Never trust the Mario movie. I cannot stress this enough. I'm now going to put the lowdown on this Mario-Luigi-Peach-Daisy dispute that's been reeking through forums and chats everywhere. This is coming from an experienced Mario fanatic who's read a majority of the Mario comics, seen all the old cartoons, and played all the Mario games ever released in the U.S. And this includes "Hotel Mario," "Mario Teaches Typing," etc. Heck, you name it, I've played it. Except perhaps for Wrecking Crew. Never could get a hold of that. Anyway, that's beside the point. What follows is my analysis on the Mario love scene. It will, I am sure, arouse certain people to respond negatively, but I doubt many have spent the time I have (dozens of hours, at least) pondering the characteristics of Mario characters. I've done my best to analyze and get a deep perspective into the workings of each character, a perspective far deeper than most Mario games permit. My opinions on the relationships between the aforementioned four characters are based on research involving all Mario resources available.
I'm going to begin the actual analysis by restating my most important observation. Whatever you see in the Super Mario Bros. Movie is bogus. DO NOT use it as a representation of Mario. Its relation to the world created by Mr. Miyamoto is zip. He, as well as most NOA officials have repeatedly tried to sever any connections made between that movie and the actual Mario characters.
However, that movie is the cause for this whole argument in the first place. Princess Daisy has never quite been forgotten because of her role in that movie. As a matter of fact, Daisy was never Peach, and Nintendo never pulled a switcheroo as some people may claim (claims weakly supported by the changes in their hair color throughout the years). The princess featured in the movie was supposed to be Peach, but the name "Peach" had not yet been introduced to the U.S., and had existed only as the name for the princess in Japan. Deciding that the princess needed a first name for the film, the script writers decided to use the name "Daisy", taken from the name of the princess saved by Mario in Super Mario Land. The love shown between the Daisy in the film (who was technically Peach; remember, Daisy is princess of Sarasaland, not the Mushroom Kingdom) and Luigi would have a lasting effect on Mario fans. However, as the years went by, that whole naming fiasco was largely forgotten, the movie itself heavily criticized for its lack of any true relation to the real Mario story. For instance, as it is now believed that the Mario Bros. are fraternal twins, the age difference between Mario and Luigi in the film was preposterous. Furthermore, the character traits were heavily flawed; Mario was portrayed as a prudent nagger, much unlike the happy-go-lucky chance-taking Mario Miyamoto created, and Luigi was shown as a young [jerk] with no care whatsoever for danger, exactly the opposite of the intelligent but highly cowardly Luigi known in the cartoons and video games.
I was really devastated when Camelot decided to resurrect the character of Daisy in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. I immediately knew that, with her resurrection, the movie's influence on the minds of fans would return. And sure enough, it did, with fans everywhere immediately pointing to Luigi-Daisy and Mario-Peach relationships. Before Daisy's re-emergence, these subjects had barely even been contemplated.
However, I was pleased to find that, since then, there has NEVER been any official declaration of these relationships either by Miyamoto or any video game. There has only been hints to them, most of which can easily be misread. Of all the hints, only three have ever seriously pointed them out, and all three of these sources have yet to prove anything. Here they are, and here's why:
1. The most obvious would be the mentioning of Daisy as being a possible solution to Luigi for "Mario's Peach" in Super Smash Bros. Melee. This statement, however, actually cancels itself out. I was surprised to see the number of fans who took this mention as literal. It, in fact, is anything but that. The reason is the highly stressed word, "gossips", which notes who the article in the Daisy trophy refers to. The article is merely stating that "gossips", or fans, are the ones stating these rumors. Nowhere does it say it is official. The other thing that gives away its unreliability is its statement of "Mario's Peach". While that is immediately interpreted by most that Mario and Peach are in love, I'd like to ask something: prove it. Again, Nintendo has only released HINTS of this in games and such (the Paper Mario series is notorious for this) but it has never been made official. As far as one can seriously prove, Mario and Peach are only friends. In the end, the statement of "Mario's Peach" is shallow indeed. And besides, why should one take the word of an article that states that Daisy reappeared in Mario Golf, an error (shame on you, HAL!) that immediately makes me question the knowledge the creator of that article had of the Mario universe.
2. Daisy's partnering with Luigi in Mario Tennis (N64). Of the three evidences, this is the shallowest. There simply is nothing that it proves. So if Mario decided to partner with Peach, who else would Luigi partner with? Seeing as everyone else already had a partner in the game, there was no one left but the newbie Daisy. Quite put, there is no evidence in this. Besides, never trust a Mario game that's beside the story. In other words, take caution when studying characters in Mario Parties and the Mario sports games, as their personalities are all too often mangled.
3. This is, while not the most famous, definitely the most deadly of the evidences. It is Nintendo Power's insistence on stating it simply as follows: Peach is Mario's girlfriend. Daisy is Luigi's girlfriend. This reasoning that, unfortunately, Nintendo Power applies as often as it can is utterly disgusting to me, who has studied the Mario universe far too much to be slandered with such stupid logic. My argument against Nintendo Power's insistence on that is this: they are nothing but editors who, while directly connected with Nintendo, often know very little about the fine details of a Nintendo series. This is all too true when one reads what they often write. Quite frankly, while evidence of a topic CAN be taken from a Mario comic published in NP (more on that later), evidence simply CANNOT be taken from a Nintendo Power editor. Further evidence of this can be found in one of the volumes (too lazy to find it), when the editor questioned a reader's insistence that Toad's mushroom cap was, indeed, a cap. It is one of the most well known facts that the mushroom people's mushroom heads are indeed caps, and it quickly showed me the wrong in believing that "because they work for Nintendo, they know everything about Mario". I was also not happy when they didn't publish my statements on this Daisy subject in a letter I wrote, yet published the rest of it; "space constraints"? I think it was more likely the dangerous potential they knew my statements would contain. But again, that's beside the point, and I think I'm getting a bit haughty there.
Now then, I'm going to proceed further into the depths of the characters' personalities. This is where it becomes murky, with the end result nearly treason. I'm going to begin with saying that, in my opinion, old evidence is perfectly suitable when engaging in this type of analysis, even if some of the old has been discontinued, so long as nothing proven in the old contradicts what is proven in the new. In short, something such as the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, which, while old, can be used as evidence in support of an argument as long as the evidence being used does not contradict anything put forth by modern video games or official Mario stories (of which there have been none in a long time). The reason in permitting this use of old stuff is merely because the new stuff rarely provides enough information to allow for proper conclusions. Besides, it is quite easy to see that, with the notable exception of Princess Peach, the personalities of all the Mario characters as remained the same since the time of the old cartoons and comics.
I will wander off a bit to further discuss this before continuing with the main argument. I distinctly remember the commotion made about Luigi with the release of "Luigi's Mansion" in 2001. Across forums everywhere, so-called "Luigi fans" were raging about how "Nintendo has ruined their character". No longer did people believe Luigi to be a laid back kind of guy (a misconception caused by the Luigi in the 1993 movie; ugh, it never ceases to haunt). I was, however, fully expecting this reaction. Indeed, I had always knew Luigi to be cowardly, shy, and the rest. That was because I had been around to remember the Luigi of the olden days.
The negative reaction to the "new" Luigi was a direct result of his neglection during the Nintendo 64 era. People do not realize that a character's personality is more often than not overlooked in a video game. With the fall of the cartoons and comics, new coming Mario fans had only modern games like Super Mario 64 to look to to understand the characters. It became immediately established that Mario was a cheery, albeit hyper guy. However, not including side games which I have already called unreliable, Luigi did not make a single significant appearance on the Nintendo 64. His role in Paper Mario was insufficient to decipher his character. Thus, "newbie" Mario fans came to rely on side games like Mario Kart to dictate the personalities of characters, resulting in Luigi merely being portrayed as a "I'm a Luigi, number one!" kind of person. What this resulted in was this: people took to liking Luigi for what he was not. It was not until a real game significant to the Mario story that Luigi made a true comeback. "Luigi's Mansion" was the game that re-established Luigi's personality; to the new Luigi fans, blinded by his roles in Mario Kart and Mario Party, this was an earth shattering awakening. But to me, who had been watching the Mario series for so long, this was merely a "It's about time" moment. The fact is that Nintendo had never forgotten Luigi's cowardly role in the old cartoons and stories, and had merely resurrected that in the first game that truly showed his personality. Unlike modern fans, the developers of "Luigi's Mansion" researched back into the old days of the Mario universe, and did, in fact, take their personality from old resources, most of which were too old for the modern Luigi fans to know about.
It is with that reasoning that I consider old resources as legit unless they clash with modern ones. I thus divert myself back to the main topic (finally!).
Now then. I have decided to state the conclusion of my analysis first, and then to use evidence to support it afterwards. Quite frankly, this conclusion is quite earth shattering for many Mario fans. Here it is:
There IS NO love relationship between Luigi and Daisy. Rather, Luigi is MOST LIKELY in love with Princess Peach Toadstool, but merely in vain, as she is MOST LIKELY to eventually be with Mario. In conclusion, the evidence heavily suggests that both Mario Bros. are secretly in love with Peach, but that she prefers Mario over Luigi, who will, as usual, end up empty-handed.
There are several specific things that support this.
1. This is the obvious: Luigi often helps to save Princess Peach. Indeed, he and Mario really have little need to without motivation. Luigi will often help, but it is fairly obvious he does so for a reason more obvious than just to help his brother. It may be to save the kingdom, it may be due to a secret affection for Peach, it may be to help his brother. I think it's all three. Never has he helped save Daisy, though the fact that she's been in only one real Mario game (Super Mario Land) may be a valid excuse. On a side note, there was a heavy aura of Mario caring for Daisy in this game, as well as subsequent comics featuring her. This can actually be evidence that Daisy herself actually has feelings for Mario, and thus the idea that she can be paired with Mario is not entirely absurd. Nowhere, besides in gossips' mouths, is there incriminating evidence that she prefers Luigi to Mario.
2. The Mario Bros. children's book, "Trapped in the Perilous Pit". In this book (which, by the way, possessed loads of the traditional Mario comedy, despite its age) there is a seen in which Luigi was picking flowers for Peach which turned out to be fire flowers that he used to get Mario out of a tight fix (very similar to a future Mario cartoon). The obviously shy Luigi also made some infatuating statements about her earlier in the book to Mario, I believe, though it's been several years since I've read it. I have the book lying somewhere under all my packed junk.
3. The second Mario vs. Wario comic published in Nintendo Power, written by Charlie Nazawa. Arguably the best Mario comic ever published in the United States, this one is also the comic with the heaviest evidence of Luigi's true feelings. Written after the Mario Bros. movie, it is relatively modern and made after Daisy's creation and rumored position (by gossips) as Luigi's love. This was a hilarious comic, at the end of which Luigi outsmarted Mario and Wario and gave the gift Peach truly wanted to her. The result shows Luigi's reaction to being kissed by Peach. Usually the shy one, Luigi becomes overjoyed (and red in the face) following the smooch, in front of which stand the jealous and exhausted Mario and Wario. As we all know, Luigi is not accustomed to receiving that type of gratification.
There are several other pieces of evidence that are not quite as important, and since I have already practically written a novel here, I will not include them.
My point is this: there is NO proof of a relationship between Luigi and Daisy other than the words of mere gossips, while there IS incriminating evidence that Luigi is in fact secretly in love with Princess Peach. However, as we can all see in the very same stories and also in modern video games (especially the Paper Mario series), there is also most likely a strong attraction between Mario and Peach which will eventually leave Luigi a solo loser. As he is my favorite character, it is with regret that I must state that Luigi's "L" on his cap can possess a double meaning.
That being said, it is also well known that Mario is quite a "player" (Player 1!). Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door showed Mario's charming effects on nearby females, an effect he's had on everybody in the Mario universe ever since the old stories and games. A happy personality like Mario's always results in more friends and attractions. Perhaps that is why Peach and (most-likely) Daisy are attracted to him. On the other hand, a shy and cowardly Luigi practically has no friends. Just look at the comments made toward him by other characters in Superstar Saga and 64 DS. It is like in real life. Very few people like a "nerd", which has now become a kind of insult, and Luigi, who is undoubtedly smarter than any other Mario character (I don't want to have to go arguing on this either; just take my word for it, or else I'll have to write another whole proof, resulting in another 3 hours of my time wasted), is the number one nerd in the Mario series.
However, my own personal opinion, which is irrelevant to the evidence put forth previously, is this: Daisy would make a better couple for Mario, and Peach would be better for Luigi. The reason for this is the personality difference. Other than the obvious cases of magnets and males/females, I seriously question the saying "Opposites attract". In personality cases, the reverse is true. One is more easily attracted to another who shares the same interests. In this sense, look at the personalities of the characters. Mario is the outspoken, hyper, muscle over brains brother. He is the more cheery, optimistic one. Daisy would make a more suitable match for him because of her personality. She too is hyper, outspoken, and indeed tomboyish. On the other hand, Luigi, who is shy, cowardly yet intelligent, as well as quite a bit more pessimistic (and realistic) than his brother, would be a better match for Peach, who is also relatively quiet, gentler than Daisy, and less sportive (this is what is different between the Peach in books and today and the Peach in the cartoon, who, despite who she was, acted much more like Daisy).
Ok, I've finished my analysis. Here come the rants and flames!
Edited by - Sapphira on 8/10/2005 1:43:32 PM
