Princess Peach
Princess Peach is a video game character that first appeared in the NES video game Super Mario Bros.
In Super Mario Bros., Peach (known as Toadstool back then) was kidnapped by King Bowser, so Mario needed to rescue her. He went through eight castles, but each of the first seven was guarded by a fake Bowser and the only person trapped there was a Toad.
Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
After completing all seven castles, Mario finally found the princess.
In Super Mario Bros. 2, players could actually play as Princess Toadstool (as well as Mario, Luigi and Toad) on their quest to save the dream land of Subcon. Her main ability was that she floated for a few seconds after each jump.
In Super Mario Bros. 3, the princess sent items to Mario and Luigi, while they saved the Mushroom Kings. However, later on, King Bowser kidnaps Toadstool and the Mario Bros. must save her.
For Mario's first SNES game, Super Mario World, the game went back to the original plot: Save the Princess from King Bowser. Mario and Luigi rescued Toadstool with the help of Yoshi.
In SMW2: Yoshi's Island, Toadstool was not in the game at all. Instead, Baby Mario and Yoshi rescued Baby Luigi from Kamek the Magikoopa.
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a SNES game made by Squaresoft, Toadstool was one of Mario's party, along with Mallow, Geno and King Bowser. Her healing abilities made her one of the most important members of the group.
Super Mario 64 once again reverted to the old plot: Save the princess from King Bowser. Toadstool baked a cake for Mario, but when he came to the castle, Toad told him that King Bowser had kidnapped Toadstool... again. This is the first game that called the princess Peach. She has been called Peach in all games afterwards, except for Super Mario 64 DS. In Paper Mario, the second Mario RPG, King Bowser once again kidnapped Peach, and Mario rescued her, with the help of Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Bow, Parakarry, Sushie, Watt and Lakilester.
Peach didn't appear at all in Luigi's Mansion. However, some Toads mention her, eg. The princess will be so mad!
In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario, Peach and Toadsworth go to Isle Delfino. However, Shadow Mario (who turns out to be Bowser Jr.) has filled the island with grafitti, and Mario is forced to clean it up with FLUDD. Peach turns out to be Bowser Jr.'s mother, but then King Bowser admits that it was a lie.
Peach had her voice stolen by Cackletta and Fawful in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the third Mario RPG. But it turns out that it wasn't really Peach at all; it was Birdo, who disguised herself as Peach to trick Cackletta. When Bowletta kidnaps Peach, Luigi dresses himself up in Peach's spare dress to fool Bowletta and Fawful into thinking he is Peach. The plan works, until Luigi accidentally reveals his moustache.
In the final Mario RPG, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Peach is kidnapped again, but not by King Bowser - she is kidnapped by Grodus, the leader of the X-Nauts and taken to the X-Naut Moon Base. You can control Peach after each chapter, like in the original Paper Mario, and a computer named TEC falls in love with her and betrays Grodus to help Peach escape. Grodus destroys TEC when he finds out, and takes her to the Palace of Shadow, where the Shadow Queen, the ancient 1000-year old demon, posesses Peach and fights Mario. However, she finds Peach's body too weak and returns to her true form (a purple monster) for the final battle.
Peach is also playable in the Mario Party and Mario Kart series, as well as the Mario sports games.
