Rosalina

"May the stars shine down on you."

- Rosalina

Rosalina is a recurring character that debuted in Super Mario Galaxy, first appearing in the Gateway Galaxy. She is a very powerful figure, as her duty is to watch over and protect the cosmos, while also serving as the adopted mother of the Lumas, and commanding the Comet Observatory.

Rosalina's back-story is chronicled in her storybook told by her in the Comet Observatory's Library in Super Mario Galaxy. Nine chapters are unlocked throughout the game, and the last is unlocked by completing the game.

Rosalina's defining traits are her tall height, reserved personality, and a wide array of otherworldly abilities.

Background
Rosalina's story begins when she meets a young Luma in a rusted spaceship, where they rebuild the spaceship to go search for the Luma's mother. They traverse through space, encountering comets, asteroids, and Star Bits. Rosalina then starts to miss her mother, but the two begin to build a new home that would eventually become the Comet Observatory. As she and the Luma build the home, Rosalina takes more Lumas under her wing. After they see their 100th comet, Rosalina looks back at her home planet, which then causes her to feel greatly upset and homesick, and then comes to terms with the fact that her own mother is dead. The young Luma who traversed with Rosalina tells her that her mother is always part of her, and then transforms into a comet that can traverse to Rosalina's home planet. Rosalina then declares that the Lumas are her family now, and that they will visit her home planet every once in one hundred years.

Super Mario Galaxy
During one of her centennial visits to the Mushroom Kingdom, the Comet Observatory is attacked by Bowser, who steals the observatory's Power Stars and Grand Stars. Rosalina later appeared to Mario/Luigi after Peach is kidnapped. In order to aid Mario/Luigi she gives him Luma, the same one seen with Peach at the Star Festival. Once Mario/Luigi collects the first Grand Star, she explains to him that Bowser stole the Power Stars and requests that he help get them back. As more Power Stars are returned, she appears in the library, where she reads her storybook to Mario/Luigi and some Lumas. After Mario/Luigi collects enough stars to power the ship, Rosalina flies the observatory to the center of the universe for the final confrontation with Bowser. After the Lumas sacrifice themselves to stop the giant black hole created by Bowser's sun, Rosalina appears to Mario/Luigi and explains the "cycle of life" to him before he awakens at Peach's Castle. If the player collects all 120 Power Stars, Rosalina thanks the player, and tells them that she watches over them from beyond the stars. She then proceeds to transform the Comet Observatory into a comet, and shoots off into the stars.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Rosalina appears during the ending sequence of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Lubba reveals at this time that he and Rosalina had met before, but the details of their meeting remain unknown. Rosalina also frequently sends letters to the Baby Luma that's with Mario, but she does not reveal her identity in them.

When the player manages to get 120 Power Stars and beats the final boss again, a scene is shown after the ending credits, showing Rosalina and her Lumas in the Library, revealing that she was telling the story of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Then, she decides to narrate how Mario (and Luigi) collect every Green Star to her Lumas. If Mario, Yoshi, and Luigi manage to collect every single star in the game, and survive the Grandmaster Galaxy's Daredevil Comet, Rosalina thanks them and joins them on Starship Mario.

Players can also use Rosalina's head to represent their file on the file select screen. However, the Rosalina head can only be used on save files in which the player has collected 120 stars, and unlocked the Green Star Prankster Comets.

This game also features a cosmic entity that highly resembles Rosalina, known as the Cosmic Spirit.

Super Mario 3D World
Rosalina appears as a unlockable playable character in Super Mario 3D World. She is unlocked after the player has completed : Super Galaxy. She has the ability to use the Spin attack, similar to that of Mario and Luigi in the Super Mario Galaxy games and has normal traction. She is, however, slower like Princess Peach. This is also the first time Rosalina is playable in a Mario platformer. As with the other characters, she can use all the power-ups in the game, but when she gets one (except the Double Cherry and the Super Star), she loses her Spin attack.

If the player beats Meowser in World Bowser after Rosalina has been unlocked, she is then seen with two Lumas in the end credits, at the end of the first split of the Clear Pipe, replacing three Sprixie denizens. Additionally, Rosalina's Comet Observatory can be seen in the background of the game's expanded key artwork, the final scene after the credits, and : Super Galaxy.

Super Mario Maker
Rosalina appears as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom transformation by clearing the 100 Mario challenge on normal or harder or by scanning a Rosalina & Luma amiibo. Here, she is given an 8-bit appearance based on her Super Smash Bros. look, with a Luma floating alongside her. When Mario transforms into Rosalina, the Super Mario Galaxy sound effect for collecting a power-up plays while she says, "Here I go!" Rosalina also uses her voice clips from Super Mario 3D World, while her course clear music uses the "You Got a Star!" BGM from Super Mario Galaxy 2. If the player loses a life while wearing the Rosalina costume, the "Too Bad!" BGM from Super Mario Galaxy is played.

Super Mario Odyssey
In Super Mario Odyssey, Rosalina makes a cameo as an 8-bit sprite that can be found on a vegetable on the Dark Side of the Moon and a wall on the Darker Side of the Moon. When interacted with, Rosalina performs a spin and the player is given ten coins.

Aside from this, while she herself doesn't appear in the game, concept art revealed that she was planned to appear as a street musician playing an acoustic guitar.

Super Mario Maker 2
Although she does not appear physically in Super Mario Maker 2, it is strongly implied Rosalina is Stargazer in the game's story mode, due to her courses taking place in the sky theme during night, which features light gravity, and alludes to both Super Mario Galaxy games. Additionally, her course descriptions involve her either pleading to the player to defeat a major enemy near a planet, or use their knowledge of a course part to complete that course. A Rosalina Wig also appears as an unlockable hat that can be worn by Miis, unlocked by clearing 3000 courses.

Mario Kart Wii
Rosalina's first appearance as a playable character, as well as her debut in Mario spin-off installments overall, is in Mario Kart Wii, where she is a Large-sized unlockable character. She can be unlocked by winning first place with at least a 1 Star Rank in all Mirror Grand Prix Cups, having a Super Mario Galaxy save file and play 50 races, or playing 4,950 races. Rosalina rides in Large vehicles, and is the first female character to ever be in this class due to her tall height.

In Mario Kart Wii, a Luma orbits around Rosalina and occasionally squeals or giggles when the player performs an aerial trick. Rosalina's racing symbol is a Grand Star. Like Peach and Daisy, Rosalina appears in a biker suit while racing on any of the bikes, only that the color scheme is different to the overall color scheme of her main dress. Her signature bike is the Shooting Star and her signature kart is the Honeycoupe. Rosalina in the Jetsetter is the staff ghost for Rainbow Road.

Along with Dry Bowser, Rosalina is one of two playable characters in this game to not reappear in Mario Super Sluggers.

Mario Kart 7
Rosalina returns in her second Mario Kart game appearance in Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS. This is the first time that Rosalina appears on a handheld game. She is a Cruiser-type character, along with Donkey Kong and Wiggler, and this time, she appears without a Luma accompanying her in the races. Rosalina has an advantage bonus in weight and speed. Just as in Mario Kart Wii, Rosalina is an unlockable character, which the player must win the Star Cup at 150cc to unlock. In this game, she has her own track, Rosalina's Ice World, which makes allusion to the Super Mario Galaxy series, where she has appeared prominently. When Rosalina uses the Peach Parasol for a glider, it becomes turquoise to match her color scheme. Likewise, her Birthday Girl kart is colored blue.

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX
Rosalina appears in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, following an update to the game. She is classified as a heavyweight character, meaning she has exceptional speed, but poor acceleration and handling.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Rosalina returns as an unlockable playable racer in Mario Kart 8. She retains her bike gear from Mario Kart Wii when riding a bike or an ATV, and her signature dress for karts. In addition, her infant counterpart debuted in this game. Much like in Mario Kart 7, her Peach Parasol glider is turquoise.

In the Wii U version, Rosalina is one of the lighter heavyweights, sacrificing some speed and weight to boost her acceleration, handling, and traction stats a little. She shares these traits with Donkey Kong, Waluigi, Roy Koopa, and Link. Rosalina in the Circuit Special with standard tires and Super Glider is the staff ghost for Sunshine Airport.

Rosalina reappears in the Nintendo Switch port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This time, she is available from the start. She is once again a heavyweight character, albeit in the lightest of the 5 different heavy groups, sharing stats with King Boo and Link. She has the lowest top speed and weight of all the heavyweights, while still sharing similar acceleration as other heavy groups. However, her handling is amongst the best of the heavyweights (shared with the metal characters). She also has the strongest mini-turbo boost of the heavyweights. Finally, her traction stat is noticeably strong, being far and away the best in her weight class, and the 3rd best base traction stat in the game.

Mario Kart Tour
Rosalina reappears as a playable character in Mario Kart Tour, as of the October 8, 2019 (PST) update, where she is available as a Super character. Her special item is the Dash Ring. In pre-release beta test, however, Rosalina was a Super Rare (former name of High-End) character whose special item was the Boomerang Flower, and a week 2 spotlight for the tour.

Rosalina wearing a witch outfit, referred to in-game as "Rosalina (Halloween)", also appears as a separate playable character, made available as the first High-End Spotlight driver for the Halloween Tour. She, like her normal counterpart, has the Dash Ring as her special item. Likewise, Rosalina wearing a bluish-purple frilled dress with matching opera gloves patterned after the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), referred to as "Rosalina (Aurora)" appears as a separate playable character and as the first High-End Spotlight driver for the Vancouver Tour. Her special item is the Ice Flower.

Super Mario-Kun
Rosalina appears in volume 38 of the Japanese manga, Super Mario-Kun. After Bowser uses a flyswatter to knock Mario away to a planet, Mario loses his motivation, despite Luma's efforts to get him back. Rosalina sends a hologram of a Giant Goomba for Mario, thus making him use his Star Spin technique to make it disappear (much to Mario's surprise). She later helps him on the adventure.

Mario Party: Island Tour
Rosalina makes her first appearance in the Mario Party series in Mario Party: Island Tour. She is a non-playable character on the space themed board, Rocket Road, where she waits at the end of the board for the winner, and also appears in the celebration for a victory on this board.

Mario Party 10
Rosalina appears as a playable character in Mario Party 10; her first playable appearance in the series. She has her own amiibo board, the Rosalina Board, where it is unlocked if the player places a Rosalina amiibo on the GamePad. Her board is based upon the space themes in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. On a side note, Mario Party 10 is the very first Mario title to have Rosalina as a starting character.

Mario Party: Star Rush
Rosalina returns in Mario Party: Star Rush albeit as an unlockable player character. She can be unlocked by either earning enough party points to reach level 6 or by scanning in a Rosalina amiibo. In Toad Scramble, she can be recruited by players and has the ability to mysteriously crush glowing rocks. Her dice block is the Wondrous Dice Block, which can roll a 5, 6, or the rank that the player is currently in (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th).

Mario Party: The Top 100
Rosalina returns in the minigame compilation title Mario Party: The Top 100 as a playable character, and like the rest of the playable cast, she is available from the start.

Super Mario Party
Rosalina returns as a playable character in Super Mario Party. Like in Mario Party 10, she is available from the start. Every playable character in this game has a unique Dice Block; in Rosalina's case, it is colored light blue and two of its faces each give her two coins (without moving), while the other faces display a 2, 3, 4, and 8 respectively.

Mario Golf: World Tour
Rosalina makes her first appearance in a Mario Golf game as a downloadable character in Mario Golf: World Tour as a part of the Star Pack. Unlike Peach and Daisy, Rosalina does not have a change in outfit for this game. She is one of the strongest characters, losing only to Bowser in distance. She also has a fade, meaning that her ball curves to the right. She has the highest shot in the game, which means that she can easily hit over trees, but the ball is affected by wind more. Unlike the other characters, she does not hold her club; she magically levitates it and controls it with her wand.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Rosalina was announced to be the fourth newcomer fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U during the Nintendo Direct of December 18, 2013, alongside Luma. A variety of her abilities use a Luma, particularly to aid in combos.

Although Rosalina is the tallest female fighter in the game (the third tallest overall when compared to Bowser and Ganondorf), she's actually a lightweight, as opposed to a heavyweight in other Mario games. In fact, Rosalina is one of the lightest fighters in the game, only being heavier than Mr. Game & Watch, Mewtwo, and Jigglypuff. Along with being lightweight, Rosalina also has a very high air acceleration attribute, along with a very low falling speed attribute, only falling faster than Princess Peach and Jigglypuff. However, despite her strong air mobility, Rosalina's air speed is only around average.

For Equipment, Rosalina uses Staffs to boost attack, Dresses for defense, and Pumps (Heels) for speed.

Rosalina and Luma have a moveset largely inspired by the Super Mario Galaxy games. They can be controlled individually, similar to the Ice Climbers from past Super Smash Bros. installments. Luma can be attacked and defeated, and can eventually be re-summoned by Rosalina. However, like attacking Nana and Olimar's Pikmin, the damage does not count towards Rosalina's damage percentage, though Luma has its own individual but unseen damage counter. Rosalina can also control how far away the Luma can be from her, by using her standard special attack; the Luma Shot.

Her down special move is named Gravitational Pull, which sends items and weapons towards Rosalina. While she uses this move, weapons are disabled. The attack seems to be inspired by the Spin from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Her up special attack; the Launch Star, gives Rosalina a vertical boost (with an animation similar to Mario's and Luigi's animation after using a Launch Star in the Super Mario Galaxy games, even including the Launch Star sound effect). Her side special, Star Bits, releases a group of Star Bits that are used as projectiles. Rosalina's Final Smash, Power Star, summons a large Power Star, which shoots many smaller stars onto the stage that damage opponents.

The partner Luma can be yellow, apricot, green, red, blue, or Polari. The differences are aesthetic only.

Rosalina seems to retain her appearance from the Mario series, with the exception of glittery star patterns, made with an iridescent fiber, adorning the bottom of her dress. This is unlike Princess Peach, whose appearance is different from that in the Mario series.

Rosalina's dress comes in eight colors for players to choose from: the default turquoise, mint green, pink, gold, black and gold, purple, and two red and white colored dresses, one of which resembles her Fire form in Super Mario 3D World, while the other is inversed and resembles White Mage's appearance in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix.

The 3DS version was also the first game where Rosalina is a playable default character. Up until Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, her other playable appearances required her to be unlocked first.

Rosalina does not share a victory theme with the other Mario characters, instead using a short arrangement of "Overture" from Super Mario Galaxy. In this game, Rosalina is the only character who is neither a villain nor an anti-hero with this trait; however, in the next installment, this trait is now shared with Lucina, Robin, Chrom and Corrin.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Rosalina and Luma return as playable unlockable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Rosalina is heavier and faster, and her shield now covers Luma as well. Luma also has more health and respawns faster. However, Luma now panics when Rosalina takes damage, preventing it from acting. Rosalina's Final Smash is now a Grand Star, but otherwise functions the same as in the previous game.

In the opening cutscene to "World of Light", Rosalina and Luma attempt to fly away from Galeem's beams of light alongside Diddy Kong, but are ultimately consumed and used to create puppet fighters.

Classic Mode route
Rosalina's Classic Mode route has her battle space-faring opponents. As an allusion to the Super Mario Galaxy games, she fights alongside Mario against Bowser, and later on, Marx.

Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition
Rosalina appears as a helper character in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition. She is unlocked by completing ★World 2-Tower, and is a Water attribute helper. She also has a Super form, which is unlocked by completing ★World 5, and is a Water/Light attribute helper.

Rosalina's Skill allows players to freely move Orbs anywhere for 10 seconds, while her Helper Skill multiplies the ATK of all teammates by 3.5x when attacking with four or more attributes.

Super Rosalina's Skill turns all Orbs into Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark Orbs, while her Helper Skill multiplies the ATK of all teammates by 5.5x when attacking with five attributes.

Both Rosalina variations have RCV as their strongest stat, while their ATK is only at average levels. And while Rosalina's HP is at an average level, Super Rosalina's HP is slightly above average.

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
Rosalina appears as a playable character in Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. This is the first installment in the Mario series overall in which Rosalina makes a debut wearing her active sports outfit, which is similar to the tennis outfit that Princess Peach wears, but based on her dress. Also, she is the only one of the three newcomers to be available from the start. To differentiate her from the other girls, Rosalina also wears white tights. She also levitates while moving around, with a small dust of sparkles coming from her feet, and even sometimes her racket. Additionally, she levitates the ball instead of holding it.

When Rosalina obtains a Mega Mushroom, she spins in the air, and points her racket to the camera. Rosalina is a Power-type character, meaning that her hits are fast and strong, and is the first female character in the Mario sports titles to have this type.

Mario Tennis Aces
Rosalina reappears as a playable character in Mario Tennis Aces. Unlike Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Rosalina is classified as a Tricky character. Her Trick Shots are known as the Galaxy Warp and Satellite Shift, and her Special Shot is referred to as the Star Combo. She also appeared in the game's online tournament demo as an unlockable playable character, unlocked after 1000 points were accumulated.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Rosalina makes her first playable appearance, as well as her first appearance in general, in the Mario & Sonic series, in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game, she is an unlockable character and is only playable in the Rhythmic Gymnastics event ; because of this, she is only seen wearing a leotard as her primary outfit in the game.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Rosalina reappears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as an unlockable guest character, being playable exclusively in the Surfing - Shortboard event. Like Peach, Tails, Dr. Eggman, Waluigi, and Silver, she is described as "Good at Tube Riding".

In story mode, Rosalina appears in Chapter 17. After Luigi and Tails's group receive Entry Pass K from Blaze, which allows them to enter Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, they find Rosalina at the beach. By this point, Rosalina had become aware of the group's attempts to charge the Excitement Battery in order to rescue Mario and Sonic, who are trapped in the Tokyo '64 game system along with Toad, Bowser, and Dr. Eggman. In order to help charge the battery, which is powered by spectators' excitement, Rosalina offers to challenge the group to a Surfing match. Donkey Kong accepts this challenge and defeats Rosalina, causing the battery to fully charge. Rosalina is also unlocked as a playable character upon her defeat. After Chapter 17, Rosalina remains at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, open to rematches.

Mario Sports Superstars
Rosalina appears as a starting captain-type character in Mario Sports Superstars. In most sports she is classified as a Power type. In the tennis mode of the game, she retains her animations from Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, though unlike that game she is now classified as a Tricky character. In golf, her default drive is 226 yards, and her shots travel very high in a fade trajectory. Unlike Peach and Daisy, she wears her tennis dress for all sports excluding golf, where she wears her usual gown instead. Additionally, in this game, Kerri Kane's voice clips are reused alongside those of Laura Faye Smith.

Other appearances
Rosalina appears on the Puzzle Swap panel "Nintendo Starlets" of the StreetPass Mii Plaza, alongside Princess Peach, Pauline, Zelda, and Toon Zelda.

In Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, an 8-bit sprite of Rosalina can be seen running around the Double Cherry Spires level. During development, it was suggested that the game be a story read by Rosalina, meaning that she may have appeared in person during the ending, but it was ultimately decided to have the ending be the start of Super Mario 3D World.

In the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack in Minecraft, Rosalina appears as a playable skin.

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Rosalina makes a cameo in a Character Card obtained from the Peach amiibo, alongside Peach and Daisy.

Rosalina is a playable character in Monopoly Gamer. She is sold separately as a "Power Pack" expansion figure.

Rosalina, or rather, Dr. Rosalina is an add-on character to Dr. Mario World. Depending on the mode, she can either temporarily have halted capsules move again for seven seconds (stage mode) or randomly change a set amount of viruses on an opponent's stage (versus mode).

Physical description
Rosalina is taller than most characters, rivaling Waluigi's height, and bearing a resemblance to Princess Peach. However, Rosalina's skin is paler, her eyes are a lighter shade of blue with six eyelashes (three in other artwork), and her hair (possibly red or strawberry blonde in her childhood) is platinum blonde, a lighter blonde than Peach's, that also reaches to her waist. She wears purple nail polish, and has a large bang which obscures her right eye. In some of her appearances, Rosalina carries a thin, silver wand with a golden star at the top.

Rosalina typically wears a gown said to be a color that only exists when the sun peers out of the clouds. Her brooch and earrings are star-shaped, while her crown features star shaped patterns engraved into it. Her brooch and crown are silver, as are her high heels, while her earrings are golden. Rosalina also wears a few jewels, including a gold jewel inside the brooch and crown jewels that are pink and turquoise. Her gown cuts off at the top of her chest, where a powder-blue flap loops around, and has long sleeves with wide openings at the bottom, which are topped with powder-blue frills. At the bottom is another power-blue frill that loops around until turning up to a point at the middle; under this a layer of a petticoat is visible.

Alternate outfits
In the Super Smash Bros. series, the bottom of her dress sports glittery star shapes similar to the end of her wand. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, her shoes are the color of her dress, instead of the usual silver. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, her dress is closer to its appearance in the Mario games, and her shoes are silver across all palettes.

In Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Rosalina wears a primarily white jumpsuit with stripes the same turquoise color as her dress when riding motorbikes, as well as ATVs in the latter two titles. She also wears a matching turquoise scarf, belt, boots, gloves, and other detailing, including a heart-shaped pattern on her back, similar to Peach's and Daisy's. The gloves are styled similarly to Peach's typical ones, and are teal with a white trim to match the boots, which have white soles. She keeps her regular crown, earrings and brooch. In Mario Kart Tour, she wears a dark purple witch's outfit, complete with a curved pointy hat, for the Halloween Tour. During the Vancouver Tour, she wears a frilly dress with purple, blue and green patterns as well as purple opera gloves, with the colors and frills invoking the appearance of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).

In Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Rosalina wears a sleeveless dress styled after her typical gown, similar to Peach's and Daisy's. The dress is her typical turquoise color but has a frilled hem and collar, and no longer cuts off at the top of her chest. She retains her brooch, crown and earrings, and also wears a pair of white tights rather than socks with her teal and white trainers, though they are shown as grey in Mario Sports Superstars.

In Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, she wears a leotard in the Rhythmic Gymnastics event, once again in a similar style to Peach's and Daisy's. Her leotard is her regular teal color, and has long sleeves with a pale trim. The bottom of the leotard has a paler strip of fabric attached, which resembles the hem of her typical gown, and a loose collar in a similar style. The leotard also has darker turquoise stripes down the sides, and she still wears her signature crown, earrings and brooch.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 introduces yet another new outfit that is used in the Shortboard Surfing event, consisting of a mostly black wetsuit with thin gray accents and a teal panel on the front torso, containing her usual star-shaped brooch. The outfit once again incorporates her usual upturned turquoise collar.

Development
Although Rosalina's design has not been changed since her debut, aside from a fancier version of her dress used in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, her concept design was vastly different when she was originally being created for Super Mario Galaxy. She was depicted with a beehive hairstyle along with straight-cut bangs. She had more unique facial features including the style of her eyes and mouth; the facial features she has now are more similar to Peach's. Her outfit was also somewhat closer to Peach and Daisy's. Instead of a crown, she wore a tiara, and her gloves were just like Peach's. A final concept drawing depicted Rosalina very similarly to the way in which she appears now, though it contained minor color differences.

The Super Mario Galaxy development team considered making Rosalina a relative of Princess Peach; while this was dropped from the final game, her overall character design still reflects this early idea.

Personality and traits
Rosalina is a generally wise, kind, and a mature character. She has an intimate knowledge of the universe and cares deeply for the Lumas and her friends, where she assumes the role of the total caregiver and mother figure for them. Her outward strength and inner sorrow are likely due to the loss of her own mother. Rosalina is a calm and reserved character, and often takes pauses when she explains how the universe works. It has also been shown that Rosalina's voice is rather monotone, even when she is excited.

Since Mario Kart Wii, however, Rosalina has been portrayed as a little bit more upbeat and joyous than her original stoic portrayal, with examples being that Rosalina cheers and shouts louder, though still mostly keeping her introverted nature. Like most players, Rosalina enjoys special activities, but in a very humble manner.

When Rosalina was young, she was portrayed as optimistic and proactive, where she helps a Luma build a spaceship to find the Luma's mother. Even so, she gets homesick and misses her mother dearly, to the point where she cries about losing her mother, though her spirits get raised easily when the Lumas impress her with comets and an offer to take her back to her home planet.

Powers and abilities
Rosalina has special powers as seen in Super Mario Galaxy. For example, once sufficient power is restored to the Comet Observatory, Rosalina is able to use her powers to surround the observatory in a force field, transforming it into a starship as a form of transportation. Also, she can be protected by a force field that resembles a bubble. If the player attempts to jump on her, the bubble appears. Rosalina can also form similar bubbles around Mario if he falls off the Comet Observatory; it then levitates and drops him back to where he was standing. Rosalina also has the ability to float, just like the Lumas, and at the end of Super Mario Galaxy is shown flying when she departs from the Gateway Galaxy's first planet. She has the ability to speak via telepathy, as shown in the end of the game, where she speaks to Mario, Peach and Bowser while she's far in space.

Rosalina is shown to be skilled with her wand, and can deflect Star Bits with it if the player shoots them at her. Rosalina has also shown the ability to teleport, at least from Earth to space. She can also use the spin move from the Super Mario Galaxy games, as seen in Super Mario 3D World, and can still create a shield to protect her if the player attempts to attack her as a non-playable character. She is also able to create giant hologram-like projections of herself, like in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and even change her height, like in Super Mario Galaxy. She also shows more of her powers in the spin-offs games, such as telekinesis, creation of shooting star showers, gravity manipulation, teleportation of other people, and the creation of Launch Stars.

Relationships
As apparent in the storybook, Rosalina cares very strongly for her mother. While Rosalina was a child, she had dreams where her mother was leaving her permanently. While looking back at her planet after the one hundredth comet passes, Rosalina suddenly realized her mother was dead and burst into tears. Additionally, the storybook reveals Rosalina has an unnamed brother in the seventh chapter, and gives some description about her unnamed, mustached father during the final chapter in the French version of Super Mario Galaxy. Rosalina bonded with a Luma looking for its mother and soon became the adoptive mother of both it and a host of other Lumas, who in turn comforted her when she mourned the death of her own mother. She often reads bedtime stories to the Lumas in the Library, is accompanied by a Luma in Mario Kart Wii, and battles on a team with Luma in the fourth installment of Super Smash Bros. A Luma named Polari is her most trusted adviser and is often found at her side in Super Mario Galaxy. She is also held in high esteem by Lubba, who refers to her as "The Lady of the Shooting Stars" and is happy to have her on board the Starship Mario at the end of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Mario befriends Rosalina during the events of Super Mario Galaxy, when he recovers the stolen Grand Stars needed to power her Comet Observatory. She then flies her ship to the center of the universe and destroys a fleet of Bowser's airships, thereby helping Mario defeat him and rescue Princess Peach, whom Rosalina had described as Mario's "Special One". As revealed in volume 38 of Super Mario-Kun, Peach herself shares a positive friendship with Rosalina. Also in Super Mario-kun, Rosalina is shown to have a funnier and less mature side (following most of the characters in the manga). In volume 37 and 38, Rosalina is shown to ask Mario and Luigi a lot of favors. After they finish some tasks for her, she tells Mario that "he is a good butler.". Luigi assists Mario in the collection of stars in Super Mario Galaxy, at one point giving him a recovered Power Star on the condition that he tells Rosalina that it was Luigi who obtained it for her. The two are also depicted standing together with the Toad Brigade at Peach's Castle in a secret picture that can be obtained by collecting all 121 Power Stars. Rosalina eventually takes an even more hands-on role against Bowser in Super Mario 3D World, when she joins Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad in their adventure. Rosalina is seen being partnered up with Princess Daisy during tennis in Mario Sports Superstars.

Merchandise
Plushies based on Rosalina are manufactured by San-ei. Currently there are two versions: Rosalina in default appearance and another as Cat Rosalina. There are also mini figurines of Rosalina developed by Furuta. Rosalina and Luma have an amiibo of them, which was released February 2015. The figure was originally available at Target, but is no longer available to purchase at any retail stores.

Portrayals
The following voice actresses have lent their talents to portray Rosalina in the Mario game series:
 * Mercedes Rose in Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Mario Kart Wii.
 * Kerri Kane in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Mario Golf: World Tour, and the Super Smash Bros. series; some of her voice clips are also recycled in Mario Sports Superstars and Mario Tennis Aces.
 * Laura Faye Smith in most Mario installments as of Super Mario 3D World in 2013; however, she is erroneously credited as Kerri Kane in some games, such as Mario Party 10 and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash.

Profiles and statistics
Rosalina's bios typically highlight her role as the keeper of the cosmos and the Comet Observatory, as well as being the mother of Lumas. Since she is an unusual heavyweight character in the Mario Kart series, most bios point to her role as the cosmic guardian as the reason she can hold her own against other heavyweights. For the spinoff installments of the Mario series overall, Rosalina's emblem is a Grand Star.

Gallery


Quotes

 * "Do you hear the baby stars? These newborns will grow up to become galaxies someday. When stars die, they turn to stardust and scatter across the cosmos. Eventually, that stardust reforms to create a new star... And so the cycle of life continues. But the cycle never repeats itself in quite the same way.... So...you'll see."
 * "Yes... All new life... Carries the essence of stars... Even all of you..."
 * "I will watch over you from beyond the stars."
 * "This﻿ planet... It's very dear to me. I looked forward to visiting this planet with the Lumas every one hundred years... The Luma that's been traveling with you may also grow up to become a star someday. Some Lumas become planets...some become comets...and a few become Power Stars. I'm traveling with them while they look for a place to be reborn. But I never thought all this would happen..."
 * "Mario...so you were the one who collected all of the scattered stars...I want to thank you...your deeds will live on in the memory of the cosmos..."

Trivia

 * Rosalina is usually depicted as right-handed in artwork, but left-handed in-game, with a few exceptions: in Mario Golf: World Tour and Mario Sports Superstars, the player can choose if Rosalina is left- or right-handed, and Rosalina holds her wand with her right hand during cutscenes in Super Mario Galaxy. However, in the Mario Party series, Rosalina has been depicted as left-handed in artwork, but right-handed when she participates in an activity or minigame. In Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Rosalina is depicted as right-handed in both her artwork and in-game, while she is depicted as left-handed on the box art for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.