Ever since Nintendo released the Gameboy hit game Super Mario Land in 1989, the debate on who the best princess is in Mushroom World divided our world in two. Peach vs. Daisy was on all of the cool peoples minds, and has been, for over four decades. The agony and pain this has caused the gaming community has gone on for too long! Well fear not gamers, for I have done you the favor of deep diving into these two baddies to tell you, once and for all, who the best girl in the Mario series is. So put your comfy pants on, and reapply that lip gloss because we’re about to get serious.
Let’s Compare…
To really understand these characters, let’s look at what they both have in common and what is different, starting out with their appearances. They appear to shift in almost opposites of each other. For example, Peach has long blond hair white Daisy has short brown hair. While Peach is also depicted with the color pink and heart motifs, Daisy is associated with yellow and flowers. However, if you look at the models used for these characters, it is easy to see that they’re the same. Their proportions are on par with one another, along with their eye color. While they have the same eyes, Peach is depicted with more lashes than Daisy to appear more “feminine” and “girly”. Both could easily pass as sisters, even though they are princesses in different kingdoms. Some of their biggest differences lie in their personalities.
Princess Peach
Princess Toadstool, known as Peach, was first introduced in Super Mario Bros for the NES in 1985. Seeing as she was the first female character in the Mario series. She’s also the princess who has appeared the most in this franchise. Peach was originally written as the damsel in distress who needed to be saved. Thus making her the love interest for the main character, Mario. She would later become her own heroine in the game Super Princess Peach released on the Nintendo DS in October of 2005. In the game, she uses colorful panels that access her emotions that would grant her powers. Peach is seen being caring and kind to her toadstool subjects. A big oof for her is how frequently she gets kidnapped. It’s even to the point where characters will make jokes about it in game. I can’t say that really adds a point in her favor. Other than her being as sweet as a peach, we don’t get much from her. She’s really just nice, girly, and pink. Which I mean, that’s a whole mood.
Princess Daisy
The Princess of Sarasaland, Daisy, Was first introduced in Super Mario Land on the Gameboy in April 1989, as stated above. Daisy became the replacement damsel in distress in this game instead of Princess Peach. As she became more implemented in the series she was established as Luigi, Mario’s brother’s, love interest. Other than the physical difference I stated up top her personality is similar. She’s a nice and sweet girl but she is a tomboy. Unfortunately, she also has a thing for getting kidnapped. However, she’s not kidnapped as much as Peach. This may be because Bowser’s beef is really with Mario and not really Luigi. So far, the plumber boys have practically the same type.
Powers and Abilities
Honestly, both princesses have a lot more similarities than differences. This is something of a pickle — how are we supposed to pick the better princess if they are practically the same character? Fear not princesses and plumber boys, we have a format to gauge them in, Super Smash Bros Ultimate. This fool proof, super genius method will surely tell us who the best princess is once and for all! Daisy and Peach both seem to be pretty on par with each other when it comes to stats. In some games, one is stronger than the other, occasionally one may be faster, but they fight identically. We’re going to let this game be the ultimate test for these two to hurdle. First, Let’s go through their stats and abilities shown in games thus far!
What Can Peach Do?
Peach typically has the ability to double jump, slap her opponents, and use her parasol to float. Peach and Daisy also have the same ultimate, just different motifs. Peach will summon peaches to self heal. Daisy summons daisies to self heal.
- Heart Shot – This is Princess Peach’s shot in Mario Hoops 3-on-3. Peach dribbles the ball in a triangle while pink hearts flow into her. If she shoots beyond the three point line the ball will go into the hoop with hearts following behind the ball.
- Super Peach Spin – In Mario Power Tennis and Mario Tennis Power Tour this is Peach’s offense power shot. Peach will spin and thus cause a tornado of hearts (hitting a curveball) to push her opponent away. This will allow her to hit the ball over the net, securing the point.
- Heart Swing – Peach’s star swing in Mario Super Sluggers where she draws a heart with her bat before hitting the ball. The hearts will surround the ball, and will stun any opponent trying to catch the ball.
- Super Princess Peach Powers – In this game, Peach has the ability to use her emotions as powers via colored panels.
- Gloom: a blue heart panel that makes Peach run faster, and she’s able to water plants with her tears.
- Rage: a red heart panel will make Peach shake the ground while being engulfed in flames. This allows her to melt various materials. She is also invincible while being able to access this panel.
- Calm: a green heart panel that grants Peach the ability to heal herself.
- Joy: a yellow heart panel that allows Peach and her enemies to fly and spin in the air.
- Psych Bomb – A special attack Peach has in Super Mario RPG where Toadstool hurts the enemy white bombs that are being thrown on the field.
- Royal Strike – Peach’s super strike in Super Mario Strikers. The field is engulfed in blue and pink light before a heart is formed. Peach then kicks the ball into the goal.
What Can Daisy Do?
Daisy has a lot of similar attacks as Peach, with the difference being the motifs used. In Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Nintendo’s states that Daisy is stronger than Peach. Another neat fact about our flower girl is that she has the highest stamina stat in Mario Golf: Super Rush.
- Torpedo Strike – Daisy’s super strike in Super Mario Strikers. She kicks the ball high in the air while surrounded by an orange and yellow flower halo. After shooting the ball in the goal, it makes the goalie dizzy.
- Flower Spiral – Daisy’s hyper strike in Mario Strikers: Battle League. She juggles and bounces the ball around. Then she kicks the ball in a spiral pattern with flowers trailing behind. These flowers will toss opponents up in the air. When the ball gets to the center of the field, it will shoot into the goal.
- Wonder Flower – Daisy’s offensive shot in “Mario Pro Tennis”. Her racket will grow flowers and spin around while hitting the ball. While the racket hits the ball at a normal speed, it’s still a powerful shot. When performing different shots the color of the flowers will change. The colors being blue, orange and pink.
- Flowerbed Return – Daisy’s defensive shot in “Mario Power Tennis”. She will summon a path of flowers, hitting the ball back to Daisy. However, it’s one of the only defensive shots in the game that can miss.
The Battle of the Tiara
Going back to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, I set this up by pitting Daisy and Peach CPUs against each other so that it wasn’t based on players skills but the stats these characters were programmed with. Both characters are set at level 9, performing at their peak. All items were taken away except for the super ball to make this a more fair fight. I also made each battle to run for a minute and thirty seconds each time to speed up the process. This also ensures their power up couldn’t be used as frequently. All battles were run on Princess Peach’s Castle since the stage more stationary. To get the best data possible, I ran a total of ten games back to back. I know, the sacrifices I make are grand and deserve praise. But I shall humbly wait for them till the end! Until then, here is the data I collected each round.
Rounds
- Round 1 – Winner: Peach
- The first battle started off strong, and it was very close from the start! Peach got more hits in at the beginning, and she knocked off Daisy a littler after the halfway mark in the battle. Daisy was able to get her ultimate, but was unable to use it before the timer went out. Even though Peach was the victor, she didn’t leave the battle unscathed. Peach took a brutal beating, and if the match continued, I wouldn’t be surprised if she lasted much longer.
- Round 2 – Winner: Daisy
- This round was another close one. At the end of the match Daisy was able to knock Peach off. However, Daisy maintained the highest hit percentage the entire match (until Peach fell). So far Peach appears to be physically stronger than Daisy.
- Round 3 – Winner: Peach
- Round three wasn’t as close as the previous ones were. While both princesses were able to stay within the same damage percentage occasionally, Peach was always able to consistently make Daisy’s damage go up.
- Round 4 – Winner: Daisy
- Daisy honestly killed it this round! Peach was consistently in the higher damage percentage. However, it’s good to note that Daisy wasn’t able to knock off Peach until the absolute last second.
- Round 5 – Winner: Daisy
- Both princesses were on par with each other the majority of this round. Daisy was able to hit her ultimate, allowing her to heal herself. However, even with this they both still went into sudden death. Daisy was able to get to Peach first, getting the winning hit. I wonder if Daisy is faster than Peach.
- Round 6 – Winner: Daisy
- Another round where Daisy slayed from start to finish! Peach got a couple of hits in at the beginning, but Daisy was kept getting hits in. Daisy was also able to get her ultimate, but wasn’t able to use it.
- Round 7 – Winner: Peach
- Good on Peach for winning this one! It was beginning to look bleak for her. This round was neck and neck, going to “Sudden Death” again. Daisy, got the first hit in the deadly round, but Peach was quick on the drawl and blocked her! She got a hit in, winning the match!
- Round 8 – Winner: Peach
- Daisy was starting off real strong this round. She was able to get Peach into triple digits in damage, while she was in the lower double digits. However, being the baddie she is, Peach was able to catch Daisy up in damage towards the end of the match. This made them go into “Sudden Death”, allowing Peach to get the winning blow.
- Round 9 – Winner: Peach
- This round, once again, was extremely close with no clear winner at the beginning. The only way to determine a winner was to go to “Sudden Death”. Peach pulled a fast one on Daisy and blocked her initial blow. This allowed her to get in the killing blow.
- Round 10 – Winner: Daisy
- This battle, just like the majority, started off being really close! Both Peach and Daisy were in triple digits in damage by the end of the match. Peach was knocked off by Daisy’s consistent hits. Daisy took the crown for the final match.
In Conclusion…
Now looking back at all of the data, I do feel a bit silly. I mean, to set up this tournament only for them both to win five games out of ten is devastating! However, it does lead to the conclusion I made before the matches. Both princesses are the exact same in almost every way. While Peach is a pink girly girl that packs a mean punch, Daisy is a yellow flower tomboy who’s quicker on her feet. That’s the only thing that really separates them — color palettes and one is a bit more spunky. There really isn’t a better one, and my ten match tourney can attest to that. They have the same ultimate’s and were able to win the same amount of matches. In the end, it’s all about personal tastes. Both characters are so similar that honestly, you’re just liking a different game skin at this point. However you see these characters is how they want you to see them. Everyone has a different Peach and Daisy that they see when playing these games. So the answer on “who is the better character?”, it’s really up for interpretation. Who do you think is the better princess in Mushroom World? Whoever you think it is is the true answer.