My thoughts?

Our hero and heroine! Mario and Peach and have come a long way from the very beginning. Esentially Mario's job was to rescue her from Bowser (Koopa*) and save the Mushroom Kingdom. Simple enough right? You have all the factors of a hero saving a Princess from danger and the idea in itself is that of a romantic one. Both Mario and Peach are more or less an intended couple of the series. Never officially stated as together but in many games subtly it's giving out that they spend a lot of time together, mean a lot to one another.

As the Super Mario series progressed their relationship got a little more interesting. Peach was always there helping Mario out from afar, dropping little items and always following with a kiss. The Mario and Peach relationship was most obvious in that of Super Mario RPG where we really see that Peach longs for marriage, hinting at Mario in the process. It's pretty cute, personally I believe that both of them were meant for it each other, if not for the simple fact that the idea has been giving out so many times then for the cuteness factor. Both are so very opposite from one another and world's apart. If there was any series that I could say was directly influencing the idea that the hero and heroine should wind up together it'd be the Mario series.

Since the series was never based on romantic concepts, the subtle ones were probably the most to be taken literally. In the end I believe that both of them need each other, just because well...one needs the other to make a Mario game complete. But both rely on one another in time of need, if Mario needs to save Peach or Peach needs to save Mario.