Over the weekend, we got a sneak peek at one of the new amiibo being released for Nintendo’s upcoming major first-party title Super Mario Odyssey and what it would unlock in the game. The amiibo in question was of Peach in a beautiful white wedding dress and the outfit it unlocks in-game is, as you might expect, that very same beautiful white wedding dress for Mario himself.

Having male characters dress up in feminine clothing isn’t new in video games. In recent years, more and more major titles (Life Is Strange, Mass Effect, just to name a couple) seem to be making the effort to include and represent people from all walks of life, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. But for a “family-friendly” company like Nintendo, this is a pretty big deal. For the longest time, the plot and storylines of your typical Mario game were easy enough to predict: Princess Peach gets kidnapped and locked away by Bowser, and Mario has to go through a series of arduous platforming levels to rescue her and hopefully receive a peck on the cheek as a reward.

It’s a very retrograde stereotypical depiction of genders; the female is the helpless damsel in distress, the male protagonist is the brave hero who rescues her. This sort of representation was normal and even easily accepted back in the 80’s when the Mario games were just starting to find their footing, but it’s not the kind of thing you’d see much of today. That said, Nintendo has been somewhat notorious for keeping their games as safe as possible in an attempt to not do anything too drastic that might cause controversy. This strict adherence to what the company considers to be correct or family-friendly has been on full display in the last decade, and it’s been excruciating to say the least.

We all remember the Great Tomodachi Life Incident of 2014. As a simple, whimsical take on everyday life and interpersonal relationships, Tomodachi Life received heavy criticism from players for being so overbearing when it came to romantic relations between your various Mii characters. Male and female characters could get married and have children, and subsequently, male and female children could have crushes on each other. Because the whole concept of Tomodachi Life centered around creating Miis based on yourself and your real-life friends, it raised the question: What if my friends weren’t heterosexual and wanted to pursue a relationship with someone of the same sex? Well, that simply wouldn’t be possible in Tomodachi Life.

Males and females could go through a test to see how romantically compatible they were. On the other hand, Miis of the same sex who tried to go through the test would receive a friendship compatibility rating instead. But this wasn’t even the biggest issue with the game; the most damning memory most fans have of Tomodachi Life is of the painfully blunt statement Nintendo released in response to a fan petition to include same sex relationships in the game. In short, Nintendo responded by saying that patching in more inclusive relationships wasn’t possible, and that they’d keep it in mind if they ever decided to develop a sequel for Tomodachi Life. According to them, the game was meant to “represent a playful alternate world” and that they hadn’t intended for it to be a form of social commentary.

This trend of social rigidness persisted in 2016, when Super Mario Run saw its release on mobile devices. Though it didn’t cause as large of a scandal as Tomodachi Life did, the game once again brought forth that same thin and vapid plot of Princess Peach being kidnapped by Bowser, and it was, once again, all up to Mario to save her.

It’s frustrating to see this trend persist for as long as it has, but in the last couple of years, Nintendo has at least showed some signs of progression and a desire to change how they’re perceived.

While Fire Emblem Awakening only ever vaguely hinted at possible queer romances between its criminally beautiful anime characters, its 2015 follow-up Fire Emblem Fates stepped up its inclusion game. Both versions of the game, Birthright and Conquest, featured one queer character each who could be romanced by the player avatar. Admittedly, the depiction of these homosexual characters were still a little sketchy – with Niles the gay archer coming off as a bit predatory towards his male compatriots – but their romantic plot lines were at least tastefully handled and felt every bit as weighty as the other hetero relationships that you could explore in the game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of 2017, though, was the announcement of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and its official reveal at E3. Not only did Nintendo give Ubisoft its approval to adapt their most iconic franchise and spin it into a polished and extremely well-done tactical RPG, the developers were also given a considerable amount of freedom in how they wanted to portray Nintendo’s classic characters. Mario and Luigi continue to be absolutely adorable when interacting with their Rabbid counterparts of course, but in comes Princess Peach and her Rabbid counterpart to completely blow everyone out of the water.

Most notably, Princess Peach was portrayed as a strong, badass female icon in Mario + Rabbids – something we’ve rarely ever seen in past Mario games. While she isn’t made playable in the game’s earlier chapters, she does make her combat debut by gloriously swooping onto the scene to rescue Mario and crew from a large ice golem. Even more impressive, she now gets to carry a large hand cannon to blast her enemies with. It also bears mentioning that Peach’s unique abilities include a shield skill where she’s able to protect her allies from damage. She’s essentially the Paladin class of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. The helpless damsel in distress is gone, make way for Paladin Peach.

While the Rabbids crossover was developed by Ubisoft, it’s still a baby step forward for Nintendo for signing off on this idea and giving their approval for their most beloved characters to be portrayed in such a way.

With the brand new Peach amiibo and the wedding dress outfit for our favorite mustachioed plumber, it’s yet another sure sign of the company showing a willingness to shake up their image and prove that they’re ready to start embracing more contemporary ideals like gender equality and sexual fluidity. It only took over three decades for Peach to transform from Princess to Paladin; give it a few more years, and maybe Toadette and Toad will stop needing to be looked after every five minutes as well.