Pauline

 

Starting from today, I will be posting these "character cards" showcasing every member of each roster in the exact order that they appeared in the Mario series (at least as close as I could approximate) four at a time. The character cards will be capped off with an approximation of what the character select would look like, followed by a series of "stage cards," that roster, an assist trophy post, and then classic, adventure, and all-star mode posts. This will be repeated through each of the currently six Mario-adjacent rosters.

Our story began in 1980, when a plan for a Popeye-based arcade game fell through and the already-developed game system had to be reworked from Popeye trying to save Olive Oyl from Bluto to a generic blue-collar worker rescuing his girlfriend from a stubborn gorilla. Gamers at arcades the day of its release turned to game on to be greeted by a short cutscene of a gorilla climbing to the top of a construction site, a blonde woman in a pink dress slung over its shoulder.

This was Pauline. Initially simply known as “Lady,” Pauline was the original girlfriend of the hero who would become Mario and the unfortunate damsel in distress of the original tale. Pauline would go on to have a long and extensive, if a little underrated, history with the Mario games. Although her boyfriend would move on to a princess of all things, Pauline would see appearances in the Saturday Supercade cartoon, a hair color change to brown and a consistent role in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong franchise, and a rejuvenation in popularity with her appearance in Super Mario Odyssey as the mayor of New Donk City, leading to her becoming a regular competitor in sports titles such as Mario Kart Tour, Mario Tennis Aces, and Mario Golf: Super Rush.

 In game, Pauline will likely be a bit of a middle-of-the-road character, without too many strengths or weaknesses in any one direction. Her moveset will pull from her initial appearance in the Donkey Kong arcade game, mixing in her iconic song “Jump Up, Superstar,” a few references to the New Donkers of Super Mario Odyssey of whom she is the primary representative, and possibly even some reference to the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series.

Likelihood rating: Could happen