Anyone who has played one of the many Super Mario games, or at least seen the Super Mario Bros. Movie, knows that Princess Peach and her kingdom go through a lot.
Really, a lot: from different villainous figures trying to take over her kingdom, to the big turtle villain, Bowser, trying to win her land and her heart, to being kidnapped, Princess Peach has kind of seen it all.
Through everything, Mario and his brother, Luigi, have been there to help Princess Peach, and in some game settings, a winning player will see Princess Peach thank Mario with a kiss on the cheek, leaving Mario blushing, sometimes with hearts floating over his head or sparkling in his eyes.
It's been easy all of these years for fans to assume that Mario at least has a crush on Princess Peach, or perhaps that the pair would even romantically date after the gameplay was done. The damsel in distress was saved by the cute little plumber prince, after all!
But this week, a Twitter (X) user stole everyone's thunder when they screenshotted a piece of information that had populated on the Nintendo Today app, where gamers can gather current event information about the Nintendo gaming world, get gaming tips and discounts, and learn general gaming lore from years past.
The screenshot read:
"Princess Peach and Mario are good friends and help each other out whenever they can."
To say that fans were shocked and disgruntled at this revelation would be an incredible understatement.
Mario didn't "earn" dating Princess Peach in any kind of coercive way, of course, but it seemed obvious to fans that Mario came to Princess Peach's rescue through so many obstacles, settings, and villainous characters, because he loved her.
And Princess Peach kissing Mario on the cheek as a thank-you was enough for fans to surmise that she might love him, too, and that now that the threat was in the past, they could move on into the future together.
But that was not Nintendo's plan, it seems, as Mario and Princess Peach are supposed to be such good friends, Mario will just drop everything and run to her aid every single time.
