Princess Peach Takes the Spotlight

After getting plenty of screen time in the Mario movie, Princess Peach has landed a starring role in her own adventure, Princess Peach: Showtime!, for the Switch. I’ve spent the past few days playing it, and found it to be a delightfully campy outing for gaming’s most famous lady. This is a game I would have loved as a kid, and I hope we see more outings from her in the future.

There’s plenty of action in Kung Fu Peach’s levels.

I never cared much for Super Mario Bros. 2, but I remember playing it a bit as a kid because Peach was an option on the character select screen. Many years later, she got a solo game in the form of Super Princess Peach for the DS. I didn’t play it, and mostly just remember people laughing at it because the main gimmick was Peach using her emotions to attack, so I couldn’t tell you what the actual quality was like. Fast forward to 2024, and Princess Peach: Showtime! is here to once again place the spotlight on our girl from the Mushroom Kingdom. I was pretty happy when this was announced, and knew I’d give it a shot. I’ve been a Nintendo fan for most of my life, and was eager to see how Peach would fare in her own adventure.

I’m happy to report I really like the game! Our story begins with Peach and a few toads going to see a play at the lavish Sparkle Theater. Before the show can begin, however, an evil sorceress named Madame Grape and her minions the Sour Bunch attack the theater, plotting to take it over. With the help of Stella, a cute little star who guards the theater, Peach sets out to rescue the Sparklas, the stars of all the plays at Sparkle Theater. With their help, the two hope to defeat Madame Grape and save the day.

Mermaid Peach giving off Disney vibes.

The structure is sort of like Super Mario 64, except instead of jumping into paintings, Peach enters each of the plays at the theater and assumes the starring role. She transforms into the likes of Swordfighter Peach, Ninja Peach and Figure Skater Peach along the way, all with their own unique abilities. This lends a nice amount of variety to the gameplay. For example, Swordfighter Peach is centered around combat that includes a dodge that slows down time when executed perfectly, which you have seen before if you’ve ever played a Platinum game like Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Detective Peach, on the other hand, eschews combat entirely in favor of looking for clues and questioning suspects while solving a mystery. Mermaid Peach uses the power of song to control fish, while Patissiere Peach decorates cakes and bakes cookies via minigames. My personal favorite is Mighty Peach, a sci-fi heroine who lifts busses like Superman and punches asteroids.

Mighty Peach’s levels are like playing through a vintage sci-fi TV show.

Each world offers fun little challenges based around these abilities, plus hidden goodies and collectibles to find. Each level has several Sparkles to find, which are similar to the standard Mario stars, moons, shines, etc. Some are given as rewards for completing main objectives in the levels or helping out Theets, the adorable inhabitants of the theater who play various roles in the productions. Others are hidden behind the set dressing or in rooms off the main path. If you collect all of them in a level, a photographer will give you a commemorative photo of your adventure. Each level also includes a special Theet who requires rescuing from the Sour Bunch, often in hidden areas, who will reward you with a new dress pattern for Peach or ribbon color for Stella.

The presentation is perfect, with the theater theme adding tons of charm to the experience. Levels are presented as a stage with all the appropriate set dressing, like backgrounds made of cardboard standees and aerial objects hanging from strings. Theets will have spotlights put on them when they’re sad and dejected, then once you help them out, the lights will brighten back up and they’ll start dancing. The gameplay is heavy on setpieces that add to the theatrical flair, such as an ice skating duel or a chase on horseback through the wild west. It’s a visual treat, and all the costumes (both available by default and unlockable) are a nice touch.

Every level looks just like watching a play unfold.

Seeing Peach embody so many cool personas reminds me of playing with Barbie dolls as a little girl in the best way. The game is unmistakably and unashamedly girly while still providing fun and surprisingly challenging gameplay, and I appreciate that as a woman who grew up playing video games. She’s both sweet and tough here, showing care for the adorable Theets and Stella while putting the bad guys in their place. Brains and brawn both come into play and help make this incarnation of Peach a well-rounded heroine.

I was curious how the difficulty would turn out in this game, and it’s actually not as easy as I expected it to be. While I think it’s going to provide a fun time for any kids who play it, they might need some parental assistance at times. Some of the Sparkles require precise platforming, quick-time events and that aforementioned Bayonetta combat to obtain, which I suspect can get a bit too complex for younger children. One complaint I have is that levels must be replayed from start to finish if you need to go back and pick up any items you missed the first time around. None of the levels are particularly long, but it can be frustrating having to start over for a Sparkle you missed in the middle of the level and then have to finish it for it to count. Just be warned if you have small children that they may need your help with some parts of the game.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a game I would have adored as a kid. It has its flaws, like uneven difficulty and some bad performance issues here and there, but none of that can hamper my enjoyment for such a fun and whimsical game. Like I said above, I appreciate that it’s a very girly adventure at heart and proud of it. The gameplay is fun and varied while integrating my love of dressing up characters and theater, and I hope we see more titles like it in the future. If you like this kind of stuff, you should definitely consider checking it out.