Nintendo Heroines Who Should Get Their Own Game Like Princess Peach Showtime

Highlights

Princess Peach Showtime puts Peach front and center in her own adventure, showcasing her strengths without relying on Mario.
Nintendo has a good selection of female characters like Daisy and Palutena, who could also star in their own games.
A Zelda-centered game is long overdue, focusing on her skills as a mage to stand apart from Link's gameplay.

Princess Peach Showtime changes things up by putting Princess Peach, a character with a reputation for being kidnapped, front and center in her own adventure. While Peach has been playable on several occasions, it's the first time she's been the main focus since 2005's Super Princess Peach. The game looks exciting, showing obvious influences from the Mario series while still looking like something unique. It's refreshing to see a game where Peach's strengths are brought to the forefront without having to rely on Mario. But Peach is far from the only iconic heroine Nintendo has created.

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Nintendo has a pretty good selection of popular female characters, but many of them are relegated to the roles of supporting characters. Many of them are only playable in spin-off titles like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. while being confined to the roles of NPCs or secondary playable characters in the main series. Now that Peach is finally getting her due, it would be great to see these other female characters star in their own games.

5 Adelaine

Solve Problems With Paint

Kirby Star Allies Adeleine and Ribbon Cropped

Originally From: Kirby

Adelaine is a painter who helped Kirby on several occasions. She easily stood out as one of the few human characters in a franchise known for portraying cartoony aliens, but she also has one very interesting talent: she makes paintings that come to life.

This is a really good setup for gameplay that Nintendo has surprisingly not already jumped on. An Adelain-centered game could bring this aspect to the forefront, with an emphasis on painting objects to solve problems. This would be a fascinating way to solve puzzles, but it could also be used to find creative ways of dealing with enemies.

4 Princess Daisy

Follow the Tomboyish Princess on an Adventure

Originally From: Mario

The fan-favorite princess of Sarasaland has been a prominent figure in spin-off games, frequently appearing in the rosters of Mario Kart and Smash Bros, but the closest thing she's really had to being the star of a game was in Super Mario Wonder, which marked her first appearance in the main series.

Daisy often acted as a foil to Peach, being portrayed as a bit more tomboyish and athletic. Where Peach was seen as the gentle one, Daisy was shown to be a lot more hot-tempered and quick to action. After Peach, the next logical choice to star in their own game is Daisy.

3 Palutena

Wield the Power of the Gods

Palutena wielding her magic staff in Super Smash Bros for Wii U

Originally From: Kid Icarus

The popular Kid Icarus series followed the adventures of Pitt, a heroic warrior tasked with fighting the forces of darkness in a Greco-Roman fantasy world. However, one of the main reasons he got as far as he did was his dedication to Palutena, goddess of light. Though initially starting as a damsel in distress who needed to be rescued by Pitt (a whole mess involving a rival god imprisoning her, which created other problems), she quickly became a dedicated mentor who guided him through many of his trials.

So far, Palutena has only been playable in Super Smash Bros., but a game starring her could have some interesting opportunities. Access to god powers could be a great selling point.

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One possible direction might be a prequel chronicling how she and Medusa became enemies, or a setup involving something she needs to face herself. Another direction could be a situation Palutena loses her goddess status and has to slowly regain her powers, perhaps with guidance from Pitt in a fun role-reversal.

2 Rosalina

Explore the Cosmos and Work with Lumas

Originally From: Mario

Super Mario Galaxy introduced a new face to the Mario roster: Rosalina, a cosmic guardian who acts as a maternal figure to friendly star-shaped creatures called Lumas. She quickly became a fan favorite and went on to appear in several other games, earning a place as one of the main "princesses" of the series alongside Peach and Daisy. Super Mario Galaxy also revealed an interesting backstory about Rosalina befriending a Luma while searching for her parents and being taken on a cosmic odyssey that helped her deal with their loss. This could make a decent game, chronicling how she came to know the Lumas and entered her current position as their guardian.

Another possibility could be centered around her dealing with a galactic-scale threat. The Lumas could be incorporated into gameplay, and it could build on a lot of the planetary exploration that was already set up in the Mario Galaxy series.

1 Princess Zelda

Save Hyrule as the Hero We Should Be

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom TOTK Zelda looking sad close-up

Originally From: The Legend of Zelda

Despite being iconic in her own right, and the franchise she's from literally being named after her, she has never had a chance to star in her own game. The main series has a history of casting her as the damsel in distress. More recent entries have tried to mitigate that image, but they're still centered around Link having to go on a journey to find her. Many hoped Tears of the Kingdom would finally make her playable, which turned out not to be the case. Zelda has been playable in a few spin-off games, like Hyrule Warriors and Super Smash Bros., but only as part of a larger ensemble rather than as the star. A Zelda-centered game was attempted with 1994's Zelda's Adventure, which was a commercial and critical bomb. Another - ideally much better - attempt is long overdue.

While it would be awesome to finally get a Legend of Zelda game that's actually about Zelda, it might be nice for Nintendo to go the route of Showtime and try to make her game seem more unique. Zelda has already been established as a skilled mage, so putting an emphasis on magic and acquiring spells would be a great way to stand apart from the more melee-focused gameplay of Link.