Pauline

Pauline (initially known as Lady or the Lady in Japan) was Mario's original girlfriend and the original damsel-in-distress in the arcade game Donkey Kong who was captured by the original Donkey Kong. She is one of the few damsels in the Mario series who is not a princess, but a simple woman.

First Rescue
Upon her kidnapping, Mario climbed up the building to save her from Donkey Kong, along the way collecting various articles Pauline had dropped, such as her purse or umbrella, for bonus points. However, after this appearance, she was suddenly dropped as damsel and love interest to Mario, in favor of Princess Peach.

Prolonged Absence and Reappearance
Pauline did not make any more appearances, with exception to a cameo in Pinball, until the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong released twelve years after the original arcade game, where she was given a complete redesign. She would appear again twelve years afterwards in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, in which she was once again captured. Mario saved her with the help of the Mini Mario Toys. The relationship status of Mario and Pauline went unmentioned in the game, and the manual stated that they are now simply good friends.

Physical Description
Pauline is depicted as having blue eyes that are somewhat lighter in color to Mario's, however due to her sparse appearances in Mario games it is unknown if this color was intentional or will be reoccurring, her hair is of a dark brown color with what appears to be under tones of burgundy in some official art; Pauline's hair is styled high to show her forehead and is long. Pauline wears a lot of makeup - her choice is violet eye shadow, red lipstick and nail polish, also her eyebrows are very defined and large.

Her attire consists of gold earrings that appear to be small circles with odd shaped ovals hanging from them, with a matching gold bangle/ bracelet on her left arm, she wears a tight reaveling red dress which so far has only been seen ripped at the bottom so the type of trim it may have or true length is unknown, she wears black high heels with a strap securing them in some art of Pauline.

Appearances in Other Media

 * In the Super Mario Bros. movie, there is a character named Daniella. Like Pauline, she is Mario's girlfriend with no royalty status.
 * Pauline appeared in the CBS series Saturday Supercade in 1983, but as Mario's niece rather than girlfriend. She was voiced by Judy Strangis.
 * Pauline had a small cameo in Nintendo Monopoly.
 * In the Nintendo Comics System comic "Cloud Burst", Mario mentioned having an ex-girlfriend whom he compared to Princess Toadstool and Luigi compared to Bowser. It is possible (though unconfirmed) that this ex-girlfriend was Pauline.

Trivia

 * Pauline was named after Polly James, the wife of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager, Don James. However, it has also been argued that her namesake is the damsel-in-distress featured in the eponymous movie serial The Perils of Pauline.
 * In Japan, Pauline was first called Lady. She was renamed to Pauline in American ports, similar to Jumpman being renamed Mario. In Japan she was renamed to her American name starting with the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong.