Princess Peach Toadstool

History:

Peach is the last in a line of a long Royal Dynasty of Humans who have benevolently ruled over the Mushroom Kingdom for centuries. The House of Toadstool came into power in 1901 and after the death of Peach's Father in 1983 she has been the single Heiress to the Thrown. Why she hasn't become Queen Peach is a mystery, sources speculate it's due to a long standing issue of arrested development. During her reign security in the once-prosperous Kingdom has been laughable. Bowser the King of the Koopas and Lord of Dark Land has easily managed to penetrate her Castle's deepest chambers on many occasions and may have been able to terminate her and seize power if not for two things 1) His unrequited love of her and 2) The actions of the wealthy and influential Plumber-Adventurer Mario and his allies.

It is likely that while Peach is clearly infatuated with Mario she rebukes his attempts to win her favour and become the King of the Mushroom Kingdom. Perhaps Peach knows that he will be able to easily override her futile ruling efforts and become a great dictator.

Super:

In SMK each of the eight racers were separated into four distinct classes. Peach (known as Toadstool here) is statistically identical to Yoshi. Naturally the game called this pair "The Dino and the Lady." They possess the highest acceleration and lowest speed in the game but with average weight and handling. Peach always teetered between the Middle and Lightweight categories, mostly just for the benefit of any particular game - if it was running low on Lightweights she ended up there, if it had tons of Babies or Koopas, she became a Middleweight. The SMK Rival System, which ranked how other Racers would finish in conjunction to Peach was Bowser, Toad, Mario, DK Jr, Luigi, Yoshi then Koopa. The Bowser rivalry here is obvious, there are definitely some gulfs in that relationship.

64:

Peach is a pure lightweight here, with high top speed and acceleration, making her a ridiculously good choice for this game. She does slip out a lot and can get knocked around, but slightly less than Toad does. Toad just takes the Lightweight Class to the extremes, Peach barely holds back. This game also featured her Castle adjacent to her signature course, the Royal Raceway. It's the most accessible the Castle is in these games as well as one of the biggest Extra Easter Egg Areas anywhere. Her Kart is pink.

Why is she always terrified? Trying to drive in that dress?

Super Circuit:

Peach is slightly different in Super Circuit, more identical to Toad than Yoshi. She has a very high speed but no weight at all, making her liable to getting knocked around, but excellent for Time Trials and a Grand Prix where she can get out in front early. She hasn't stopped being one of the biggest teases on the Circuit, either. Especially in these early days when she was just the token useless chick, the boys all turned their heads. The Boys, the Apes, the...turtles. They all turned heads. She still got out in front though.

Double Dash:

Double Dash didn't rely as much on drivers besides their item and weight class, instead it focused on different Karts, that anyone in that class while paired with someone equal or smaller could drive. Peach was upped to a Middleweight here and her default Kart is the Heart Coach, which she shares with her default partner, Daisy. Around this time they had really started pairing Peach with Daisy as a buddy, which is cool but also makes Daisy a weird combination with anyone else anywhere. Anyway, I think the Heart Coach is one of the better Karts in the Game.

It has good shocks as well as the least speed lost during Turns. It has the 9th fastest Acceleration and 2nd among Medium Karts. It is one of the slower Medium Karts but its weight is 11th in the game, near perfectly average. Peach herself is decent, the Heart Item is one of the more unique in Double Dash. She creates two Hearts that circle the Kart and pick up any item that might be lying dangerously on the course. This is great defensively but works more to keep your position rather than advance it.

The Hearts are tricky. They will work on Bowser Shells and Giant Bananas, so if you're clumsy and like Bowser or Bowser Jr., he might be a good combo with Peach or Daisy. They also pick up stray Stars and Mushrooms, essentially wasting a Heart on something that would otherwise be beneficial to run over. Furthermore if both characters already have an item and you have a Heart activated and run over a third, the third is completely negated at the expense of one of the Two Hearts. This includes boosters like Stars and Mushrooms. Like I said, they're beneficial but tricky. It's also pretty rare to get on when out in first, and if you're in last they aren't going to boost you up. It is a nice middle of the pack Item that can help you avoid some nonsense as you surge ahead. There is no difference between Peach and Daisy in this game.

Double Dash also had Secret Staff Ghosts for each track, piloted by only the starting Characters and Karts. Peach appears on three different tracks. She drives the Heart Coach with Daisy in the backseat on Peach Beach in 1:20:404, Daisy takes over steering duties on her Daisy Cruiser for a time of 1:52:207. She also rides with Mario in his Red Fire on Rainbow Road in a time of 3:16:476.

DS:

Peach is back to being a Lightweight Driver in this game. DS featured a more individualistic approach to Karts, giving each Character three specific Karts of varying stats. The only difference between characters is weight, and Peach adds 1 to the weight of all her Vehicles, making her lighter than Mario and Luigi, but heavier than Yoshi, Toad, Dry Bones, and Shy Guy. Peach excels at drifting in all of her rides, which is useful for the more complicated curvy tracks. She also generally has pretty good acceleration although her Speed and Handling is terrible. In the hands of a good Player though Peach can be fearsome. Tricky Grand Prix can be won through acceleration and drift although she's not a great Time Trial candidate. Here are her Karts:

Her best is definitely the Light Tripper even with its lower Item Ranking. Despite this all three of Peach's Staff Ghosts use the Royale. She finishes Delfino Square in 1:54:601, Peach Gardens in 1:52:989 and the Retro Peach Circuit from Super Circuit in 1:12:011. It's interesting that both Delfino Square and Peach Gardens returned in Wii, though Peach isn't the Staff Ghost there in either of them.

Wii:

Wii really went nuts with the individualistic Vehicle Statistics. Each Size Class of Kart and Bike has its own stats and the Drivers themselves add certain additional bonuses to each as well. Peach is back in the Middle Class here and she again adds great drift and acceleration to all her Vehicles along with a slight boost in speed. Actually her bonuses roughly align with the same ones Toad receives. Here is a chart specifically tuned towards Peach's qualities:

I think her best Kart is the Classic Dragster and her best Bike is the Mach Bike. It's interesting that she has some kind of connection with Moonview Highway, her picture is plastered like LeBron James in the city and she also has a Staff Ghost on the track. Her Normal Ghost is 02:16.802 in the Standard Kart M, the expert uses the Mach Bike in 02:04.163. She also has a ghost on the Retro Peach Beach, the Normal of which is 01:34.233 in her signature ride, the Royal Racer. The Expert clocks in at 01:23.140.