Princess Daisy (character)

Princess Daisy (デイジー姫) is a fictional character in the Mario series of video games, where she is the princess of the fictional region of Sarasaland. She first appeared in Super Mario Land as the game's damsel in distress, a role usually played by Princess Peach. Since her appearance in Mario Tennis, 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 love interest. 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 (sometimes styled Sarasa Land), 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 quotes and biographies for subsequent games. Her early design looked more similar to Princess Peach, except with orangey-brown, titian hair, a yellow gown, a daisy-shaped brooch, tiara and earrings, and wrist-length white evening gloves. In 2000's Mario Tennis, she appeared in game artwork with longer hair like Peach, and retained her flower brooch and earrings. This design endured until 2002's Mario Party 4, in which she was given her current design which distinguished Daisy further from Peach by depicting her with more unique physical traits, such a bob cut hairstyle. 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 color scheme normally being yellow and orange. Her special abilities are often based around flowers - the daisy flower being her namesake.

Voice and portrayal
Daisy was voiced by Kate Fleming in Mario Tennis; by Jen Taylor in Mario Party 3, Mario Party 4, and Mario Party 5; and by Deanna Mustard since Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour in 2003. In the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, she was portrayed by Samantha Mathis. In the movie, some say she was meant to be Princess Peach, because Daisy was heiress of the Mushroom Kingdom in the film.

In video games
Daisy's first 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 another game for nine years, after which she was brought back by Camelot Software Planning for Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64, in order to introduce more human characters into the game. 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 the Arcade GP series) since 2003's Double Dash!! on the Nintendo GameCube. She also appears in the Square Enix games Itadaki Street DS and Fortune Street. In all four games in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, she is a member of team Mario. To date, she has appeared in 41 games; in most of which she is a playable character.

Daisy is also referenced in Super Smash Bros. Melee and its sequel Super Smash Bros. Brawl in which alternate color schemes for Peach take after Daisy's design. 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. Like her adult self, Baby Daisy is also voiced by Deanna Mustard.

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 whom 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. Her personality in the movie is drastically different from her personality in the games. 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. In 2010, Audrey Drake at IGN listed Daisy as a potential valentine for Mario, commenting that being his "brother'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. 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. Eurogamer said that "[Super Mario Land had] Princess Daisy as the damsel in distress. Clearly Mario's bit on the side, Daisy was swiftly brushed under the carpet in favour of series stalwart Princess Peach, although she did eventually resurface in the N64 Mario sports games. The dirty moo." The Tanooki gave Daisy a negative review, mislabeling her as a pallet swap of Peach with a different head. 1up.com rated Baby Daisy as one of the worst Mario Kart Wii characters, saying "Baby Daisy? Seriously?" while criticizing the game's playable roster.