It’s hard to believe, especially considering how ridiculously popular the whole Mushroom Kingdom thing is, that we’ve had so few games featuring an actual ruler as the main character over the years. Yes, it was Princess Toadstool’s Castle Run on the Nelsonic Game Watch back in 1990, Princess Peach’s first lead role (which you probably don’t need to rush out and buy), and Super Princess Peach on the DS, but nothing that feels like a real twist as the core of the full-on adventure. So far, that is.
Yes, while we fully expected this to be a one-time experience given the above results, it turns out that Princess Peach: Showtime! is simply the best watch of Ms. Toadstool (shocker) and a far more attractive mess than we were prepared for. It’s still 100% a game aimed solely at kids, and there really isn’t much of a challenge for those looking for it, but for younger players, for relatives or friends sitting down to a good old Nintendo game with young children, there’s a lot of fun to be had with this one.
The story in Princess Peach: Showtime sees Peach go into action against the evil Madame Grape and her Sour Bunch as they take over the Sparkle Theater, where they’ve decided to go ahead and start making a big mess of all the shows. What a bunch of tools. It’s up to Peach, along with a cute little star named Stella, to jump through a whole bunch of different theater scenarios and gather the power of Sparkle, which they will then use to defeat the power of… Darkle. I’m not even making that up.
So what you have is a great excuse for everyone’s favorite ass-kicking, Sour Bunch-slapping princess to don a bunch of cool costumes as she takes on roles that include a sleek swordsman, a nimble crafty ninja, a superhero, a chef, an ice-slider, and…well…we’re not going to ruin the transformations anymore, because discovering them is half the fun.
Each game is set within a level-selecting setting that’s very reminiscent of Super Mario 64 — it’s far from the only retro Nintendo game reference that older folks should look out for — and each one provides a whole new set of gameplay mechanics to get to grips with. battle it out as you decorate cupcakes, quickly dodge ninja attacks, do a little singing and dancing, take part in endless running and, frankly, so much more.
Going through each of these levels or slowly collecting every glow and secret (the only correct way to play), it’s a constant pleasure to see how much love, care and attention to detail Nintendo has put into this one. Sometimes younger players tend to get a rough ride with messy gaming experiences and money grabs, but not here. Each game is cleverly designed and engaging, each one has fun surprises to discover, and you’re constantly thrown from one scenario to another, never having time to feel bored or restless as the controls and objectives keep changing things up.
Can you muster up the courage to delicately decorate a spinning cake as baddies approach you from all angles, then immediately dress up in your best Ace lawyer impression solve a quick mystery across the street? What do you think about engaging ninjas in deadly combat on your way to winning an ice dancing competition? Because these are your tasks here, princess. As soon as you feel that you have mastered the mechanics, they are taken away and replaced by something even more stupid and fun, and all this chaos is so beautifully animated and detailed that it is difficult, no matter how exhausted we are, not to crack a smile. Seriously, once you see Ninja Peach sneaking underwater with a little bamboo tube in her mouth for air, you’ll never be the same, buddy.
Of course, none of this constant changing and shifting would do really work if not everything was immediately available to even the greenest players. Each of these minigames, challenges, and notes are designed to be played with minimal button input. Sometimes it’s actually just one button, or one press will require you to hold the direction while pressing one button, so there’s really no obstacle here for very young children, if properly coached and supported by an older friend.
Within an hour or so of starting this one, we’ve completely shifted from a cautious, if not jaded, mindset to one completely and utterly engaged, genuinely having a great time, thank-you-very-very-much, and that’s to say nothing of the two young with whom we hung out (they were enchanted). Is it a shame that there is no multiplayer? Little. It sure would be nice to be able to play them all at the same time, but you know that’s a trade-off worth making for a game that’s unique to itself. After all, we have New Super Mario Bros and Mario Wonder for that kind of carnage, and swapping controllers between friends works perfectly. And anyway, it’s Peach, she’s the star of the show this time – finally – and no one else shares that spotlight.
As you progress through the campaign, you’ll unlock more floors of the Sparkle Theater (as well as other things we’re not allowed to mention), complete four shows on each level to destroy Madame Grape’s barriers, and move on to the next area. Each game has three acts for Peach to progress through and evolve as that particular hero, and you even have a whole bunch of surprisingly robust big boss battles to engage in as well. You’ll have to have a good eye to stick all the glitter into the stage the first time (in fact, we don’t think we’ve managed to do it once), and there are locations for secret poses — hold the buttons on your shoulder to look awesome, dear — and a little guy with a bow tie with a bow hidden in every act. You can easily rack up double-digit hours of gameplay by grabbing all of these items.
There’s a lot more going on here than we expected. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating — Showtime really does offer you a lot of different things. It also looks absolutely fantastic in places, with a nice mix of styles used in the various stage productions you’ll visit. There’s tons of unlockable outfits and designs for Peach (Stella even gets her own ribbon collection) — Nintendo totally delivers on that stamp of quality again, doesn’t it?
Or at least it would be, if it weren’t for a few minor performance issues, which we still don’t expect to see from the Big Na, as the Switch — quite understandably at this point — begins to groan under the stress some seven years from its initial launch. They didn’t huge issues, let’s be clear: the framerate can drop and stall here and there, once or twice quite noticeably, and on handhelds there’s a blurring that threatens to dim the brilliance of the whole endeavour. But it’s not a fast-paced or demanding game, so these bumps are more forgivable than usual since they don’t directly affect our ability to complete tasks at any point.
And so, in the end, what we have with Princess Peach: Showtime is a fantastic game for kids that revels in creativity and silliness, throwaway mechanics, great big goofy bosses, and pure old-school fun. It’s a lot more adventurous than we expected, it’s less about fashion and more about being an all-around badass and, if you can look past the odd stutter and a few spots of blur here and there, we think you’ll have a great time with this one. Even more so with some young Peaches fans along for the ride.
Conclusion
Princess Peach: It’s time! sees Nintendo finally give everyone’s favorite imaginary princess the cheery adventure she deserves. We were expecting a one-off offering, a bunch of mini-games and Mario-lite platforming maybe, but what we have is one of the better kid-oriented games on the Switch. There’s creativity, style and fun to be had here, with levels packed with secrets, cool outfits and enough new mechanics to ensure nothing is outstayed. Come for the fashion, stay for the boss battles, slow-motion bullet dodges and cardboard horse chases. Aside from a few minor performance issues, this is Nintendo in pretty bad shape. Bis!
