Princess Peach Showtime Review
Princess Peach has always been a plucky heroine and fan favourite of the Mario Series despite often being relegated to a damsel in distress. Sure, Peach got to spread her wings in the recent Mario movie, but aside from a DS game released in 2005, Peach is often overlooked as a main character much to the disappointment of many Nintendo fans. Thankfully, Nintendo didn’t let this essential character stay in the shadows as Princess Peach is thrust into the Spotlight in Princess Peach Showtime. What’s It Like? Put on your best dress, Slip on the high heels, and prepare to showcase your many talents as we review Princess Peach Showtime on Nintendo Switch!
Princess Peach Showtime follows Peach as she attends a play. As soon as she arrives, a mysterious power takes over the theatre, and the Antagonist “Grape” and the Sour Bunch take over, locking out patrons and ruining the sets. Peach must take the mantle of several actors and star in their corresponding plays to set things right. To do this, Peach needs to embody the character and progress through each storyline which consists of 3 levels and as there are 10 characters, there are 30 levels and roughly 8 hours of gameplay. Thankfully, each play level is executed in short bursts, allowing you to tackle them at your leisure and take your time replaying your favorite ones.
Princess Peach Showtime is very clearly aimed at a younger audience with a more simple approach to gameplay, where core actions only require two different buttons, and despite this, I did find myself thoroughly enjoying the game while playing alongside my daughter, who subsequently wanted me to score the game 1000/100. There’s this feeling you get when playing it, and it’s hard to explain but I felt like a kid again, not having to worry about executing intricate combos or precision timing, instead being whisked along with the story in a stress-free fun-filled romp that’s a delight to play through. Each transformation brings something new whether it be sneaking through grass as Ninja Peach, corralling bad guys as Cowgirl Peach, or singing a tune to charm fish as Mermaid Peach, and it keeps things varied and interesting enough without overstaying its welcome.
This is Princess Peach Showtime’s best strength, what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in variety and experiences, ushering in new gameplay mechanics well into the first half of the game. By the time the curtains were drawing to a close, I was excited to see how each transformation would play out in the conclusive boss fights as many transformations don’t have combat so to speak, and one such battle saw me racing to decorate cakes and cookies while my opponent did their best to sabotage my efforts. Another set piece was chasing down a runaway train as it barrelled through towns, with Peach jumping to and fro dodging hazards and lassoing the bad guys off their horses.
There are collectibles in each level to discover in the form of Sparkle Gems, which are usually obtained by either finding them hidden in the level, or completing certain objectives. Sometimes you can miss them and unfortunately can’t go back, meaning you have to replay the level in the hopes of finding it. Those who do will earn special rewards and photos in the photo album, rewarding patient completionists. You can also purchase and unlock new dress patterns for Peach and her Ribbon sidekick if you want to change up appearances, and there are also hidden patterns to unlock in levels for keen-eyed gamers.
Graphically, Princess Peach Showtime is a visual delight as with most first-party titles. It’s bright and colourful, and Peach has a lot of character and charm, conveying her situation despite her not having a lot of spoken dialogue, much like Luigi in Luigi’s Mansion. Levels are varied and the worlds are set like a stage play with cables holding up props and scenery looking like decorative standees. It commits to the “Play” theme of the game and is better for it with enemies wearing set costumes and sections of levels acting as stages. There’s a lot of pink, a lot of sparkles, and a lot of charm in this game.
There are some performance issues, however, and it is most noticeable at the pivotal point of each level when Peach transforms into the actor of each level in the transformation animation. Aside from that, the game works really well and barely dips during gameplay sections. All of this is backed with a big brass band soundtrack that is fun and suits the theme, as well as different plays having period-specific soundtracks like spaghetti western twangs on the banjo, or woodwinds for the ninja stages, it’s all very well done. For my vision-impaired performance artists, there are no accessibility options, so further research may be required to see if Princess Peach Showtime is for you.
Value-wise, Princess Peach Showtime is a great title with good replayability. My daughter is still playing through it to try to collect all the Sparkle Gems and Ribbons to complete Peach’s wardrobe. Adults may only find one playthrough enough of an experience unless you are a collector or huge fan of Peach. For me, I really enjoyed it, and I don’t mind replaying it to find the Sparkle Gems I missed.
Princess Peach Showtime is a delight of a game, and despite being aimed at younger audiences, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. The unique transformations and variation of gameplay mechanics keep it interesting, and the bite-sized levels never overstay their welcome. Here’s hoping the game does well so we can see Peach return for an encore performance like Luigi did with Luigi’s Mansion, until then, I’ll be jumping back into the spotlight to collect some more sparkle gems. Take a bow, Peach!
So What’s it Like? Princess Peach Showtime is like Mario crossed with Little Big Planet.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by Nintendo Australia, but this does not impact my score.