Are you as obsessed with Bowsette and Peachette as I am?
Judging by my Twitter feed, you probably are.
Bowsette has gained a phenomenal fanbase very quickly, despite, let’s face it, not actually
being an official Mario character.
This all stems from Super Mario Brothers U Deluxe, a port of a Wii U game that’s heading
to the Switch with some unique changes.
Toadette is now a playable character, and by grabbing a crown power-up, she can transform
herself into Princess Peach.
I guess they don’t call her Princess Toadstool for nothing!
Many of you have been trying to figure out how this works.
How can a humble toad metamorphosize, or, in the words of Pokemon, “evolve” into
the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom?
Is Peach herself a toad that reached her max level and morphed into her final form?
Is this simply a title that’s passed from one Princess to another?
Is Princess Peach basically Tim Allen from The Santa Clause?
If something should happen to her, put on the suit, the mushrooms will know what to
do?
And if so, how do Daisy and Rosalina factor into all this?
Or Baby Peach for that matter?
Even more interesting, though, has been the question of what happens if other characters,
specifically Bowser, were to grab the power-up.
Hence, Bowsette, the internet’s latest and greatest obsession.
An explanation to the working of all this seems unlikely.
In a game series where green dinosaurs can swallow enemies before birthing them out as
“eggs”, I don’t think we’ll ever get clarification on how Toadette will become
Peachette.
And, as Bowsette isn’t a Nintendo creation, I think it’s unlikely that the character
will ever get an official nod in a game.
Personally, I’m far more interested in the changes that Peachette will make to New Super
Mario Bros U.
This is a massive step forward for the series as a whole, and what looks like a bizarre
addition to the game could actually fix one of the biggest problems with Nintendo’s
2D multiplayer platformers.
New Super Mario Bros U was the very first game I bought for the Wii U.
I actually bought it before we got a Wii U.
I was buying a 2DS in order to play Pokemon X, and New Super Mario Bros U was on sale
for just £15, so I figured, why not?
About a year later, when BretonStripes got a Wii U and Mariokart 8 for her birthday,
we had a second game to play together.
Except, BretonStripes didn’t really care for it.
So I played New Super Mario Bros U by myself.
And I have to say, it’s not exactly the most original game that Nintendo’s ever
put out.
Sure, there are some neat ideas in here, and some fun platforming mechanics that I enjoyed
well enough at the time.
I recognize Yoshiaki Koizumi’s trademark approach to inventive gameplay ideas, as each
stage introduces a new concept, before making it increasingly difficult as the player is
tested.
But I can’t help but feel that New Super Mario Bros U is simply more of the same.
By the time I got my hands on this game, I’d already played my fill of New Super Mario
Bros on the DS, and New Super Mario Bros Wii.
I consider both of those games to be fairly interchangeable.
There’s not much to separate them in terms of world design, art style, or play mechanics.
If you’ve seen one New Super Mario Bros game, you’ve seen them all.
Except for New Super Mario Bros 2, which has the distinction of being simply filled with
coins, and therefore, incredibly boring.
It’s a good game for teaching the dangers of inflation, I suppose, as suddenly, all
currency and extra lives are meaningless.
If I had to try and pick something that makes New Super Mario Bros U different from the
games that came before, it’s possibly the presence of Yoshi, although I can’t say
I think the character adds all that much to gameplay.
He might well have turned up in a previous title in the series and I simply didn’t
notice.
Even if New Super Mario Bros U is the first game in the series to feature Yoshi, it’s
not like we haven’t seen Yoshi before.
As I’ve already established, the eggy dinosaur is a staple of the series, and unless he’s
hanging around at the top of Peach’s Castle in Mario 64, his presence in a game isn’t
really all that noteworthy.
Personally, I wonder why Nintendo would even bother bringing New Super Mario Bros U to
the Switch.
It seems like it would take just as much effort to bring Mario Maker to the platform, and
that game actually offers something that players can’t get anywhere else.
But, then comes Toadette, and we finally get something new.
Obviously, Toadette isn’t new.
She’s been showing up semi-regularly since her original debut in the best Mariokart game,
Double Dash.
She’s one of the best character in that game, by the way.
She and Toad get the special king mushroom item that blasts you through the level, and
nothing can beat it.
Except maybe the Chain Chomp that Baby Mario and Luigi get.
Wow, this game series feels strange sometimes.
But by joining New Super Mario Bros U, Toadette brings a new character to a platforming series
that is desperately in need of a shakeup.
The character roster for the New Super Mario games has always been eye-rollingly uninspired.
Nintendo needed four characters for the first game in this series.
So, we got Mario and Luigi, naturally, and Toad, because sure, why not.
And then, another Toad.
Hmm.
I’m not sure what caused Nintnedo to think that this was ever a good idea.
Here we have a game where two of the characters are classic Mario characters that are well
defined, with distinct personalities.
And the other two are just randon NPCs, given a chance at the big leagues, but never actually
even given their own names.
They’re simply Yellow Toad and Blue Toad.
Or, at least, they are to the casual observer, ie me.
I’m sure they probable have a more extensive backstory for those who’ve been paying attention,
but even at its most deep, the Mario series is hardly Fire Emblem.
Perhaps that’s why Nintendo figured they could get away with simply throwing in two
Toads for the third and fourth player charactesr in the game.
Of course, the notably absent character in all this is Princess Peach herself.
Traditionally, when four characters are needed for a Mario platformer, we get Mario, Luigi,
Toad, and Peach.
But this was a style of play that was chosen based on adapting another title, Doki Doki
Panic, for a Western release.
Nintendo has stuck to the decision and given Peach a floaty jumping power periodically,
enabling some consistency, but she’s never been playable in a main series 2D Mario platformer.
The Western Super Mario Bros 2 is an aberration, and not generally seen as part of the standard
Mario gameplay canon.
Originally, the New Super Mario Bros games were dreamed up as a return to the classic
formula of Mario gameplay, and this meant making Peach the damsel in distress, locking
her away in a cage while Mario and Luigi save the day.
If you’ve seen some of our previous videos on Amy Rose in the Sonic franchise, you may
be able to guess where my argument here is heading, but bear with me.
But the New Super Mario Bros series doesn’t feel so new any more.
What once was a nostalgia trip, novel in its retro charm, has now been revisited again
and again and again.
Princess Peach has been kidnapped in four New Super Mario Bros games, making this whole
plot woefully predictable.
But, Toadette changes this.
First off, she adds another playable character to the lineup, so we’re not just dealing
with two completely interchangeable Toads.
There’s a bigger conversation to be had around the Token Female here, the often cited
Smurfette Principle, but I’m going to leave that to one side for today.
The other benefit to Toadette is that she gives Princess Peach a more hands-on, proactive
role in the story.
Peach is one of the most iconic, famous characters in video games.
Her fame borders on that of Disney Princesses, which is saying a lot.
Especially if you’ve ever seen the inside of my house.
Princesses, princesses, everywhere.
Such is life with a three-year-old.
But in spite of her fame, Peach is more of an idea than a character, present for so very
little of the story.
She exists to be sought after, either by a large, tyrannical monster, or by an earnest,
working-class hero.
Peach’s role in the story is to give Mario something to strive for.
In practical terms, the Damsel in Distress in an object that the hero and the villain
fight over.
For all her actual impact in these games, Peach could often be replaced by an inanimate
object, and not much would change.
She is a symbol of control over the kingdom, but one that has no agency of her own.
Essentially, it’s not Peach that Mario and Bowser are fighting over, but rather, Peach’s
royal status.
Her crown.
And what key item will Toadette use to transform into Peach?
In conjuring up the appearance of the famous Princess, Nintendo is basically giving Peach
agency of a sort, while also continuing to use her as the damsel of distress.
Mario is still fighting to rescue the Princess, but Peach is also fighting rescue herself,
albeit using Toadette as her avatar.
Or maybe Toadette is using Peach as an avatar.
None of this is clear.
It’s a Cappy situation all over again.
But what matters is that Peach gets to be involved, even symbolically, in her own rescue.
Toadette’s inclusion in the story helps overcome some of the more dated, problematic
elements of the traditional Mario formula, while simultaneously giving New Super Mario
Bros U Deluxe a unique character with her own controls, that makes this game a lot more
unique and interesting.
This isn’t a perfect solution to the problems that the New Super Mario Bros games face.
I’d still love to see a sequel to Super Princess Peach.
Or, alternatively, some form of canonical character that resembles Bowsette.
There certainly exists a fanbase for the idea of a female Bowser, in some form or other.
The Mario franchise could do with a nuanced female villain.
There’s something inherently potent about the Bowser-Peach hybrid that’s captures
imaginations, and it would be wonderful to see some form of this appear in a game.
It’s not entirely dissimilar to Nintendo fans’ constant calls for a WaPeach; people
like the idea of seeing the darker side of gaming’s premier princess.
Maybe one day we’ll get this in an official capacity.
Until then, there’s plenty of, shall we say, varied fanart that depicts Bowsette.
And, in the meantime, Peach will be far more active in Super Mario Brothers U Deluxe, if
only because she’s lending her face to Toadette.
This isn’t much, but it’s certainly a step forward.