Scantily Clad Princesses (56K warning, I guess)

[Dances in Undergarments]

EDIT; Some pictures from Nintendo Japan's site have been added to clearly see the shriking of the outfits. Unfortunately they are missing her head. Whatever.

Looking through screenshots of Super Mario Strikers, and following the discussion in one of the SSB threads, I thought i might bring this up....

When Princess Peach (and Princess Daisy) first appeared, they appeared to be very formally dressed, in long dresses, long sleeves, and barely any skin showing.



Then, Super Mario Sunshine came along, and, in a vain attempt to fulfill Shigeru's comments about this Mario game being "more mature", Peach lost her sleeves, in a move that now doubt left all of the time travellers from the 1920s giggling like modern children over the number "69".



Then Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour appeared, and we saw a new side of Peach - her legs. Gone was the long, formal dress - it had been replaced with mini-skirt, that, lets just say, wasn't exaggerating the word "mini". Daisy didn't get a minskirt, though - she got some tiny hotpants, that could very well have been considered more "mini" than the mini-skirt.



Not to let that Tomboy out do her, Peach also appeared in tiny hotpants in Mario Superstar Baseball, though that might of just been to stop the geeks that would make her slide for the ball constantly and check every single angle of the replay.



But they didn't stop there. The Super Mario Strikers artwork reveal that Peach has gone even further, playing in a tiny, stomch-showing sports top, and seemingly even smaller hot pants....




...or, as I've seen it put on another forum, a bra and panties combo. And with these screen grabs of Strikers, it seems they aren't too far off.




...so, whats next for the princesses? Will we see them in a see-through top and g-string combo in the next Mario sport? And what happens after that? Full frontal nudity? I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

(and the whole time, neither Mario, Luigi, Wario or Waluigi seems to have made a move - maybe Bowser's the only sane one of all of them).

Anybody else notice this? Or am I just a weirdo pervert?

EDIT: There were meant to be more pictures, but they don't appear to be showing or I didn't have enough time to find them)

[Andronicus]

Well, while a "weirdo pervert" you may very well be, I noticed this too when I saw the new artwork for the game.

And before I go on, I know I've gone and bagged out Mario spin-offs, but out of all of them, this one appeals to me the most, as I love soccer, and always thought the sport would suit Mario.

Back on topic.
Yeah, they seem to be reducing Peach's clothing lately - it's still nothing indecent by modern day clothing methinks, so, yeah.
Dunno what to say really...
Not sure where they'll go from here.

Kind of funny though - this appears to be Nintendo trying to make the character more provocative, yet the environment is still a cartoony world where strange dinosaur creatures and mushroom people make high-pitched noises as theyrun around below the clouds with eyes...
Kind of conflicted.

I can't say I'm surprised though.
I mean, in PM on the GCN, that HAL-inspired computer acted like a real creep... and the whole Peach taking a shower thing...
It's exactly like you said DIU - it seems on par to induce childish giggling and gawking by childish minds.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh.
I'm sure it's just Nintendo keeping with the times, and trying to make their product "cool", which seems to be important in the industry nowadays.
As long as the series doesn't go all cartoon GTA on us, then I guess it isn't hurting anyone.

Fin.

[Fryguy64]

They're just wearing sporty clothes. I can't really imagine anyone playing soccer dressed to the nines in full regal frock, can you? At least not very well, anyway

And Mario has changed his outfit for the game... check out his awesome snazzy soccer outfit

[Sqrt2]

admin said:

They're just wearing sporty clothes. I can't really imagine anyone playing soccer dressed to the nines in full regal frock, can you? At least not very well, anyway

Both Daisy and Peach manage to play sports well in the Mario Party games without needing to change costume.

[Hiker of Games]

I've been seeing a lot of people who don't like the evolution of clothing. I really don't see the big deal. As long as it doesn't become DOA Volleyball, I don't see anything wrong with it.

[Nester the Lark]

I agree with Fry. I think it's just meant to look more natural than seeing her play sports in a formal princess dress. I did, however, notice that she had some navel showing this time around. But expecting it to "go too far" might be like thinking there's actually a hidden nude scene in the original Metroid. Nintendo just isn't going to do it.

I don't think it's a big deal, though. Besides, I don't see how this makes her look more "mature" when she still has that giant cartoon head.

I do notice when video game characters change their clothes, though. I don't know why, but I wish it would happen more often. In fact, I've always been fascinated with the subtle (and not-so-subtle) changes Link's outfit has gone through over the years.

Incidentally, I really like the artwork for the soccer/football game. It does look cooler than most official Mario artwork, but I think it's because of the rough, sketchy style and action poses.

masamune said:

I've been seeing a lot of people who don't like the evolution of clothing. I really don't see the big deal. As long as it doesn't become DOA Volleyball, I don't see anything wrong with it.

That's it! That's the next Mario sports game! Mario eXtreme Beach Volleyball! I'm not looking forward to seeing Mario in a bikini, though.

[Fryguy64]

Mario's been seen in a number of outfits over the years. Ignoring his various dungaree/shirt colour changes, he had short shirt sleeves in Sunshine, followed by the magnificently garish Shine Sprite shirt and shades (come on SSB3 alternate outfit!!)... and then we even got to see him in his underpants during the opening of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

And don't forget Luigi in Peach's frock from the same game. Dude, that game had it ALL!!

In fact, they should ALL be alternate outfits in SSB3 ;D

[Dances in Undergarments]

I have no problem with the changes, personally, and I'm personally glad to see some outfit changes - in fact, Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi don't seem appropriately dressed in games like Mario Tennis - long pants, boots, gloves, etc are not exactly what you'd usually see on a tennis court. So I'm glad to see the changes in Strikers, which, I also have to agree, has some extremely cool artwork (love the Wario with the evil looking tongue).

Its just that I noticed this recently. The Paper Mario thing Andronicus brought up fits in rather well, and you could probably jump to some conclusions about the fact that at the start of this generation we were able to see up her dress in SSBM - though thats part of that particular game's style, which is why I didn't include it. But still.....

[Andronicus]

Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm not against this.
Nor am I opposed to modern style clothing, Masamune (BTW, Masamune, I spent some time goign through your site the other day, and your little extra comments for Advance Wars were pretty funny - good stuff!).

I agree that the new artwork looks bloody awesome - it's cartoony by cool at the same time - I think it's a look that suits the series very well.
And, the costume changes are a great move - about time the characters played sports in sporty clothes.

Heck, you know what DIU, I might actually get this game if it playes well!
(Even after my comments on the spin-offs... )

And yeah, the Mario and Wario pictures, in particular, look so damn cool.
I like.

SOCCER!
(Or FOOTBALL! of you live outside of Australia...)
;D

[Hiker of Games]

Thanks for the compliments, Andronicus.

Anyhoo. I really love the Super Mario Striker artwork style. Beforehand Mario & Luigi was different because it had a different style (and Luigi's striped socks are awesome). I for one am getting quite sick of all the renders they use for Mario nowadays. They were cool initially, but there's so many of them... and there's just no depth to them.

[Flip]

I agree whole-heartedly, Masamune. We need to see more artwork like this for Mario games; you can't do too much rendering a character in 3D without changing their initial design. But 2D art... there's something you can have true freedom with.

And am I the only one who noticed Wario suddenly got a white rim on the bill of his hat when he first stepped into 3D? I don't think it was there when he first appeared...

[Andronicus]

Wario did have the white rim in the 2D Wario Land game artwork.

I agree that the 2D artwork allows for more freedom - different interpretations of the same characters, allowing for some cool stuff.
Like those striped socks of Luigi's...
;D

[Adlubescence]

Between Paper Mario, Superstar saga, and Sunshine even, I've liked the evolution of the art of Mario.

Though if it gets to the point of anime, I'm going to wipe my memory.

[Sqrt2]

Personally, I've always wondered why Mario would visit a tropical island wearing his overalls and dungarees. I mean surely it would be terribly hot in those clothes.

Although I can't imagine him wearing anything else mind you.

Also didn't both Zelda and Peach wear short skirts in the Beta version of SSBM.

[Flip]

sqrt2 said:

Also didn't both Zelda and Peach wear short skirts in the Beta version of SSBM.

Where the heck did you see THAT?