Mario exists at all because Peach does not protect her people. That's the entire premise behind the series lmao. She's a weak and ineffective ruler so she has to rely on foreign mercenaries.
The official canon actually clears up this contraction, although very little is ever more than just hinted at. It would be impossible to explain away all the inconsistencies of the franchise at this point, so we're left with vague connections and hand waves.
First, despite being called the "Mushroom Kingdom", it's actually a principality. Principalities are ruled by a prince or princess. So Peach is the head of state. Mario 1's manual states that Peach does, or did, have a father who was king. Perhaps he abdicated and Peach decided to downgrade her kingdom into a principality because she liked the title of princess better, but they kept the name Mushroom Kingdom because it's what people were familiar with. Or perhaps it's all just dumb made up bullshit from a 40 year old game.
Second, the rulers you rescue in 3 are kings of various kingdoms in the confusingly named Mushroom World, which is apparently a geographical region that you can only access via the Mushroom Kingdom. The Mario series takes place on an unnamed earth-like planet containing, among other things, the Mushroom Kingdom, Mushroom World, and Dinosaur World.
As to how the topography of Mario's planet seems to change every game, that's never brought up. There are many theories, but the fact is we're simply not meant to think about it.
We know that at some point the king left her in the care of that brown mushroom guy that's in the Mario and Luigi RPG games because she wasn't ready to rule
Mario exists at all because Peach does not protect her people. That's the entire premise behind the series lmao. She's a weak and ineffective ruler so she has to rely on foreign mercenaries.
The official canon actually clears up this contraction, although very little is ever more than just hinted at. It would be impossible to explain away all the inconsistencies of the franchise at this point, so we're left with vague connections and hand waves.
First, despite being called the "Mushroom Kingdom", it's actually a principality. Principalities are ruled by a prince or princess. So Peach is the head of state. Mario 1's manual states that Peach does, or did, have a father who was king. Perhaps he abdicated and Peach decided to downgrade her kingdom into a principality because she liked the title of princess better, but they kept the name Mushroom Kingdom because it's what people were familiar with. Or perhaps it's all just dumb made up bullshit from a 40 year old game.
Second, the rulers you rescue in 3 are kings of various kingdoms in the confusingly named Mushroom World, which is apparently a geographical region that you can only access via the Mushroom Kingdom. The Mario series takes place on an unnamed earth-like planet containing, among other things, the Mushroom Kingdom, Mushroom World, and Dinosaur World.
As to how the topography of Mario's planet seems to change every game, that's never brought up. There are many theories, but the fact is we're simply not meant to think about it.
We know that at some point the king left her in the care of that brown mushroom guy that's in the Mario and Luigi RPG games because she wasn't ready to rule