Princess Peach has been Nintendo’s leading lady for over three decades, but until now she’s only had one game to her name–Super Princess Peach on the DS which came out almost 20 years ago! After seeing her play a much stronger character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s about time Peach has gotten out of Mario’s shadow, and she does exactly that in Princess Peach: Showtime! In fact, Mario is nowhere to be found, nor is he mentioned.
The game puts players in the shoes of Princess Peach, who decides to attend shows at the Sparkle Theater with some of her loyal Toads after discovering a flyer promoting its many performances. Like clockwork, the evil Madame Grape infiltrates and takes everybody hostage as Peach arrives, and the princess loses her crown in the chaos. Eventually she comes across a friendly star named Stella, and together they team up to bring the sparkle back to the theater. And how do they do that? By becoming the stars of the show, of course!
As weird as this story may sound, it’s actually pretty unique as far as Nintendo narratives go. As you might expect, the game is geared towards younger audiences who may be getting into gaming for the first time. Making the package even greater is how the game blends all sorts of genres, so while some levels will seem weaker than others, it’s actually better and more intuitively designed to give people young and old the opportunity to try something they otherwise wouldn’t.
For the uninitiated, people who buy this game will fall into one of three groups of people. One, you’re a fan of Princess Peach and you wanted a Peach game; two, the marketing and press for this game made you want to try it out because of all the cool things Peach can do; or three, you have a loved one who wanted this game or wanted to see you play through it.
The spotlights are a nice touch, and they also hide certain secrets, so you’ll want to explore everything.
Princess Peach is awesome, especially considering how great of a role she played in The Super Mario Bros. Movie last year. Why wouldn’t you want her to have a game?
I personally fall into the second category. Yeah, I think Princess Peach is dope, but it’s the reality that Peach can be whoever she wants–a swordfighter, a ninja, a pastry chef, a detective, a superhero, and a bunch of other awesome roles that I’ll leave people to discover. Barbie comes to mind. If she can be anything, so can Princess Peach.
So how does Princess Peach: Showtime! accomplish this? Every level in the game is dedicated to one of ten roles. Initially, when you enter a door leading to a level, it’s really a play with its own contained story. When Peach takes part in the first swordfighter play, you see the play’s performers in peril, all of a sudden get granted the power of the swordfighter, and beat the swordfighting boss at the end. When Peach enters the pastry chef’s first play, she enters a world where everybody is deprived of sweets, so she becomes Patissiere Peach and bakes a whole bunch of pastries to make everybody happy, including the bad guys. When Peach enters the first detective level, she encounters several mysteries, becomes Detective Peach, and then uses context clues to discover who the bad guys are.
It’s a simple format that works for what the game is trying to do, and what also works in its favor is that with the five to 10 minutes it takes to finish a single level, nothing overstays its welcome. If you only have time to do that one level, do that one level. You also don’t have to worry about a “game over” or starting at the very beginning if you die too much. So for those who fall into category three (you have a loved one who wanted this game or wanted to see you play through it), the game isn’t very demanding. If there’s anything to complain about with this format, it’s that the game doesn’t have a multiplayer option. It would be a lot more fun if I had the chance to play with my girlfriend as she used Princess Daisy or some other character. Or even have a friend use Stella in the same way the assist mode worked in Super Mario Galaxy, but alas those are the breaks.
Getting everything in a level on your first go is actually really hard.
Again, it’s designed for kids in mind. The swordfighting levels teach basic mechanics of action games. The ninja levels teach stealth gameplay. The detective levels teach narrative puzzle solving. More seasoned gamers will blow by these levels with ease, but there’s still a hint of difficulty disguised as Nintendo charm along with some frustration built in. I won’t go through how all 10 of Peach’s transformations twist genres, but it’s fascinating seeing how every Peach transformation makes each level look and feel different with somewhat of that Paper Mariocharm using stage backgrounds.
Much like the flagship Super Mario games, it might not be enough for some people to simply beat a level by reaching the end. Each level has a bunch of sparkles for you to collect, in addition to an accessory piece that you can use to customize the look of Peach or Stella. For the most part, they’re just hidden in various places really well, so it’s best to explore each nook and cranny. Other times, you have to solve puzzles or perform tasks which could net you more than one. This is where things can get frustrating from a gameplay standpoint.
I personally didn’t have a lot of love for the Patisserie levels. While both those themes feature gorgeous visuals for what the Switch can muster, there are gameplay design issues that hold some roles back. The Patisserie levels, for example, are unlike any other level in the game. Your main actions here are to bake cookies and design cakes. The former is done by rapidly tapping B at a mixing station and stopping at just the right time, while the latter makes you follow a design you see in a cookbook within a short time limit. If you’re a completionist who wants to collect every sparkle in the game, you’ll need to design the cakes perfectly within the time limit, and it’s easy to mess up. If or when you do mess up, you can’t just repeat that section. You have to restart from the beginning of the level, which brings up another annoying point: the game suffers from frequent and long-lasting load screens.
The game uses a closed theater curtain as it transitions from section to section or level to level, and they look bad. I’m not someone that pays much attention to frame rate, but I could tell and they look absolutely awful, especially when compared to the nice curtain animation scene in Super Mario RPG. I wouldn’t be surprised if the load screens themselves took a full 30 minutes compared to the seven or so hours it takes to actually roll credits in this game.
What’s Mermaid Peach’s power? Probably a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Critically speaking here, such a thing shouldn’t be a problem especially for how good the game is. It goes to show that not all the development teams at Nintendo are built equal, and with Nintendo’s weird strategy as of late where they refuse to name the developer for their first party exclusives until people finish them, it puts a damper on what gamers know as Nintendo’s seal of quality. The developers at Good-Feel did an amazing job making Princess Peach: Showtime! an extremely fun and enjoyable game that’s even better when sharing the experience with others; however it lacks the polish that games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder or Tears of the Kingdomhave, and it’s a real shame.
Polish issues notwithstanding, I had an amazing time with Princess Peach: Showtime, but it’s hard to recommend at the full price of $60. The levels are fun, Princess Peach’s transformations are amazing and I’ll be surprised if I don’t see a bunch of different kinds of Peach cosplay during convention season. Also, the game is much more enjoyable when you’re playing it with people watching–it’s one heck of a streaming game. But having loading issues that too frequently occur, taking you out of “the zone,” can lead to frustration and feeling like I didn’t get what I paid full price for. Still, I hope this isn’t the last of Princess Peach and I want to see more Peach games down the road… and let’s not forget Daisy or even Rosalina this time! We can leave Mario at home.
Good-Feel did an amazing job making Princess Peach: Showtime! an extremely fun and enjoyable game that’s even better when sharing the experience with others; however it lacks the polish that games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder or Tears of the Kingdom have, and it’s a real shame.
Princess Peach has been Nintendo’s leading lady for over three decades, but until now she’s only had one game to her name–Super Princess Peach on the DS which came out almost 20 years ago! After seeing her play a much stronger character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s about time Peach has gotten out of Mario’s shadow, and she does exactly that in Princess Peach: Showtime! In fact, Mario is nowhere to be found, nor is he mentioned.
The game puts players in the shoes of Princess Peach, who decides to attend shows at the Sparkle Theater with some of her loyal Toads after discovering a flyer promoting its many performances. Like clockwork, the evil Madame Grape infiltrates and takes everybody hostage as Peach arrives, and the princess loses her crown in the chaos. Eventually she comes across a friendly star named Stella, and together they team up to bring the sparkle back to the theater. And how do they do that? By becoming the stars of the show, of course!
As weird as this story may sound, it’s actually pretty unique as far as Nintendo narratives go. As you might expect, the game is geared towards younger audiences who may be getting into gaming for the first time. Making the package even greater is how the game blends all sorts of genres, so while some levels will seem weaker than others, it’s actually better and more intuitively designed to give people young and old the opportunity to try something they otherwise wouldn’t.
For the uninitiated, people who buy this game will fall into one of three groups of people. One, you’re a fan of Princess Peach and you wanted a Peach game; two, the marketing and press for this game made you want to try it out because of all the cool things Peach can do; or three, you have a loved one who wanted this game or wanted to see you play through it.
The spotlights are a nice touch, and they also hide certain secrets, so you’ll want to explore everything.
Princess Peach is awesome, especially considering how great of a role she played in The Super Mario Bros. Movie last year. Why wouldn’t you want her to have a game?
I personally fall into the second category. Yeah, I think Princess Peach is dope, but it’s the reality that Peach can be whoever she wants–a swordfighter, a ninja, a pastry chef, a detective, a superhero, and a bunch of other awesome roles that I’ll leave people to discover. Barbie comes to mind. If she can be anything, so can Princess Peach.
So how does Princess Peach: Showtime! accomplish this? Every level in the game is dedicated to one of ten roles. Initially, when you enter a door leading to a level, it’s really a play with its own contained story. When Peach takes part in the first swordfighter play, you see the play’s performers in peril, all of a sudden get granted the power of the swordfighter, and beat the swordfighting boss at the end. When Peach enters the pastry chef’s first play, she enters a world where everybody is deprived of sweets, so she becomes Patissiere Peach and bakes a whole bunch of pastries to make everybody happy, including the bad guys. When Peach enters the first detective level, she encounters several mysteries, becomes Detective Peach, and then uses context clues to discover who the bad guys are.
It’s a simple format that works for what the game is trying to do, and what also works in its favor is that with the five to 10 minutes it takes to finish a single level, nothing overstays its welcome. If you only have time to do that one level, do that one level. You also don’t have to worry about a “game over” or starting at the very beginning if you die too much. So for those who fall into category three (you have a loved one who wanted this game or wanted to see you play through it), the game isn’t very demanding. If there’s anything to complain about with this format, it’s that the game doesn’t have a multiplayer option. It would be a lot more fun if I had the chance to play with my girlfriend as she used Princess Daisy or some other character. Or even have a friend use Stella in the same way the assist mode worked in Super Mario Galaxy, but alas those are the breaks.
Getting everything in a level on your first go is actually really hard.
Again, it’s designed for kids in mind. The swordfighting levels teach basic mechanics of action games. The ninja levels teach stealth gameplay. The detective levels teach narrative puzzle solving. More seasoned gamers will blow by these levels with ease, but there’s still a hint of difficulty disguised as Nintendo charm along with some frustration built in. I won’t go through how all 10 of Peach’s transformations twist genres, but it’s fascinating seeing how every Peach transformation makes each level look and feel different with somewhat of that Paper Mariocharm using stage backgrounds.
Much like the flagship Super Mario games, it might not be enough for some people to simply beat a level by reaching the end. Each level has a bunch of sparkles for you to collect, in addition to an accessory piece that you can use to customize the look of Peach or Stella. For the most part, they’re just hidden in various places really well, so it’s best to explore each nook and cranny. Other times, you have to solve puzzles or perform tasks which could net you more than one. This is where things can get frustrating from a gameplay standpoint.
I personally didn’t have a lot of love for the Patisserie levels. While both those themes feature gorgeous visuals for what the Switch can muster, there are gameplay design issues that hold some roles back. The Patisserie levels, for example, are unlike any other level in the game. Your main actions here are to bake cookies and design cakes. The former is done by rapidly tapping B at a mixing station and stopping at just the right time, while the latter makes you follow a design you see in a cookbook within a short time limit. If you’re a completionist who wants to collect every sparkle in the game, you’ll need to design the cakes perfectly within the time limit, and it’s easy to mess up. If or when you do mess up, you can’t just repeat that section. You have to restart from the beginning of the level, which brings up another annoying point: the game suffers from frequent and long-lasting load screens.
The game uses a closed theater curtain as it transitions from section to section or level to level, and they look bad. I’m not someone that pays much attention to frame rate, but I could tell and they look absolutely awful, especially when compared to the nice curtain animation scene in Super Mario RPG. I wouldn’t be surprised if the load screens themselves took a full 30 minutes compared to the seven or so hours it takes to actually roll credits in this game.
What’s Mermaid Peach’s power? Probably a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Critically speaking here, such a thing shouldn’t be a problem especially for how good the game is. It goes to show that not all the development teams at Nintendo are built equal, and with Nintendo’s weird strategy as of late where they refuse to name the developer for their first party exclusives until people finish them, it puts a damper on what gamers know as Nintendo’s seal of quality. The developers at Good-Feel did an amazing job making Princess Peach: Showtime! an extremely fun and enjoyable game that’s even better when sharing the experience with others; however it lacks the polish that games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder or Tears of the Kingdomhave, and it’s a real shame.
Polish issues notwithstanding, I had an amazing time with Princess Peach: Showtime, but it’s hard to recommend at the full price of $60. The levels are fun, Princess Peach’s transformations are amazing and I’ll be surprised if I don’t see a bunch of different kinds of Peach cosplay during convention season. Also, the game is much more enjoyable when you’re playing it with people watching–it’s one heck of a streaming game. But having loading issues that too frequently occur, taking you out of “the zone,” can lead to frustration and feeling like I didn’t get what I paid full price for. Still, I hope this isn’t the last of Princess Peach and I want to see more Peach games down the road… and let’s not forget Daisy or even Rosalina this time! We can leave Mario at home.
by Danreb Victorio
