The game is also seen as having been key to expanding the Mario series into non-platforming games, where the main goal in platform games is when the hero has to rescue the damsel in distress ; this diversity has led to it become the best-selling game franchise of all time.

Featuring stock characters such as the noble hero, the long-suffering damsel in distress, and the cold-blooded villain.

Cobb is outfoxed, however, by star reporter Louise " Babe " Bennett ( Jean Arthur ), who appeals to Deeds ' romantic fantasy of rescuing a damsel in distress by masquerading as a poor worker named Mary Dawson.

Julius once again has to save the damsel in distress.

The cliff-hanger migrated to film and is best known from the popular silent film series The Perils of Pauline ( 1914 ), shown in weekly installments and featuring Pearl White as the title character, a perpetual damsel in distress who was menaced by assorted villains, with each installment ending with her placed in a situation that looked sure to result in her imminent death – to escape at the beginning of the next installment only to get into fresh danger at its end.

Comic books often featured characters being tied up and tying others up, particularly in " damsel in distress " plots.

According to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress.

Originally created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Peach is the Princess of the fictional Mushroom Kingdom, which is constantly under attack by Bowser, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the series and is the lead female.

They listed the " damsel in distress " as one of their top 25 video game archetypes, using Princess Peach as an example of this due to her frequent kidnappings.

Willie is unprepared for her adventure with Indy and Short Round, and appears to be a damsel in distress.

The original Donkey Kong ( later established to be a younger version of Cranky Kong from the Donkey Kong Country series ) made his first appearance as the titular character of the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong alongside protagonist Mario ( then known as " Jumpman ") and damsel in distress, the Lady ( later renamed Pauline ).

Over the course of Season 16, Romana begins to take on some of the characteristics of the screaming " damsel in distress ", which reinforced Tamm's decision not to remain in the role as she felt the character had been taken as far as she could go.

Other popular scenarios for bondage in art was that of Angelica from the fifteenth century epic poem Orlando Innamorato, which is itself a continuation of the romantic epic saga Orlando Furioso, which is similar to that of Andromeda in that the heroine is offered as a sacrifice to the sea gods ; and the damsel in distress theme.

She was repeatedly depicted as the stereotypical naïve blonde damsel in distress.

The novel is also a murder mystery, and the beautiful heroine soon becomes a damsel in distress herself.

In the formulaic plots common to many of the films, two women vied for the affection of the bodybuilder hero: the good love interest ( a damsel in distress needing rescue ), and an evil femme fatale queen who sought to dominate the hero.

Often the good but not very clever hero is duped by a scheming villain, who has eyes on the damsel in distress until fate intervenes at the end to ensure the triumph of good over evil.

In many cases, " these stories were pure melodrama, with Bowie rescuing some naïve planter's son or damsel in distress.

Paolo Uccello's depiction of Saint George a damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film.

The word " damsel " derives from the French demoiselle, meaning " young lady ", and the term " damsel in distress " in turn is a translation of the French demoiselle en détresse.

The helplessness of the damsel in distress, who can be portrayed as foolish and ineffectual to the point of naïvete, along with her need of others to rescue her, has made the stereotype the target of feminist criticism.

Rembrandt's Andromeda ( mythology ) | Andromeda chained to the rock-a late-Renaissance representation of a damsel in distress from Greek mythology.

Classic examples of the damsel in distress theme feature in the stories of the ancient Greeks.

The damsel in distress theme is also very prominent in " The Spy Who Loved Me ", where the story is told in the first person by the young woman Vivienne Michel, who is threatened with imminent rape by thugs when Bond kills them and claims her as his reward.

Stafford points out that the screenplay is based on Cornish folklore, but the plot resembles the damsel in distress theme of 7th Voyage: a hero battles giants and monsters to rescue a princess held captive by a sorcerer.

Dean Thaddeus Seymour, wearing ski clothes, was crowning a beauteous damsel queen of the Carnival.

" Here ", he wrote, " was fresh young damsel, that could trip and go.

: And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee ; And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

: And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.

The event was partially spoofed in The Brave Engineer, but involved rescuing a damsel from a cliché bandit.

Abner's main goal in life was evading the marital designs of Daisy Mae Scragg, the virtuous, voluptuous, barefoot Dogpatch damsel and scion of the Yokums ' blood feud enemies — the Scraggs, her bloodthirsty, semi-evolved kinfolk.

The damsel in distress was an archetypal character of medieval romances, where typically she was rescued from imprisonment in a tower of a castle by a knight-errant.

Another classic damsel in that mould was Jane Porter in both the novel and movie versions of Tarzan.

The female spy Emma Peel in the 1960s British television series The Avengers was often seen in " damsel in distress " situations.

The villains almost always managed to menace Sweet Polly Purebred ( voiced by Norma MacMillan ), an anthropomorphic canine TV reporter, as part of their nefarious schemes ; she was a helpless damsel in distress most of the time, and had a habit of singing in a somewhat whining tone of voice, " Oh where, oh where has my Underdog gone?

They defeated the cell, but were fooled by a damsel in distress who was actually a member of the terrorist group.

Gyllenhaal acknowledged her character was a damsel in distress to an extent, but said director Christopher Nolan sought ways to empower her character, so " Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change " from the many conflicted characters she had previously portrayed.

* Princess Laura, a Princess and damsel in distress that was taken by the King Dragon.

Flanked by two queens, Emperor Kharavela was watching a dance recital where a damsel was performing a dance in front of the court along with the company of female instrumentalists.

Champlin was praised for transforming Arden from the typical damsel in distress of the serials into a trained scientist and a " quick thinker who often saved and Zarkov from perishing ".

He stated as the reasons: " She's not a sidekick, arm candy, or a damsel to be rescued ", " She isn't a fantasy version of a woman ", " The character is strong enough to survive multiple screenwriters ", and " She was lucky enough to be played by Sigourney Weaver ".

: A damsel fair from Lexington was pleasing my mind.

This was the first occurrence of the damsel in distress scenario that would provide the template for countless video games to come.