The Super Mario franchise has introduced countless characters since 1985, from heroes and villains to mere damsels in distress. Which begs the question, who's the best and most iconic female Mario characters of all time?
10. Goombella
9. Birdo
Birdo is fabulous as the large diamond ring on her pudgy fingers. First appearing in Doki Doki Panic (later rebranded Super Mario Bros. 2), Birdo's role went from minor enemy to a staple spin off character and chummy love interest to Yoshi.
8. Dixie Kong Debuting in Donkey Kong Country 2 as Diddy Kong's sweetheart and the first playable female primate, Dixie Kong brings girl power, beret fashion and air time to the Kong world.
Although slower than her chimp boyfriend, Dixie can use her blonde hairdo as a helicopter, to whip baddies into next year and lift heavy objects.
7. Toadette
The most commonly recurring female Toad in the Mario series is Toadette, a bubbly, energetic and borderline special pink-capped Toad with pigtails.
Introduced in Mario Kart Double Dash as a racing partner for Toad, Toadette for years was only used to fill out the roster of spin-off titles, however she finally got her big break in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker as the second main character and deuteragonist.
6. Rosalina
To the lazy eye Rosalina could be summed up as nothing more than a lazy reskin of Peach who lives in outer space, which would be fair, however she is one of the few Mario characters with a backstory.
First appearing in Super Mario Galaxy, her storybook describes her as an extremely powerful figure whose responsibility is to protect the Cosmos, while also serving as a surrogate mother to the Lumas and overlooking the Comet Observatory.
5. Captain Syrup
Wario's primary antagonist in the Wario Land series is an infamous pirate woman called Captain Syrup who sails the seven seas with her Black Sugar Gang crew to loot and plunder riches.
Like Wario she is just as greedy for treasure which presumably led to their heated rivalry in the first place. Notably she is the first female villain introduced from the extended Mario universe.
4. Pauline
Donkey Kong marks the debut of Mario's original love interest Pauline and the first lady of Nintendo, a damsel in distress taken hostage by a big ape aka the titular kidnapper.
Pauline became an obscure character after Peach was introduced as her replacement in Super Mario Bros. After a long absence she reprised her hapless role in Mario Vs. Donkey.
A decade later in Super Mario Odyssey. she plays a prominent supporting role as the mayor of New Donk City.
3. Wendy O. Koopa
Originally considered to be Boswer's daughter until the lore was changed, she is the only female member of the Koopalings and is quite prominent with a magic wand.
2. Princess Daisy
As a sporty tomboy with an energetic personality, Daisy clearly isn't your average princess. The princess of Sarasaland first appeared in Super Mario Land to fill the spot of a damsel in distress.
Despite this Daisy was described as an energetic tomboy, which continued to be her defining trait in later games and stopped fans calling her a Peach clone.
Super Mario Land is the only mainline Mario game Daisy has appeared in, and since then she has pretty much only being used to fill the roster of spin-off games. This in turn has made her an easy to root for underdog character.
1. Princess Peach
First appearing in Super Mario Bros, this kind natured princess is ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and a damsel in distress who is frequently kidnapped by Bowser and his henchmen.
She has appeared in more games than any other female video game character in history and is naturally the heart and soul of the Mario franchise.
Peach gets to relax in spin-off games which involve kart racing, life sized board games and sports activities like golf and tennis. She even starred in her own game "Super Princess Peach" where she was the one rescuing the Mario Bros.