games and has been considered a fan favorite since her inception.
3 Toadette
Number Of Appearances: 52
- First Appearance: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
The character initially known as a “female version of Toad” was first seen in a Mario Kart game, introduced as a racing partner for Toad, and she's a great option as a racer. But she has since taken on a life of her own as a very fun character, appearing in several significant titles and even taking on a main role in spin-off games like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
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Toadette is known as a very creative character with an extremely happy, bouncy style of personality. She moved from Mario Kart character to tutorial helper in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and has progressed through several roles in the mainline series before finally becoming playable in New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe while retaining a playable status over the years in many spin-off games.
2 Princess Daisy
Number Of Appearances: 79
- First Appearance: Super Mario Land
One of the primary female figures in Mario franchise history, Daisy first appeared in Super Mario Land as the ruler of Sarasaland and eventually appeared in Mario Tennis, marking her not only as a playable character but as a popular one who would go on to feature in most spin-off sporting, party and karting games in the series.
Daisy is a beloved character, one who has often been rumored to be with Luigi romantically, and she even made an appearance as a significant character in the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, where Luigi did fall for her. Daisy has a friendly relationship with Peach and is known for being quite a feisty tomboy, who even became a playable character in the recently released Super Mario Bros Wonder.
1 Princess Peach Toadstool
Number Of Appearances: 156
- First Appearance: Super Mario Bros
Easily the most significant and notable female character in the history of Mario games is Princess Peach. Originally introduced in the first Super Mario Bros game, Peach has appeared in the vast majority of Mario media since her induction. She has gone from playable side character to damsel in distress and back again several times over the years.
Appearing in almost every Mario spin-off game, as well as being the protagonist of Princess Toadstool’s Castle Run and Super Princess Peach, this character has been given a lot of love and has become nearly as iconic in appearance as Mario himself. With her recent outing in The Super Mario Bros Movie, Peach’s popularity on her own has surged once again, leading to Princess Peach: Showtime, which will be released in 2024.