Protagonist (Magical Vacation)

The Protagonist is the main character of Magical Vacation. They are semi-customizable, with the player choosing their gender, name and elemental spirit at the beginning of the game, though, they cannot choose Holy, Inky, or Charity unless they complete certain criteria in Link Mode. The male protagonist is named Mash, while the female protagonist is named Mallow.

Party member
Depending on which gender was chosen at the start of the game, the Protagonist's proficiencies in battle and stat growth will vary. The boy is more adept in physical attributes (HP, Power, Defense), while the girl is more in tune with magic (MP, Agility, Spirit).

Beyond their starting element, the Protagonist can master every spell from all sixteen elements via Link Mode (see Magic (Magical Vacation) for each learnable spell). It should also be noted that stat growth is unaffected by the player's starting or active element.

Personality
The Protagonist does not have their own established personality; rather, they are meant to be an extension of the player. A section in their Profile page notes that they are energetic and enjoy making new friends.

Male
The male protagonist has messy, curly brown hair, thick eyebrows, and green eyes. In his default outfit, he sports a stylized cream-colored wizard's hat with green and orange embellishments, a white shirt, a loose cream jacket with blue hems, baggy purple pants with one large button sewn into each side, brown shoes and a red scarf.

In his Dark Magic costume, the hero's hat becomes green, baggier, with longer ends, retaining the ribbon embellishments. He wears a very baggy green cloak and purple pants, with brown shoes and green socks.

In his Light Magic comstume, the hero wears what looks like a straw hat with orange ribbon embellishments and orange cloth hanging over the back, and his outfit is overall lighter: he wears a short blue vest and loose purple pants that almost look like a skirt, with orange-brown clogs.

Female
The female protagonist has long blonde hair styled into outwards curls, thinner eyebrows and half-lidded purple eyes. In her default outfit, she wears a pink-tinted wizard's hat with green and orange embellishments, a pink bathrobe-style jacket with purple hems, an orange 'skirt', blue patterned tights, purple socks, brown shoes and a red scarf.

Magical Vacation
The Protagonist used to live in a village on the outskirts of Kovomaka Kingdom, and was born with the power to observe spirits hidden inside artifacts of nature. Seeing the Protagonist talking to spirits made the other villagers fearful, resulting in them being ostracized and deemed a fraud. Some time later, they were visited by Biscotti, the principal of Will-o'-Wisp Academy, known by many for having brought the power of magic to the kingdom. Biscotti asked the Protagonist if they liked spirits, and upon answering positively, a multitude of spirits appeared behind the grand magician. Finally feeling a sense of belonging, the Protagonist happily joined Biscotti on the road to Will-o'-Wisp. On the way there, Biscotti told them of the academy's graduates who held important positions in the country, but also explained that it is not the reason why he chose to teach magic; instead, he wished for people to master magic so they could go anywhere their hearts desired.

Neutral (starting element or love magic)
After graduating from the academy, the Protagonist becomes a professor themself. Instead of teaching magic for battle, they teach magic for helping one another. And thus, Will-o'-Wisp is reformed into a school suitable for a new era.

Dark magic
After graduating from the academy, the Protagonist leaves the country in search of greater challenges, devoting the next two decades to exploring the world. They travel through over thirty countries, learning how to move freely between realms along the way. Their adventures span across twenty realms, beginning in the Fire Realm, and ending in the Wind Realm when they pass away at the age of 87. By that time, they had earned hundreds of titles within countless countries, with their legacy lingering throughout the land, even in death.

Light magic
After graduating from the academy, the Protagonist sets out on a journey to find a method of breaking the dodos' curse, as well a cure for the side effects of enigma fusion. They traverse numerous realms, fell formidable foes, and treat the ill. Lots of new knowledge is gained from these experiences.

Secret ending (Report Card S grade)
One day, a book arrives at Will-o'-Wisp Academy, containing a plethora of information regarding what the Protagonist had set out to resolve. Magicians from all over Kovomaka become absorbed by the abundance of knowledge that every page beams, and it is regarded as the academy's greatest jewel of knowledge.

And yet, no one know what became of its author.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Stickers
The male version of the protagonist appears in the game as sticker #624, while the female version appears as sticker #625. As neither of them have names in their original appearance, they are simply called "Boy" and "Girl".

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirits
The protagonists appear in the game as spirit no. 1176. In their spirit battle, they are portrayed by two Villagers on the Smashville stage.

Trivia

 * The names "Mash" and "Mallow" are derived from the word 'marshmallow', a confectionary made from sugar and gelatin.
 * According to Shinichi Kameoka, the design bases for the protagonists were Daniel (Mark Lester) and Melody (Tracy Hyde) from the 1971 film Melody.
 * When Magical Vacation was announced for the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console, gameplay featuring the heroine presented her with the name Magical written in hiragana.
 * During development, the game was planned to pair the protagonists up as a couple, whereby the heroine would be the hero's girlfriend and vice versa. The hero was a 15-year-old named Tackle, a kindhearted boy who struggled with expressing his emotions.