Developer: Good-Feel
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Princess Peach: Showtime! – Review
Mario has had quite a few games that revolve around the mustachioed plumber, and it hasn’t been that long since we took a closer look at Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which was released in October of 2023. Other characters also get their own title once in a while, with Donkey Kong and Yoshi probably being the most famous characters in the Marioverse who received their own long-running franchises. Princess Peach, however, also embarked on her own adventure back in 2005 on Nintendo’s DS, but it has been rather silent ever since on that front. Now, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom finds herself in a grand adventure where she must save a theater from a mysterious evildoer who has ruined all the plays.
Story
The story of Princess Peach: Showtime! revolves around the royal lady and two of her Toads visiting the Sparkle Theater. The theater has a wide variety of different plays to view, but before Peach can actually watch one, the building gets taken over by Grape, a dark sorceress, and her minions, the Sour Bunch. From here on out, a very simplistic narrative unfolds, where Peach dresses up to star in different plays to chase the Sour Bunch away, together with her new companion, Stella. As a whole, the story is quite cute, and it’s a lot of fun for young and old.
Graphics
Graphically, Princess Peach: Showtime! is a very pretty gaming oozing that authentic Mario Bros charm. Even though the Switch’s hardware is getting quite dated, you’ll be treated to a very attractive little game that has quite a bit of visual variety. You’ll find yourself in a Persona-esque theater going from a Wild West and a Sci-Fi theme to other themes such as a cooking-inspired one and a night at the museum backdrop. We were charmed from start to finish when playing through the short levels of the game. As Showtime! is a 2.5D platformer, it does get away with a few more visual infidelities, but even so, we sometimes simply stood still to check out what was going on in the background.
Performance-wise, not everything ran as smoothly as it could have. We did encounter a fair few frame drops, and even sometimes the loading screens would stutter as well. This was never truly game-breaking nor did it detract from the overall fun to be had, but it was still present enough to warrant a mention.
Sound
Overall, the sound design is great. The different themed levels all have a fitting backdrop, and the sound effects also add a lot to the general atmosphere. You’ll get decent audio feedback for what’s going on onscreen, and we occasionally found ourselves bopping our head along with the upbeat music. That being said, the soundtrack is still not as memorable as many other Mario-centric titles, but the music still gets you in the proper mood to play through this adventure. For a modern release such as this, we would have loved it had the game voice acting. As you’re playing through different stage productions it would have been quite cool to have some voice work accompanying the cutscenes.
Gameplay
Princess Peach: Showtime! is an action-adventure title with a lot of platforming elements, some mini-games, and a few puzzles. The offset is quite simple, as you just play through short, themed stages (or plays) to work your way up the theater. In these levels you’ll have access to the powers of the costume you find there, allowing you to do all sorts of things. One moment you might find yourself engaged in hectic sword battles while the next time you may be investigating a burglary at the museum. The combination of variety in gameplay and the overall shortness of the levels does make Princess Peach: Showtime! very amusing to be played in short bursts. However, by cramming in so many different gameplay elements it doesn’t take long to find a few rough edges here and there.
As stated above, we loved the overall diversity. It was fun that no two levels felt the same, and that we could simply try out different powers or go through different gameplay formats. The general controls were responsive, but some parts of the gameplay felt a bit unpolished. We sometimes had to do fairly awkward things with the powers that were bestowed upon Peach to then complete mini-games and puzzles. The baking mini-game is a fine example of this, as we felt that things were a bit unresponsive if we wanted to stop baking. Even dropping off items required a somewhat pinpoint accuracy in certain locations. The combat feels a bit simplistic at times, and things are generally a bit too easy. Of course, we understand that this is a title that is still catered toward younger gamers, but even then, the overall difficulty was still very low. The chase scenes in the Wild West levels were also sometimes a bit difficult to get an overview of. These are generally small remarks in an otherwise amusing and generally interesting little title.
Overall, the game is absolutely fantastic for pick-up-and-play sessions, as you’ll generally clear stages in around ten minutes. This allows you to still make progress, even when you don’t have that much time to spare. You’ll have the normal stages to play through, but also the boss stages, as well as the specific Sparkla stages. The Sparkla stages are very similar to the regular levels. Other than that, you can find some collectibles in the world, such as new outfits and Sparkle Gems. These gems are also needed to unlock the boss levels to progress. Of course, the game is designed in such a way that you’ll often find enough gems to keep progressing, even if you don’t actively go looking for them.
Conclusion
Princess Peach: Showtime! is a fun little title with a lot of gameplay variety. While you will see the credits roll after roughly eight hours of playing, you’ll still have great content to plow through thanks to the different costumes and the powers they bring to the table. The title oozes that authentic Nintendo charm, and while we still encountered a few rough edges such as unpolished mechanics and a few frame drops, we were entertained from start to finish.
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