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Princess Daisy (デイジー姫, Deiji-hime) is a fictional character in the Mario series of video games. She is the princess of the fictional region of Sarasaland. She first appeared in 1989's Super Mario Land for the Game Boy as the game's damsel in distress, a role usually played by Princess Peach. Along with Peach and Rosalina, she is one of the only female characters in the series. Since her appearance in 2000's Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 she has become a staple playable character in the Mario spin-off games, in which she is often paired up with Peach. It is often speculated that she is Luigi's answer to Mario's Peach, in that they share a romantic interest in each other, which was the case in the non-canon Super Mario Bros. film released in 1993, in which she was played by Samantha Mathis. Her official description for Mario Party 4 states that Luigi has a crush on her, but Waluigi does too, which may cause trouble.

Concept and creation

Super Mario Land's producer, Gunpei Yokoi, wanted to recreate the feeling of 1985's Super Mario Bros., only set in a separate world to the Mushroom Kingdom. This world would be Sarasaland, and Daisy would be its princess. However, later games mention that she now resides in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Sarasaland is only hinted in Daisy's biographies for the games. Her early design looks similar to her counterpart Princess Peach, except with reddish-brown hair, a yellow dress, and daisy-shaped earrings. In 2000's Mario Tennis, she was given darker skin, probably to reflect Sarasaland's oriental theme. This design endured until 2002's Mario Party 4, in which she was given her current design which, despite giving her lighter skin, distinguishes Daisy further from Peach by giving her shorter hair, and a rounder face with noticeably different features. In her first appearance, Daisy was described as a tomboy, a trait which has maintained throughout the games, with Daisy being depicted as a more cheerful and boastful character than Peach. In the sports games, she wears more athletic outfits instead of her usual dress, her colour scheme normally being yellow and orange. Her special abilities are often based around flowers - the daisy flower being her namesake. She is more powerful than Peach.

In Mario Tennis, Daisy is voiced by Kate Fleming. She was then voiced by Jen Taylor until 2003's Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on the Nintendo GameCube, in which Deanna Mustard took over the voice-acting role. Mustard has voiced Daisy since. In the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, she was portrayed by Samantha Mathis.

Appearances

In video games

Daisy's first, and so far only, appearance in a main game of the Mario series was in Super Mario Land released in 1989 for the Game Boy. Daisy is the princess of Sarasaland, a world outside of the series' usual setting of the Mushroom Kingdom, who is kidnapped by the tyrannical alien, Tatanga, who intends to marry her in order to gain control of her realm. Mario must traverse the four kingdoms of Sarasaland in order to track down Tatanga and rescue Daisy. She next made a small appearance in NES Open Tournament Golf in 1991 as Luigi's caddy. After that, however, she did not appear in a game for over ten years, after which she was brought back by Camelot Software Planning for Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, in order to give Peach a doubles partner. Since her appearance in Mario Tennis, Daisy has become a regular playable character in the Mario sports games, as well as appearing in all of the Mario Party games (except Mario Party Advance) since 2000's Mario Party 3 on the Nintendo 64, and all of the Mario Kart games (except Arcade GP and its sequel) since 2003's Double Dash!! on the Nintendo GameCube. She also appears in both games of the Mario Strikers series, (Mario Smash Football and Mario Strikers Charged); Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Super Sluggers, as well as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, where she had even more power than Wario. She also appeared in the tennis games, Mario Tennis and Mario Power Tennis; as well as the Square Enix games: Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Itadaki Street DS, Fortune Street, and Mario Sports Mix. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, she is a member of team Mario.

Daisy is also referenced in Super Smash Bros. Melee and its sequel Super Smash Bros. Brawl in which alternate colour schemes for Peach affect Daisy's dark hair and yellow dress. She also appears as a collectible trophy in both games, and on a number of collectible stickers in the latter. The infant version of Daisy, known as "Baby Daisy", is also playable alongside her adult self in 2008's Mario Kart Wii and Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii.

In other media

Daisy was one of the main characters of 1993's Super Mario Bros. film, loosely based on the games, in which she was portrayed by Samantha Mathis. In the film, Daisy is a student of archaeology at New York University who Luigi (John Leguizamo) falls in love with. Whilst digging for dinosaur bones under the Brooklyn Bridge, Daisy is kidnapped by two henchmen of King Koopa (Dennis Hopper), the dictator of an alternate world in which dinosaurs rule, of which Daisy is actually the princess. Luigi and Mario (Bob Hoskins) give chase in order to rescue her.

Daisy also appeared once again as the prisoner of Tatanga in some episodes of the Nintendo Comics System.

Reception

Daisy has received mixed reception from fans of the series, most criticism comparing her to Peach, probably due to her almost palette swap status. In 2010, Audrey Drake at IGN listed Daisy as a potential valentine for Mario, commenting that being his "bro's gal" made her a sort of "forbidden fruit", and that he had saved her during the events of Super Mario Land. On the GamerVision blog, GamerVision's "Coop" also wrote an article entitled "Top Ten Reasons Daisy is Better Than Peach", giving reasons ranging from her having a "less-annoying voice" and having a "better attitude", to Daisy being a better ruler due to the fact that Sarasaland has only been invaded once, whilst Peach's Mushroom Kingdom is always being invaded.Destructoid's Gamer's Red Carpet called "her choice of a brave yellow and orange combo dress... as flattering as it is retro", and that her dress and accessories "work much better than Peach's", grading her a B+ overall (whereas Peach's "old-fashioned" pink dress scored her a D). GameDaily listed Daisy at number 8 in a top-ten list of Mario characters who deserve their own game. Screw Attack's Jawbreaker Alumni, when comparing Daisy with Princess Peach and Rosalina, called Daisy his favourite Princess. Additionally, she is 6th on their Top 10 Mario characters. GamesRadar wrote that it became increasingly evident that Luigi also needs "his own princess", and Princess Daisy is the character he is closest to. IGN reviewed Daisy negatively, giving her a 4 out of 10, as opposed to Princess Peach which got an 8, Rosalina a 7 and Pauline an 8, however said that the "spark between Daisy and Luigi still burns bright". Screw Attack listed Princess Daisy 6th on their top ten female characters in Nintendo games. Screw Attack's The Guardian listed Luigi and Daisy's relationship 4th in their top 7 relationships. The pairing was again included in their Best EVER: Love Stories video. "Baby Daisy" has generally been poorly-received by fans and critics alike. 1up.com rated the baby as one of the worst Mario Kart Wii characters, saying "Baby Daisy? Seriously?" while criticising the game's playable roster.

Daisy's only recorded line from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! ("Hi I'm Daisy!") which was repeated for all of her actions and often out of context, gained infamy to the extent that it has received minor Internet meme status.

References

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (May 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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1. ^ "Top Ten Female Characters in Nintendo Games!". Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
2. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1550885/
3. ^ "What's The Difference? Peach vs. Daisy vs. Rosalina". Screw Attack. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
4. ^ Gilbert, Henry. "Page 3 - Luigi: A life in the shadows". GamesRadar. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
5. ^ Pirrello, Phil. "Mario's Ladies: The Princesses of Mario Galaxy". IGN. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
6. Hudson Soft (2002). Mario Party 4. Nintendo. Official description : Daisy is a feisty girl who loves to get dirty and play with the rest of the crowd. Luigi has quite a crush on her, and it's rumored there is an attraction between the two. Waluigi also happens to have a crush on Princess Daisy, which may well cause some trouble at the party...
7. Fahs, Travis. "IGN Presents The History of Gameboy". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
8. Hudson Soft. Mario Party 6. Nintendo. Peach missed female companionship until this girl with the orange hair moved into the Mushroom Kingdom.
9. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/dmg/mla/chara/index.html
10. Camelot Software Planning (2003). Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. Nintendo. Official bio : "Daisy packs more power than you might think, and her spin rating is high. She tends to slice the ball."
11. "Princess Daisy". IGN. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
12. "Mario Tennis Review". IGN. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
13. http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218684p1.html?RSSwhen2012-02-14_134200&RSSid=1218684&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ignfeeds%2Fwii+(IGN+Wii)
14. http://www.gamervision.com/users/coop/articles/top_ten_reasons_daisy_is_better_than_peach
15. http://web.archive.org/web/20081019010116/http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-10-nintendo-characters-that-deserve-their-own-games/?page=2
16. "Top 10 Mario Characters". Screw Attack. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
17. "Top 7 Relationships I Support". Screw Attack. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
18. "The Best EVER: Love Story". Screw Attack. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
19. Bettenhausen, Shane. "Mario Kart Wii Review". 1up.com. Retrieved May 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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