Princess Peach has been a Nintendo staple for many years now, and after appearing in numerous titles as both the damsel in distress and also the supporting roles in many of the Mario Kart and sport games, she finally got her own title to shine in - Super Princess Peach. However, is Super Princess Peach actually, as the article references, "Nintendo’s most politically incorrect game ever"?

From the article:

Given the limited amount of gameplay actions that can be included in a game, video game characters are always bound to be limited and cartoony. This is particularly true in action games. Other genres, such as adventures or RPGs offer a broader set of actions and they arguably allow for richer characters. Games are, by definition, an abstracted, simplified version of whatever they simulate. What is important here is not the limitation itself but being aware of its existence. Game actions should not be selected solely on the basis of gameplay but also taking into account that game characters are defined by the actions they can perform. Super Princess Peach is crafted solely through her emotions and her cute pink dress. I am not necessarily suggesting that Peach should go join Lara Croft’s women liberation army, burn her bra and buy an M-16. But at the very least, Peach should be allowed to have some fun without being portrayed as a mood swinger.

On an incidental note, I would like to mention that a few months after Super Princess Peach was released, Nintendo launched another Mario platform game for the Nintendo DS: New Super Mario Bros. This game featured new superpowers for Mario, too. Rather than using his emotions, Mario was able to shift sizes, from tiny to enormous. I never thought about this until I wrote this article but Nintendo’s choice of female and male superpowers for both games in nothing short of hilarious. One game defines women as emotionally unstable while the other one presents boys as being obsessed with their size. Why is Mario so worried about how big he can be? Who is he trying to impress? Has Luigi been recently dating somebody? Are the mushrooms an aphrodisiac? What is Yoshi’s gender? I always thought Yoshi was male but he lays eggs. As you can see, sex in the Mario world can be quite a complex topic. That is why Nintendo should try not to oversimplify it with stereotypes.

Read the full article over at seriousgamessource.com