Pauline (Nintendo)

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Pauline
Mario character
Pauline, as seen in Super Mario Odyssey
Pauline, as seen in Super Mario Odyssey
First appearanceDonkey Kong (1981)
Created byShigeru Miyamoto
Designed by
Portrayed bySally Klein (Donkey Kong ColecoVision commercial)[1]
Voiced byJo Belle Yonely (1983; Donkey Kong Cereal commercials)[2]
Judy Strangis (1983–1984; Saturday Supercade)
Kate Higgins (2017–present; Super Mario Odyssey onwards)
Aimi Mukohara (2017; singing voice in Super Mario Odyssey, Japanese version)
In-universe information
NicknameLady, Louise
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
OccupationMayor of New Donk City
OriginNew Donk City

Pauline (Japanese: ポリーン, Hepburn: Porīn, pronounced [poɾiːɴ]) is a fictional character from the Mario video game franchise, owned by Nintendo and created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. The lead female character from the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, she first appeared in Donkey Kong as the damsel in distress, being held captive by Donkey Kong at the top of a large construction site.

Concept and creation[]

Name[]

Pauline was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and other developers for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong as the earliest example of a female with a speaking role in a video game, and is cited as a famous example of a damsel in distress in fiction.[3][4][5] Originally, Pauline was known as Lady,[a][6] and the game introduced her as Mario's girlfriend. The name Pauline was given after the then-girlfriend of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager, Don James.[7] Then it was used in licensed products after the game's release (including a collection of figures by Coleco[8] and a coloring book[9]), and was eventually used for the NES version of the game, although print ads for the Game & Watch version of the game refer to her as Louise.[10]

Role[]

Since Super Mario Odyssey, she serves as the singer of the band The Super Mario Players and the Mayor of New Donk City[11][12] and is a supporting character, helping Mario with his quest. Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi told Polygon that she sang the game's theme song, "Jump Up, Super Star!", noting "As we were developing Pauline more as a character, we know that she was going to be interested in jazz...It was interesting for us to have the first song in a Mario game with vocals".[13]

Appearances[]

Pauline debuted in Donkey Kong (1981) as Mario's love interest.[14] Donkey Kong (1994) for Game Boy,[15] where she continues to be the typical damsel in distress. However, since that point, she did not reappear for a while and was supposedly replaced by Princess Peach. This was until her reintroduction in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, where she reprised her role in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for the Nintendo DS in 2006. She would then continue to appear in all of its sequels, including getting her mini toy in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem, until 2015. In 2017, Super Mario Odyssey marked her return to the original series, serving as the mayor of New Donk City as well as singer for the songs "Jump Up, Super Star!" and "Break Free (Lead The Way)". This version of the character reappeared in both Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Kart Tour in 2019 as a playable character.[16]

Other appearances[]

Outside of the Mario franchise, Pauline was mainly seen through reappearances of her arcade sprite in games such as the Game & Watch Collection, NES Remix and WarioWare Gold, Pinball and Famicom BASIC.[6] In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, she along with her band appear on the New Donk City stage, where by interacting with them, can add extra instruments and vocals to the music. Pauline herself is also featured as a spirit, utilizing her Super Mario Odyssey artwork. In March 2019, Pauline made her playable debut as a DLC character in Mario Tennis Aces.[17] She also made her golfing debut in Mario Golf: Super Rush in 2021.[18]

Reception[]

IGN reviewed Pauline positively, giving her an 8 out of 10.[19] The song "Jump Up, Super Star!" debuted at number 33 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the week of 11 November 2017.[20][21] Super Mario Odyssey won "Best Original Music" in IGN's Best of 2017, praising the song by stating that it is an "immediate earworm that brilliantly capitalizes on the legacy of the Mario franchise while also standing out as a new approach to music for the series".[22] Kate Higgins performed "Jump Up, Super Star!" during the 2017 Game Awards ceremony.[23][24][25]

Many originally criticized her limited role as a helpless damsel who became forgotten by Nintendo.[26] To rectify this, in 2012, a man re modded the original Donkey Kong arcade game to allow players to play as Pauline instead of Jumpman, to please his 3-year-old daughter.[27] The father, Mika Mika, explained that his daughter wanted to play as a girl character, but was unable to due the lack of female playable characters in early video games. The modding efforts help to spark interest in female characters in gaming across social media, in sighting video game expert Scott Steinberg to say that developers should "wake up and realize that there is a broader audience", hoping that they can expand the general gaming community.[28] Nadia Oxford of USGamer has included Pauline in her "best new Nintendo character of the past decade".[29]

After her reappearance in Super Mario Odyssey, her character was praised for overcoming the damsel in distress archetype into becoming a woman of power. Bleeding Cool wrote about how it was a "big deal" for Pauline's sudden return, pointing out how she has finally been given a voice after nearly four decades, feeling that is an injustice that she has been negated to just a plot point all that time, citing it as "one hell of a patriarchy-smashing comeback".[30] Paste writer Holly Green included Pauline as the best new game characters of 2017.[31]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Japanese: レディ, Hepburn: Redi

References[]

  1. ^ "Donkey Kong (Commercial, 1982)". YouTube. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Donkey Kong Cereal". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. ^ Ray, Sheri Graner (2004). Gender inclusive game design ... – Google Books. ISBN 978-1-58450-239-5. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  4. ^ Text technology: the journal of ... – Google Books. 9 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  5. ^ Lind, Rebecca Ann (3 September 2009). Race, gender, media: considering ... – Google Books. ISBN 978-0-205-34419-2. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Pauline (Nintendo) Biography". IGN. Archived from the original on 12 January 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  7. ^ Nintendo (15 June 2018). "Arcade Archives Gameplay – Nintendo Treehouse: Live – E3 2018". Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ "Figurine of Pauline by Coleco". Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ Eric Caoili (16 September 2007). "Promotional Consideration: Multi Screen". EndGadget. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  11. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (13 June 2017). "Super Mario Odyssey's Creators Don't Dismiss Guest Appearance From Donkey Kong". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  12. ^ Mulkerin, Tim (13 June 2017). "Mayor Pauline in 'Super Mario Odyssey' has amazingly deep ties to Nintendo's legacy". Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  13. ^ Alexander, Julia (14 June 2017). "Super Mario Odyssey producer explains why Pauline has returned". Polygon. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  14. ^ "Donkey Kong". IGN. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  15. ^ "Donkey Kong". IGN. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  16. ^ "Mario's Original Damsel-In-Distress Is Joining Mario Kart Tour: Here's How To Get Pauline". TheGamer. 25 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  17. ^ Wales, Matt (28 February 2019). "Pauline joins the Mario Tennis Aces line-up tomorrow". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  18. ^ https://www.newsweek.com/mario-golf-super-rush-full-character-roster-special-shots-special-dash-nintendo-switch-1604075
  19. ^ Mario's Ladies: The Princesses of Mario Galaxy – IGN, archived from the original on 28 December 2019, retrieved 18 January 2021
  20. ^ "Kate Davis". Billboard. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  21. ^ "Japan Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  22. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Original Music". IGN. 20 December 2017. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  23. ^ Henderson, Jeremy (16 July 2018). "Meet Kate Higgins, the Auburn grad who's in your house". al. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2020. What with that Auburn jazz degree, it was right up Kate's alley. She nailed it. Nintendo actually asked her to perform the song live at the 2017 Game Awards show last December in front of an army of fans in Mario hats.
  24. ^ Frank, Allegra (8 December 2017). "The 7 most memorable moments of The Game Awards 2017". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020. The best musical moment, though? A full performance of “Jump Up, Super Star,” the amazing theme song to Super Mario Odyssey.
  25. ^ "Super Mario Odyssey Has Sold Over 10 Million Units Worldwide, Making It Best-Selling Switch Game". TheGamer. 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2020. 'Jump Up, Super Star!' was even performed by Kate Higgins, the song's English singer, at the 2017 Game Awards.
  26. ^ Fahey, Mike (30 June 2011). "So That's What Happened To Mario And Pauline". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  27. ^ C. Madrigal, Alexis (11 March 2013). "In This Donkey Kong, Pauline Saves Mario". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  28. ^ Curry, Colleen (12 March 2013). "Dad Hacks 'Donkey Kong' for Daughter, Makes Pauline Rescue Mario". ABC News. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  29. ^ https://www.usgamer.net/articles/who-is-the-best-new-nintendo-character-of-the-past-decade
  30. ^ Ricchiuto, Madeline (3 November 2017). ""Apparently It's A Pretty Big Deal": Kate Higgins On Giving Pauline A Voice After 36 Years". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  31. ^ https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/best-of-2017/the-best-new-games-characters-2017/
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