The Life of a Simple Gamer

Nintendo's Long History With Blondes

Ever notice that all of the Big N's major female characters are blondes? This phenomenon has been in place since the advent of Donkey Kong back in 1981. Back in those days, players had to guide Jumpman (the early version of Mario) up beams and over barrels to defeat DK and save his hapless girlfriend, a blonde lass known as Pauline.

Jump forward a few years, and suddenly we have Mario marching his way towards Bowser's castle in aim of rescuing the fair Princess Peach (Toadstool). While originally a red head, the Princess immediately became the damsel of choice in the Mario universe and replaced poor Pauline, who was hardly heard from again. Perhaps to symbolize this fact, the Princess' hair color was gradually lightened over time until she became the pristine blonde we know today.

But the blonde trend didn't stop with Peach. The Legend of Zelda series introduced the brunette Princess Zelda, who, by the time A Link to the Past appeared (the third game of the series), now had a blonde mane of her own. And then there's Samus from the Metroid series. As with Zelda, she started her game career as a brunette but was made a bodacious blonde by the third game of the series, Super Metroid. Lastly, there's Paula from the Earthbound games. Like a miniaturized Princess Peach, she has long blonde hair and even wears a pink dress.

So, is there a point to this post? Not really. This is just an observation of Nintendo's odd infatuation with blonde, and fair skinned, female leads. And, being a fan of the blonde beauties myself, I'm not complaining, although sometimes I still catch myself imagining Princess Peach as the cute red head I remember from the old Super Mario Super Show cartoon. *sigh* There's just something about red heads. . .

In other news, I'm going to be out of town for the next several days so there will not be any updates until sometime late next week. Have a cool holiday! Until next time. . .

posted by GamerDan @ 9/03/2005 12:45:00 AM