Brie Larson is many things: an Oscar winner, an MCU star, and, perhaps most famously, a gamer.
While that last part is mostly a joke, Larson’s love of games – especially Nintendo games – is well documented. It’s something she’s talked about extensively on her YouTube channel, which she launched by showing off her Animal Crossing: New Horizons island back in 2020. (She admits that it’s been awhile since she’s visited said island, and she’s a little “scared” to check on it now: “I think there’s a lot of passive aggressive neighbors.”)
So, it makes sense that Larson would appear at a Nintendo preview event for the upcoming Princess Peach: Showtime! as a celebrity spokesperson, where she sat down with IGN’s Brian Altano to talk about Peach and her love of games in general. In fact, looking back to when she started gaming, she says those are her “earliest memories.”
“I don’t think there was ever a time I’ve lived without them, like, from a baby,” she says. “There was always a Nintendo console. My earliest memories are trying to figure out games. We had Super Mario, we had Little Mermaid, and we had a volleyball game and Duck Hunt.”
And, even though it’s been awhile since Larson checked on her New Horizons neighbors, she’s long been a fan of Animal Crossing. Recalling some particularly formative gaming memories, the actress says the first game in the series, released on the GameCube in 2001, was the first title that spawned “a lot of desire and competitiveness with my sister.”
“That was the one where my mom actually had to create real rules, like you have to finish your homework and then you can play because we were just so into it, unlike any other game at that time,” she remembers.
As for her favorite game of all time, she used to say The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took the crown. However, its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, might take the title, although Larson says she still needs to finish it.
“I’m really taking my time, I’m not trying to blast through it,” she says of Tears of the Kingdom. “I’m putting a lot of time into it because I just love it so much.”
And, like any good Nintendo gamer, she has her Smash Bros. and Mario Kart mains. For the former, it’s usually Zero Suit Samus (fitting, then, that she previously asked Nintendo to cast her as Samus in a movie), while she also dabbles in Kirby and Pikachu. For Mario Kart? Luigi (even if she was “spooked” by Luigi’s Mansion as a child).
Spotlight on Peach
Larson made a point, however, to talk about the real star of the hour: Princess Peach. In fact, when we ask what Nintendo character should be the next to get their own game, she playfully pushes back, saying, “That’s all you’re going to talk about? Why won’t we talk about Peach?”
“Peach. Peach 2. Peach 3,” she adds.
When asked if she wants a Princess Peach: Showtime! trilogy, she says, “Of course I do. Yeah. Just to start with. I’m putting that out there.”
“I’m really just rooting for Peach,” she continues. “I’ve watched her my entire life and I always knew that she contained multitudes and she was just waiting a little bit to show us what she had, and now she’s here with her adorable little friend.”
“That’s the thing with games,” she continues. “…It’s just that games are limitless and that’s what I love about them.”
She quickly gets sidetracked, however: “Sorry, I’m just staring into Princess Peach’s eyes. I mean, how can you not love them? She’s magnetic. With her heart bangs? Come on.”
Understandable.
Princess Peach: Showtime! arrives on Nintendo Switch on March 22, 2024.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.