In her very own adventure, Princess Peach teams up with Stella, the Sparkle Theatre’s guardian, to save the theatre from the wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch. Luckily, Peach has gained some showstopping abilities: With the power of Stella’s ribbon, she can transform and confront Grape’s evil acting troupe. Each transformation gives Peach a dramatic entrance and the abilities she needs to save the plays – and the day.
AN action-adventure title aimed at younger audiences – Showtime! may not be Peach’s first solo outing, but it’s certainly her biggest adventure yet.
While it’s an enjoyable title, the main problem with Princess Peach: Showtime! is it doesn’t feel like a game designed with gaming’s most famous princess in mind. It wouldn’t surprise me if late in development they just chose Peach to be the star. If they have picked Kirby, Yoshi or Mario instead, I’m sure the game would feel mostly the same. Kirby is of course famous for his transformations, and could turn into Swordfighter Kirby easily for this.
Other Mario characters who have gotten their own games or series, including Donkey Kong, Wario, Yoshi and Luigi have been given the opportunity to forge their own identity, but Peach, who deserves better, is not given that privilege here. The Super Mario Bros Movie last year was a fantastic take on the character, so it’s a shame. Is anyone ever going to remember Showtime!’s bland main villain, Grape?
The targeted younger demographic of this game will certainly enjoy the bright and vibrant graphics and the many fun transformations that Peach will undertake. The game is made up of 30 levels, and Peach takes on a form (which occasionally repeat) in each level which changes up the gameplay.
While this does add variety, there’s not a ton of depth to these transformations, with Peach usually receiving one or two special abilities and moves in a different way. Some of the transformations, such as Figure Skater Peach or Patissiere Peach, turn the levels into borderline mini-games rather than an action stage.
And then there’s Detective Peach, where the things slow down as you use clues to figure out a mystery. But I found these levels rather boring and very out of place compared to the faster paced Mighty Peach (she becomes a superhero) or the thrills of espionage with Dashing Thief Peach.
While the graphics are a visual delight to look at, they aren’t particularly high resolution and can be blurry at times. The framerate also takes a hit often, which is strange for a first party Nintendo title, which may indicate that this wasn’t a high budget game.
All the complaints mentioned in this review probably won’t matter to the younger gamers playing this. It’s a fairly easy game and it will be over for most players after about 10 hours, but there’s collectibles to find in repeat playthroughs. The game is fun, and the boss fights in particular are surprisingly well-designed, so it’s certainly worth playing, but don’t expect the quality of Super Mario Odyssey or Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Both of those titles also target a family audience, but enjoy deeper gameplay than Princess Peach: Showtime!
Princess Peach: Showtime! is out now on Nintendo Switch.
Review code provided by the publisher.