The Dark Queen particularly contrasted with Nintendo's Princess Peach, as, according to "64 Magazine", "in this game, the token female wasn't some bland princess pleading for rescue, but instead a leather clad dominatrix embarked on world domination." Alex Langley of Arcade Sushi called the Dark Queen the "breakdown character", noting that "in a time where princesses and queens were there to be kidnapped, the Dark Queen turned the depiction of video game matriarchy on its head and boldly declared that she'd be the one doing the kidnapping." UGO similarly also commented how "female villains were quite rare in the early days of video games, with the fairer sex usually reserved as kidnapped princesses in another castle."