Western influence has clearly taken ahold of the Mario franchise following Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. Movie adaptation.
Nintendo have quietly altered the key art design for their upcoming first party exclusive, Princess Peach: Showtime! so that her facial features resembles Princess Peaches’ design as depicted in the animated Mario movie that hit theaters to universal acclaim, with Illumination’s adaptation raking in over a billion dollars at the box office.
Formally announced on September 14th, Princess Peach: Showtime! is the second game in the Mario franchise where Peach herself hogs the entire spotlight, with the action-adventure title set to release on March 22nd 2024.
But this hasn’t stopped Nintendo altering its promotional artwork in a seemingly last minute decision to pander towards Mario’s newfound audiences following the commercial success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Old Key Art.
New Key Art.
Princess Peaches iconic face has seemingly been demolished at least in terms of promotional artwork featuring the iconic heroine so that she closely resembles her depictions in the recent Mario movie.
Obviously, Princess Peach: Showtime! has been in development for quite some time, but it’s only a matter of years before Peaches’ iconic look will be dulled down to match her third rate Pixar design in games and other media as time goes by.
Peach’s appearance has undergone notable alterations, including more pronounced eyebrows, much smaller eyelashes, and a more defined nose.
This is merely a last minute cover change so that Princess Peach can be more recognizable to modern audiences, specifically western ones who flocked into theaters in April of this year to watch Illumination’s animated spectacle.
The west has given Nintendo a boat load of cash, the Mario movie was an astounding success outside of Japan so obviously Nintendo are going to take notice and cater towards their newfound gaijin audience, however given the nature of how this will eventually play out, people are rightfully disappointed with the cover art changes made to Princess Peach: Showtime!
Several people made notion of how western releases of various Kirby games had had their cover art altered depicting Kirby as being far stronger, assertive and more aggressive instead of being cutesy and innocent as seen in JP releases.
However the changes made to Princess Peach: Showtime! isn’t just exclusive to western regions as even the Japanese rendition has also been altered.
Speaking of the Japanese, I wonder what JP consumer reception has been towards Peaches’ Americanized makeover?
Tough crowd.
Many western simpletons alike are embracing the change, citing how Peach’s expressions have become more denounced and “defined”, her distinct girly caricature has been demolished into becoming your run of the mill Pixar animated garbage, unoriginal, mundane and far less iconic.
But in all honesty this sort of thing should have been expected, with the Super Mario Bros. Movie raking in over $575 Million dollars in the United States (and Canada) alone, with the movie further grossing $785 Million dollars across the rest of the world (including China).
Nintendo has made absolute bank with the Mario movie thanks to Illumination, the worthless sacks of shit who gave the world Minions (and The Lorax), North America was by far the largest spenders for the movie and given how Nintendo and the entire Mario franchise is a worldwide phenomenon it only makes sense that Nintendo would be desperately trying to market the Mario franchise to these western nations who of course went out in droves to watch 2023’s animated flick.
Fans can potentially look forward to Nintendo drastically altering Peaches’ actual design in future Mario titles so that she more closely resembles her appearance in the Super Mario Bros. Movie which will more than likely be getting a sequel several years from now.
