Video games as a creative media platform have grown significantly over the past 20 years. However, as video games grow in popularity, they are expected to develop old stereotypes along the way. Women in particular are often targeted by video game stereotypes; One of the most popular and recognized stereotypes is the damsel in distress trope. The damsel in distress trope occurs when a female character is placed in a dangerous situation from which she cannot escape on her own and must be saved by the protagonist who is usually a man. This plot device can occur in several different ways in video games, whether through kidnapping or possession. This cliché acts as a plot device providing a basic incentive or motivation for the hero of the story to continue his perilous quest. One of the most notable and striking examples of a damsel in distress is Princess Peach (or Princess Toadstool) from the Mario Bros. Super series developed and published by Nintendo. Princess Peach is a delicate, feminine figure who is frequently kidnapped by the main antagonist of the Mario franchise, Bowser. In fact, out of 15 games in the main Mario series, Princess Peach was kidnapped in 13 of them, often only appearing at the very beginning and end of each game. Super Mario Bros 2 has long been the only Mario game in the main series in which Peach was a playable character. However, keep in mind that Super Mario Bros 2 was just a reskin of a pre-existing game and the only reason Peach was included was because Nintendo needed an additional model. It would be almost 25 years before the next game in which Peach was a playable character was released; Super Mario 3D World, the only other mainline game in the Mario series in which Princess Pea...... middle of paper ...... does this mean companies should continue to promote the stereotype? Of course not, by continuing to add this trope to games we will only make the gaming public more closed-minded. In order to reach a more diverse and diverse audience, companies should release more games with strong female leads. A protagonist who doesn't rely on sex appeal, but rather has a defined personality that goes beyond the "I'm a girl, that's what makes me interesting" trope. The belief that women should always be the damsel is false, but this idea is reinforced when women are continually portrayed as frail, fragile, and vulnerable creatures in media such as video games. So while I'm not saying that video games created the trope of sexism and should be blamed accordingly, I do believe that these fictional worlds should move away from thoughts as biased as those in the real world..