Pauline: Difference between revisions

|image=[[File:MKT Artwork Pauline.png|125px]]<br>In-game artwork of Pauline from ''[[Mario Kart Tour]]''

|latest_appearance=''[[The Super Mario Bros. Movie]]'' (2023)

|latest_portrayal=[[Kate Higgins]] ([[List of games by date#2017|2017]]–present)<br>[[Jessica DiCicco]] (English, 2023)

Pauline is stated by ''Game Over'', a 1993 non-fiction book by David Sheff, to be named after Polly James, wife of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager, {{wp|Don James (executive)|Don James}},<ref>Sheff, David. 1993. ''Game Over'', pg 109.</ref> a fact later confirmed by Don James himself at [[Nintendo]]'s E3 2018 [[Treehouse]] Live event.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CizC6MqyiJM&feature=youtu.be&t=8m50s</ref>

Lady makes her debut appearance in the 1981 arcade game ''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]'' as one of the first damsels-in-distress in any video game made before that time.

Lady is kidnapped by [[Donkey Kong]], a pet gorilla who was owned by her boyfriend [[Mario]].<ref>[http://themushroomkingdom.net/interview_miyamoto_nom18_feb2000.shtml Shigeru Miyamoto Interview]. The Mushroom Kingdom. (Retrieved July 1, 2012)</ref><ref>https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/donkey-kong-developer-interview</ref> She is taken up onto a building and loses [[Pauline's lost items|various articles]] (such as her parasol, hat and bag, which can be collected for bonus [[Point]]s) on the way. Mario then climbs up the building, avoiding all the hazards in the way, to rescue her. However, when Mario reaches the top of the building, Donkey Kong grabs Lady and takes her higher up, forcing Mario to do another level. After four [[level]]s, Donkey Kong is trapped as Mario removes the [[Bolt (object)|bolt]]s from the platform, sending Donkey Kong plummeting. Lady is finally saved by Mario, and they share a special moment together.

Lady also appears in the [[Game & Watch]] game ''[[Donkey Kong (Game & Watch)|Donkey Kong]]''. Like in the arcade game, she was kidnapped by the titular ape and brought to a construction site, with the objective being to have Mario rescue her by cutting wires holding Donkey Kong's platform together.

Pauline is set to be added to ''[[Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]'' as a playable character through the sixth and final wave of the [[Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass|Booster Course Pass]] DLC, alongside [[Diddy Kong]], [[Funky Kong]], and [[Peachette]]. Here, her earrings are noticeably larger than in ''Mario Kart Tour''. Pauline also has a new alternate racing outfit when using bikes and ATVs, similarly to Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina, though with notable differences.

[[File:Pauline Movie.jpg|thumb|left|Pauline being interviewed on TV]]

Pauline appears as a minor character in ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Movie]]'', in which she is the mayor of [[New York City]]. A {{media link|Giuseppe TSMBM.png|TV news headline}} states that she has been re-elected in a landslide victory. She wears the same outfit as in ''Super Mario Odyssey'', albeit without her hat.<ref>@NE_Brian (November 28, 2022). [https://nintendoeverything.com/super-mario-bros-movie-leaked-images-posters/nggallery/image/mario_bros_movie_poster_2 Lots of posters and images for The Super Mario Bros. Movie seemingly leaked]. ''Nintendo Everything''. Retrieved November 28, 2022.</ref> She first appears in the movie in a TV interview, reassuring citizens that the issue is under control and that they're close to fixing it, though she is instantly proven wrong when a manhole bursts like a geyser behind her, causing her to smile sheepishly. Near the end of the movie, she is among the crowd of citizens in Brooklyn congratulating [[Mario]] and [[Luigi]] for defeating [[Bowser]] and [[Koopa Troop|his army]]. An update to the SMBPlumbing.com website after the film's June home video release revealed Pauline gave the Mario Brothers a "Key to the City" and proclaimed a day of celebration on June 13, 2023.

In the US, the name Pauline first appeared in 1982 through the [[Donkey Kong (coloring/activity books)|''Donkey Kong'' activity books]] and {{media link|Pauline figurine.jpg|Coleco's figurine}}. Her name was further spread through ''[[Saturday Supercade]]'' and was eventually used in the MS-DOS, Apple II, Coleco Adam, and [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] ports; however, in Japan, she was still known as Lady in the [[Family Computer|Famicom]] version. Because the name Pauline was not used universally until her return in the Game Boy game where she was redesigned, the original version of the character and redesigned version were treated as separate characters in certain media in Japan, with the original version of the character being known as Lady and the new version being known as Pauline, although the two incarnations are never shown meeting together. This is likely due to the fact that Pauline was described as a "new heroine" when ''Donkey Kong'' for Game Boy was released in Japan, despite the fact that [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] and game director Masayuki Kameyama acknowledged in an interview that Pauline was previously used as the name of Lady outside Japan, as well as stating that the game was intended to be a prequel to ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' since Pauline was Mario's "old flame" (昔の彼女) before meeting Peach.<ref>任天堂公式ガイドブック　ドンキーコング [Official Nintendo Guidebook: Donkey Kong], ISBN 4-09-102485-8</ref> Additionally, an early title screen uses the phrase "Save the Lady from Donkey Kong" from arcade materials,<ref>Hard4Games (August 15, 2020). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSMcg6R4mnQ Nintendo LaserDisc! <nowiki>|</nowiki> Nintendo Power Previews LaserDisc V7 Preservation]. ''YouTube''. Retrieved August 25, 2020. {{media link|Game Boy Save The Lady From Donkey Kong Title Screen.png|Screenshot}}.</ref> further indicating that Pauline was intended to be Lady. After the release of the Game Boy game, the name Lady retained usage to refer to the original version of the character in Japan; for example, during [[The Cat Mario Show|the Cat Mario show]]'s coverage of some NES games, [[Cat Mario]], when asked by Cat Peach about the woman's identity, simply identified her as Lady.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnvbv1MQ2_s#t=424</ref>

Pauline is depicted as having light blue eyes, which had a violet hue before her appearance in ''Super Mario Odyssey'', long wavy dark brown hair (slightly darker in ''Mario Golf: Super Rush''), and fair skin. She has large slanted eyes with four long eyelashes at the top and three smaller lashes at the bottom (a total of seven), coupled with long defined arching eyebrows. Her face is oval in shape with a triangular nose and pointed chin. She is typically shown wearing violet eye shadow, dark red lipstick and nail polish.

Pauline has a curvy hourglass figure, in comparison to other human female characters. She has been shown as average height when compared to other adult human females in the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'' franchise]], such as in [[StreetPass Mii Plaza]]'s "Nintendo Heroines/Starlets" 3D puzzle showing her to be as tall as Peach, but is also shown to be taller in other games like in ''Super Mario Odyssey'', where her overall proportions have been changed to match the New Donk City populace, making her particularly tall, especially in comparison to Mario. In ''Mario Tennis Aces'', she appears to be very slightly shorter than Rosalina and taller than Peach by the same amount. On that note, in ''Mario Kart Tour'', Pauline occupies the large kart driver classification like Rosalina.

Pauline wears a fitted red halter neck dress with a bow knot connecting the straps behind her neck, and a low cut back. The dress, when not ripped, finishes just above her ankles and loosens to flair out about a third of the way down her legs. Pauline's accessories include a gold bangle on her left arm and large gold bead and teardrop-style earrings. She also wears black ankle strap high-heel pumps.

 

In ''Mario Tennis Aces'', Pauline wears a red sundress derived from her trademark dress. Also included in the build are red and white cross-trainer shoes and white ankle-length socks. Similarly to [[Princess Peach|Peach]], [[Princess Daisy|Daisy]], and [[Rosalina]], she wears a yellow and white sweatband on her right wrist that matches the color of her jewelry. In addition, she appears to have a black sports bra barely visible under her dress, and she wears a red sun visor over her forehead with a golden heart on the left side of the brim.

 

In ''Mario Kart Tour'', aside from her trademark dress, she also wore three additional outfits for her Pauline (Party Time), Pauline (Rose), and Pauline (Cowgirl) variants. The first is composed of a knee-length red skirt, red heels, black opera gloves, a pearl bangle on her left wrist, a sleeveless high-neck mirror-patterned top resembling a disco ball, large white pearl earrings, a gem-encrusted belt with golden borders consisting of spherical sapphires and smaller rectangular amethysts, and various decorations on her hair composed of various colored gems, hearts, and stars. For the second alternate form, she had a similar dress to her trademark dress, only black fading to a deeper shade of red near the bottom, as well as a poofy red collar around the chest that was reminiscent of a heart, a red beret with a heart design on top, matching red heart earrings with gold borders, red mary jane pumps with bows on the straps, and had a rose bouquet on her hand with a red ribbon. Her third alternate appearance consists of blue jeans, a tan belt with pouch and a pink heart onn its silver buckle, and a red, long-sleeved, plaid shirt with gold buttons and partially rolled sleeves, along with a sleeveless tan vest with small red heart pins that partially hides her brown suspenders. In addition, she wears red, heeled cowgirl boots with two white stripes at the top and tan soles, a red cowgirl hat with a purple hatband, a pink neckerchief, brown gloves, and gold earrings shaped like horseshoes.

 

In ''Mario Golf: Super Rush'', Pauline wears a sleeveless red polo shirt with a golden heart emblem near the collar, white cleats with black and red accents, and black leggings held up by a thin pink belt with a golden buckle. She also wears a red Newsboy cap and a matching golf glove on her left hand.

 

In ''Mario Strikers: Battle League'', she wears a soccer uniform consisting of a short-sleeved jersey and shorts with knee-length socks and cleats that can be customized with or without armor.

 

In ''Super Mario Odyssey'', she wears 1940s-style clothing: her first outfit is a red-colored pantsuit with a gold pin on the right collar as well as a purple hat while out in public, and her second outfit is her trademark dress, worn during the festival, albeit with sparkly details.

 

In ''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'', she wears her pantsuit, albeit without the pin, and her hat for a more modern look.

 

In ''[[Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]'', while she retains her trademark dress (yet with slightly sparkly details, similar to her appearance in ''Odyssey'') when riding karts, Pauline wears a red and white racing suit with cream-colored edges on the sides and chest when riding [[Bike|motorbikes]], as well as [[ATV]]s in the latter two titles. She also has a matching red belt and heeled boots with white edges on top. Additionally, her hair is also tied to the back in a ponytail for the first time. Unlike Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina, her suit lacks a scarf and gloves, and instead of heart design in the back, she has her emblem design as her belt buckle. She also holds a microphone when doing certain [[Trick|tricks]].

===''Super Smash Bros.'' series===

====''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' sticker====

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|'''Pauline''' & Donkey Kong

|[[File:Pauline & DK Sticker.png|100px]]

|''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]''

|align=left|[Arm] - Attack +18<br>'''Usable by:''' Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong

 

====''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' spirits====

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==Game appearances==

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|''[[Mario Tennis Aces]]''

|Playable character (version 2.3.0)

*"Lady" is Nintendo's third female video game character. She was preceded by ''[[Manhole (Game & Watch)|Manhole]]'''s "{{media link|Manhole MH-06 Bell2.png|alarm lady}}"<ref>[http://www.intheattic.co.uk/images/G&W/Review/Manhole/Manhole_MH-06_Page2-3.jpg ''Manhole'' instructions, page 3]</ref> released months earlier and another damsel-in-distress also called Lady in the 1979 arcade game ''{{wp|Sheriff (video game)|Sheriff}}''. While the bezel art for the upright cabinets called this brunette [[Betty]], the Japanese flyer,<ref>[https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=3423&image=2 ''Sheriff'' flyer back]</ref> magazine ads,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/game-machine-magazine-19791201p/page/n12/mode/1up Game Machine December 1, 1979 issue, page 24]</ref> and reviews<ref>[https://archive.org/details/game-machine-magazine-19791115p/page/n14/mode/1up Game Machine November 15, 1979 issue, page 28]</ref> used Lady instead. [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] worked on the art design for both ''Sheriff'' and ''Donkey Kong''.<ref>[https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/punchout/0/1/ Iwata Asks: Punch Out!!]</ref> In [[Family BASIC|Family BASIC V3]], Lady's embrace of Mario in one of the minigames reproduces a cutscene from ''Sheriff'' between Betty and the [[Sheriff (character)|Sheriff]].<ref>[https://youtu.be/4tAgYBfAOF4?t=1663 Family BASIC gameplay]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPreemTcUcQ ''Sheriff'' ending]</ref> Betty reappears in the [[Sheriff (minigame)|Sheriff minigame]] in ''[[WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!]]''.