Remember the
pixelated damsel known as “Lady” who would cry for help after being taken to a
construction site by a big crazy ape [4] [13]? Well, the lady is nowadays known
as “Pauline” and she is not a damsel-in-distress anymore...or at least in this
generation of Nintendo gaming [5]. After thirty-seven years of her loyalty
towards the iconic plumber, Mario’s original sweetheart will finally become a
fully playable character in Mario Tennis Aces [6] [18]. With some analysis, both
classic Nintendo nerds and modern Nintendo nerds can see that Pauline has
changed and grew as a person throughout the eras of Nintendo gaming. Let us
look at each step of the lovely woman in red’s outstanding evolution.
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| This was Lady Pauline back in the early 80’s. [13] |
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| And this is Lady Pauline today. [18] |
As previously stated, the first
damsel-in-distress in video game history would just scream for help and...dance
[4]? My theory for why the first interpretation of Pauline was so helpless is
because she might have had a terrible fear of heights. Her sprite consisted of
ginger hair in a braid and a long purple and white dress, causing her to look
nothing like her official 2D artworks that feature blonde hair and a short red
dress [4] [13] [14]. At least that was no big deal since Jumpman was in
unconditional love with her before he stepped into the Mushroom Kingdom as
“Mario”. Quite oddly, she was also named “Louise” in the Game & Watch
version of the arcade masterpiece and “Paula” in the instruction packs for the
Nintendo Entertainment system version [21]. If I get kidnapped by a gorilla,
I’d better do a weird dance to increase my chance of being saved.
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| Where it all began. [13] |
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| Dance for help, Pauline, dance for help! [13] |
Speaking of blonde hair and a red dress, Pauline
was the supportive sidekick of Mario in his first ever cartoon for television,
Saturday Supercade [1] [3] [7] [21] [23]. And yes, she does get captured by the
young Cranky Kong in the second opening [1] [11]. Nevertheless, she and Mario would
chase the big ape in order to try and catch him and take him back to a circus [3]
[7] [23]. Additionally, Pauline claims that he would not hurt a fly in one of
the episodes, so I guess Pauline at least saw some good intentions from him [7].
If the cartoon was an anime, I guess her hair could have been wavy and her skin
could have been paler, so that she would resemble her official Japanese artwork
in a classy 80’s anime style [13] [25] [26].
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| Pauline’s 80’s cartoon appearance in Saturday Supercade. [14] |
Pauline’s blonde locks eventually
turned reddish brown in Nintendo’s own adaption of a pinball machine for the
Nintendo Entertainment System [21] [22] [28]. In a long pink dress, she was
safe from the original Donkey Kong’s clutches. However, she was only able to run
left and right at the top of the bonus stage until the pinball broke the ground
below her feet [28]. I guess this Pauline was just jogging left and right for a
bit of exercise and to try and battle her fear of heights. After she falls,
Mario will try and catch her with a white platform, then take her to one of the
exits of the stage [28]. For some reason, she was simply named “Lady” once
again [22]. The appearance of her Pinball sprite sure was indeed rather similar
to Princess Toadstool’s sprite from Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario. 3,
which might have led nostalgic Nintendo nerds to the beginning of the
comparisons between the two sweethearts of the iconic plumber [14] [15] [21] [22]
[28].
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| The similarities between Lady and Princess Toadstool back in the NES days. [14] [15] |
For the Game Boy port of Donkey Kong that was
released back in 1994, Pauline’s sprite resembled her official artwork a lot
more, especially as she cried out for help [9] [12] [14]. You can tell by the
shape of her sprite, but let us leave Ed Sheeran out of this [10]. Since the
Game Boy version of the timeless classic was meant to be expanded with nine
other locations, Pauline’s expanded captivity might have at least provided some
opportunities to see some nice sights [9] [12]. It was nice of her to give her
ex a mushroom to pump up his strength back in the day. The official cover was
the first time Pauline was seen wearing a short red dress AND having brunette
hair [12], which showed that she was indeed a different kind of sweet and fair
lady, compared to Princess Peach.
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| The original Donkey Kong kidnapping a brunette Pauline. [11] [12] [14] |
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| Pauline’s sprite in the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong from 1994. [14] |
A dozen years later, Pauline returned in Mario
vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, possibly just as Mario’s good friend [2]
[8] [21]. She was shown to be quite business-minded in the Mario vs. Donkey
Kong series, cutting a ribbon as a VIP and helping Mario run a theme park known
as “Mini-Land” [2] [8] [20]. And yet, she was taken away by the mighty Donkey
Kong a few times, just like back in the beginning [2] [8] [20]. Well, at
least they did get along well in some moments, such as when Pauline accepted a
Mini Donkey Kong and gave it a kiss, making Donkey Kong happy [8]. Perhaps a
few gamers might have believed that Pauline was a little too forgiving towards
the gorilla himself. Aside from that, go ahead and keep shipping Mario with
Pauline if any of you want to.
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| Pauline as a special guest in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. [14] |
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| The beginning of Tipping Stars. Just like back in the early 80’s when Cranky Kong was his grandson’s age. [11] [20] [21] |
There Mario went, off the rails. It was time for
a splendid surprise to raise its sails. A huge enrichment in Pauline’s
character occurred in Super Mario Odyssey, the glorious masterpiece from late 2017
that brought back the sandbox-like gameplay from Super Mario 64 and Super Mario
Galaxy [5] [21]. She went from a simple woman to the glamorous singer and mayor
of New Donk City [5] [21]. I am not sure how she got into politics, but I
absolutely adore her ability to sing [5] [16] [21] [27]. I would say her
official debut in the main Super Mario series as a mayor and singer was totally
worth it as the times of her captivity must have made her stronger and
determined to somehow reinvent herself [21]. Is any fan of the 1-up girl up for
some fried mushrooms or flower stew sometime soon [21]?
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| The pretty politician after she moved on from her days of being a circus gorilla’s hostage. [21] |
And finally, Pauline’s debut of full playability
was announced in late 2018 [6]. She is set to be a playable character in Mario
Tennis Aces in early 2019, along with Luma, who has been a tennis player before
and Boom Boom, who is also yet to play tennis for the first time [6] [18] [19].
In all honesty, I believe that she deserves it after her big upgrade in New
Donk City. Her tennis player attire sure is elegantly trendy and her emblem is
pretty cute [6] [18]. I am assuming that the reason why she will be a speedy
type of tennis player is because of the jogging she did in Pinball [6] [18] [28]. The
opportunity to be a determined sportswoman for Pauline in any of Mario’s sports
series was perhaps long overdue and it will soon be about time they let her be
a competitor in a sport.
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| Yeah! [6] |
If a character can evolve and empower oneself,
by all means, go ahead and allow that enhancement to happen. Could Pauline be
playable for the second time in any future Mario games? It would be great if
that would be on any of the next set of agendas for Nintendo’s future. Perhaps
one of them could be a whole new installment of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong
series that will feature her glorious title as the mayor of New Donk City with
an angelic singing voice [16] [21] [28]. Another one could be making her an official
racer in Mario Kart Tour, the Mario Kart installment that will park on Apple’s
iOS and Google’s Android [17]. She could also be a singing captive in a special
40th anniversary celebration of the arcade game that started it all
[4]. But for early 2019, let us wait for Pauline, Boom Boom and Luma to hit the
tennis court and show what they are made of. Maybe there could be a year of
Pauline, like how 2013 was the year of Luigi [24].
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| She’s been on the Switch. Her singing is bliss. Oh, tennis awaits Pauline! [21] |
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