5. Princess Peach

Princess Peach
Image: Ur_mom_rats

Cosplayer: Ash__cosplayz9
Photographer: Ur_mom_rats

Princess Peach, formally known as Princess Toadstool, is the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and main female character that appears in the Mario franchise. Forever getting captured by Bowser and his Koopa Troup, Peach has been around since the original Super Mario Bros. in 1985 and she has evolved over the years to take a more active role in the series as a playable character in many of the multiplayer entries.

Ash is a self-taught costume designer, and impressively her Peach cosplay is entirely handmade. The cosplay itself took roughly 450 hours to complete, with the dress containing over 85 yards of fabric, 25 yards of lace, and over 20,000 different types of beads. Not only is the dress impressive, but the added details of the umbrella having colour changing led lights, hand-painted details, and 5,000 hand-placed beads really add to the cosplay.

Ash likes to cosplay Peach, as she loves the development of her character from the 'damsel in distress' to the strong and elegant character featured in the newer games.

4. Princess Wario

Princess Wario
Image: Skowalz

Cosplayer: Kyla Is Inspired
Photographer: Skowalz

Another stunning handmade outfit is the Princess Wario cosplay, which is an original design made by Kyla Is Inspired. Princess Wario isn’t the only Mario-themed cosplay Kyla has done, having previously created the gowns for Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Rosalina, as well as the tennis and more casual costumes that the ladies in the Mario-verse wear.

With so many amazing outfits, Kyla could have had an entire list based around her cosplays alone. Kyla came up with the idea for Princess Wario after having cosplayed all the other princesses and wanting to expand into something different. She felt that doing a variation on Wario would be a goofy character to cosplay.

Every detail of the original design was handmade, with a lot of different layers incorporated. The cosplay includes the green underskirt, a petticoat with five hoops, a purple skirt and suspenders combination, the yellow shirt, white gloves, and a lot of 'W's and rhinestones to finish off the decoration. The crown was 3D printed, but Kyla has previously made crowns from foam, and she goes into detail about how to do this on her website (which also has a tutorial demonstrating how she designed Princess Wario).

3. Rosalina

Rosalina
Image: Nicolas Bayart Photography

Cosplayer: loulouicos_play
Photographer: Nicolas Bayart Photography

Rosalina resides in outer space with her Lumas in the Comet Observatory. First appearing as a non-playable character in Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina has increased in popularity over the years.

Loulouicos_play not only made her Rosalina jumpsuit, but also made the kart to go with it. The jumpsuit was made from the pattern, with Louise being wrapped in tape by a friend before using this to cut the fabric. For the kart, she used images from Mario Kart 8 and assembled it from pieces of cardboard, EVA foam, and PVC pipes. Louise spent a lot of time on the tyres, which were made of foam, and the small parts were sanded down before gluing them onto the wheels.

The addition of the kart made the cosplay extra special, as you can see Lou in the classic racing poses from the game. Lou is visually impaired, so making cosplays comes with an extra level of challenge, but she believes that nothing is impossible with patience, passion, and good advice.

2. Mario Tennis Players

Mario Tennis group
Image: flotografy_

Cosplayers: Dreamflowercosplay (Daisy), Pink_Devil_unicorn (Peach), coco.vanilla.cos (Rosalina)
Photographer: flotografy_

Mario is a very sporty plumber, and regularly plays tennis, golf, football, baseball, and even competes at a highest level in multiple Olympic sports. One of the best-loved sports-related entries in the Mario franchise is Mario Tennis. Dreamflowercosplay, Pink_Devil_unicorn and coco.vanilla.cos are three cosplayers from Germany that came together to form a Mario Tennis cosplay group at Dokomi in the Princesses’ more casual sports attire.

The cosplays themselves range from store-bought to handmade, and the trio make a fantastic group. The collaboration is a bit of an international affair, with Rosalina’s wig being made by Rentchan from Indonisia, Rosalina’s crown being 3D printed by plasticforge_3dprint from Germany, and both Peach’s and Daisy’s costumes being bought from the popular cosplay store miccostumes, based in China.

Coco.vanilla.cos’s cosplay was even a family affair, with her grandma patterning the dress, showing how cosplay can be fun for all the family.

1. Mario

Mario
Image: Food and Cosplay

Cosplayer: Akellyz
Photographer: Food and Cosplay

Another fantastic take with a unique twist, here is the talented Akellyz with his original design Mario cosplay. An award-winning prop maker and visual artist from Mexico, Akellyz had a passion for both visual arts and video games from a young age, and got to combine both of those with this Mario cosplay.

Akellyz credits video games for helping him learn English, and opening up his senses to music and art. The cosplay design is inspired by the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film and the Mad Max series, incorporating various props that Mario would need to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

There are so many details here that one photo scarcely does the design justice. As well as the classic red shirt, blue dungarees, and white gloves combo, there are a lot of extra elements that really make it stand out. From armoured shells and weapons to a hidden Yoshi and Boo, this cosplay design has everything. The cell shading of both props and make-up gives the design a Borderlands-like effect that makes the details pop out. The cosplay itself took an entire year to complete, winning the Crown of Cosplay championship in New York Comic Con back in 2019.


Which of the above is your favourite? Seen some other amazing Mushroom Kingdom cosplays? Let us know in the comments.