Princess Peach has been one of Nintendo’s most frequently featured characters since her debut in the originalSuper Mario Bros.game on the NES, yet she has rarely been allowed to star as a main character. In 2005, Peach was put front-and-center inSuper Princess Peachon the Nintendo DS, but since then, she’s been largely regulated to party game spin-offs and the damsel in distress role.Princess Peach: Showtimeis the first time in 19 years that Peach has been featured as a game’s main protagonist. Unfortunately for Peach fans,Princess Peach: Showtimedoesn’t seem to have been made with the same effort afforded to some of Nintendo’s other characters.
Princess Peach: Showtimehas the titular princess visiting the Sparkle Theater as it is taken over by agroup of villains known as Grape and the Sour Bunch. Peach then has to hop into levels themed after different stage play productions that Grape’s magic has warped. Peach embodies the powers of the plays' main characters to fight Grape’s minions and save the goofy little Theets playing the bit roles.
Princess Peach: Showtime’s Costumes Change Up the Gameplay
Peach taking on the starring role in these plays gives her fancy new costumes with unique powers. There are kung-fu stages where Peach has to battle hordes of enemies in hand-to-hand combat, and there are baking stages that revolve almost entirely around decorating cakes and baking cookies. Other times, Peach becomes aPower Rangers-like superhero to fight alien threats, and other times still, she transforms into a mermaid, allowing her to use fish to solve simple puzzles.
Peach’s costumesinPrincess Peach: Showtimeare creative and allow for a great deal of variety between the levels. For example, Peach’s spy costume lends itself to more traditional platforming action, whereas her detective costume has her searching for clues and chatting with characters to gather information. The problem is that none of these ideas are allowed to reach their full potential. Each costume is given three stages, all of which are rather short, straightforward, and easy. And with the costumes confined to their specific stages,Princess Peach: Showtimesometimes feels like playing a significantly more restrictiveKirbygame.
That’s not to say that there isn’t fun to be had in the levels. There are a few standout moments that we won’t spoil here that use each stage’s unique gimmick to great effect, and while the game is too short and easy, at least it’s never boring. Personality oozes from every corner ofPrincess Peach: Showtime, from the amusing character interactions to the colorful, if relatively simplistic, graphics.Princess Peach: Showtimehas good detail in its animations, with Peach picking up her dress to run and subtly twirling her wrist when readying her lasso in the cowgirl stages.
Princess Peach: Showtimealso wins points for its boss fights. The last boss inPrincess Peach: Showtimeis a letdown because of how easy it is, but there are a couple of standout battles that are clever, fun, and offer a bit more challenge than the rest of the game. If nothing else, thePrincess Peach: Showtimeboss fightsoffer spectacle, which can go a long way.
Princess Peach: Showtimeplayers will be able to beat all the bosses and conquer every stage pretty fast. Depending on how badly they want to find every collectible, it’s safe to say that most players willbeatPrincess Peach: Showtimein under 10 hours. Completionists will spend a bit more time with the game, but that’s mainly because getting all the collectibles inPrincess Peach: Showtimeis a pain. Many stages refuse to let players backtrack, so missing a collectible often means restarting the level from the beginning. Some short, but unskippable scenes can also make replaying levels needlessly tedious, seriously hurting the game’s replay value.
Collectibles are Important for Endgame in Princess Peach: Showtime
Most players won’t want to find all ofPrincess Peach: Showtime’s collectibles, but there’s at least a point to doing it for those who do decide to fully complete the game. The collectible gems inPrincess Peach: Showtimehave an endgame purpose that gives players a good reason to hunt them down, plus the coins players amass in each stage can be used tobuy new dresses for Peachand color schemes for Stella, the star-like sidekick that accompanies Peach on this particular adventure. Beyond the dresses and Stella customizations, there’s a surprising amount of content inPrincess Peach: Showtimethat isn’t available until after the credits roll, so the game does at least give players a healthy amount of things to do after wrapping up the main story.
Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling thatPrincess Peach: Showtimewasn’t given the same level of care as other Nintendo games. TheGood-Feel-developed titlelacks a certain level of polish that fans expect from Nintendo products, with occasional frame dips and loading screens that last a little too long and chug in a distracting way. The load times aren’t all that excessive, but they are long enough that players will definitely feel them when moving between theater floors and hopping into levels.
It took me roughly seven hours to beat Princess Peach: Showtime’s main story, but there’s a lot to do after the credits for those that want to get 100%.
Princess Peach: Showtimehas a lot going for it, but it sometimes comes across as a concept demo for a larger game that will be much better. Peach shouldn’t have to wait another 19 years for her next solo outing, but hopefully her next game takes the time to give the Mushroom Kingdom’s princess a proper, full-scale adventure.
WHERE TO PLAY
Princess Peach: Showtimeis available now on the Nintendo Switch. Game Rant was provided with a Switch code for this review.
