Mario might be the company’s mascot and the star of its series, but Nintendo has never been afraid to let him take center stage with its supporting cast. Through several generations of consoles, we’ve seen Luigi, Yoshi, and even Captain Toad take center stage in their spinoff titles. However, Princess Peach, who has always been a main character in the Mario franchise, is strangely left out. Super Princess Peach, released on the Nintendo DS in 2005, was her only claim to the limelight until now, nearly twenty years later, when she finally returns to star in Princess Peach: Showtime! But in the twilight years of the Switch, with so many excellent Mario games already available on the system, does this have what it takes to become another spectacle?
Princess Peach: It’s time! takes us from the familiar surroundings of the Mushroom Kingdom to the Sparkle Theatre; the place being occupied by a new race called the Theets, who performed various theatrical performances. Shortly after Peach’s arrival, the theater is invaded by Madame Grape and her Sour Crowd, who interrupt the performances by imprisoning the lead actors of each, setting the stage for tragedy. With the help of Stella, the caretaker of the Sparkle Theatre, Princess Peach must enter each show, taking on the leading role herself, in order to put an end to Madame Grape’s plans and restore the theater to the state it was meant to be. As you might expect, there’s little depth to the game’s overarching narrative beyond this, but it compensates by giving each gameplay stage its own miniature story-within-a-story. The only way for Peach to make things right is to take on the lead role, which means putting on a play with herself as the hero and the Sour Bunch as the villains. Each play’s story is limited but traditional, making them feel like solid and uncomplicated representations of the desired genre, and there’s a nice variety of genres to play through.
An interesting mix of gameplay styles is present in Princess Peach: Showtime!, making it difficult to pin the game down to any particular genre. Like a traditional Mario series title, it’s stage-based, with each stage being a short and linear experience where your goal is to reach the end, but how you do so varies dramatically depending on which combo Peach is wearing. Excluding Peach’s default princess dress, there are ten different outfits that will change the gameplay into something more than the traditional platformer you might expect.
For example, the stages where you play as Swordfighter Peach are a hack-and-slash affair, where you’ll use precise movements to destroy waves of enemies, while Ninja Peach focuses on stealth and you’ll spend your time hiding in the grass to sneak up on enemies. and take them out in one fell swoop. Detective Peach is completely non-combat and instead you’ll be examining your surroundings for clues to progress. There’s naturally some gameplay overlap between the two (like Ninja Peach and Cowgirl Peach both have side-scrolling sections on rails), but the overall variety here is very impressive. Unfortunately, the downside to this is that nothing feels particularly elaborate, and some repetition is required. The more combat-focused ensembles control very similarly, and due to the brevity of the stages, there’s little opportunity to really explore the more unique gameplay elements of each.
It’s inevitable that you’ll find some of these playstyles more comfortable than others. Personally, I found Figure Skater Peach to be quite clunky, and even if that was intended, it still made playing her less enjoyable. I also felt that more of a distinction should have been made between Swordfighter Peach and Kung Fu Peach, who were very focused on combat. The fixed camera angles can make the side-scrolling stages quite awkward at times when you can also move more freely. Fortunately, Princess Peach: Showtime! is a fairly easy game, and despite these occasional missteps with the controls, Peach has five hearts that allow for mistakes. There’s also a pretty generous window of invincibility when you take damage, and health gain is often a given. Losing all of your hearts will result in you returning to the last checkpoint at full health minus ten coins, and you’ll likely pick up more than enough coins for a few tries as you progress through the stage.
That said, Princess Peach: Showtime isn’t without its challenges if you intend to go all out. Each stage contains numerous Sparkling Gems, and while many are often in plain sight or will be rewarded just for completing the stage, some of them can be quite cleverly hidden or require some quick reflexes to acquire. Many Sparkle Gems are divided into segments where the player will have to collect them within a limited time, and it’s easy to miss one while scrolling through the segments on the side. Unless you’re particularly diligent, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get them all on your first playthrough, adding a level of replayability and some challenge for more experienced players.
Once you’ve completed the four stages on a floor (which can be accessed in any order), you’ll be able to challenge that floor’s boss. The bosses play more like traditional Mario platformers, with each boss having attack patterns that you’ll need to exploit to discover their weak point in order to defeat them, becoming more of a challenge each time you do so. Sparkling Gems are also required to unlock doors leading to boss encounters, although the number you’ll need for this is fairly low and should come naturally for most without having to repeat stages. Defeating the boss will unlock the next floor and the next series of stages that the player must overcome. There’s plenty of content here, with each different ensemble having three separate stages, and while you’ll need to find an outfit in the first stage, the second and third stages jump right into the action, giving you more time to play with your abilities.
Princess Peach: It’s time! it’s not a long game, and an experienced player will probably see the credits stack up after about ten hours. However, the variety of gameplay on offer here means that it might take a bit longer if some aspects of it are less to your liking, and it can add up to a few hours of gameplay if you set out to collect all the Sparkle Gems and find the Ribbon in each stage. Collecting enough coins to buy cosmetic dresses in the theater shop may also require multiple replays of stages, and further content is unlocked upon completing the game which could further extend your time with it.
One area where Princess Peach: Showtime! what really stands out is its visual presentation. There are ten different theater plays to explore, and the only common element between them is the way they are presented. The scenery and objects are complex pieces, giving the game a very unique and charming feel not too dissimilar to the Paper Mario series or titles like Yoshi’s Woolly World, as huge, colorful cardboard cutouts give the stages a multi-layered feel, with little touches like wires on moving props that make things authentic. One element that particularly impressed me was Princess Peach herself; her animation and the way she interacts with the environment changes quite dramatically depending on the costume she’s wearing, making each one feel different. Swordfighter Peach favors quick strikes with her blade and I could really feel the weight behind Kung Fu Peach’s punches and kicks. The floor bosses also had a unique and creative design that matched the theatrical theme of the game, making them different from the usual enemies found in each stage.
While the game runs smoothly during gameplay, load times can be long, and there is noticeable slowdown and lag during loading and screen transitions, which is quite surprising for Nintendo’s first-party title. It doesn’t get in the way of actual gameplay, but it’s quite distracting when entering and exiting stages. There’s an undeniable blurring of scenery and character models especially in handheld mode, perhaps a sign that the game is pushing the Switch hardware to its limits. While colors are vibrant on the OLED screen and the lack of visual clarity is less of an issue in docked mode, it’s a shame that the visuals here aren’t as high quality as other recent first-party titles like Super Mario Bros.
Sound Design in Princess Peach: Showtime! is as varied as the stages themselves, with each having scores that are vaguely similar but have a melody and rhythm appropriate to the show in question. The Ninja Peach stages, for example, have more traditional Japanese orchestration as you might expect, while the Mighty Peach stages have background music that sounds like it’s straight out of a superhero movie. Unfortunately, the game’s voice acting is limited to just one or two lines of dialogue and voice clips, which feels a bit out of place in text-heavy stages like those featuring Detective Peach, but that’s a common theme in Mario series titles and to be expected here.
What it lacks in depth and challenge, Princess Peach: Showtime! it makes up for the variety and charm, making it a great starting point for different play styles for younger and less experienced players. Its attractive presentation style is only slightly weakened by a surprisingly poor frame rate during loading and transition screens that can hopefully be fixed with a performance-focused patch in the future. While never quite reaching the pinnacle of a more focused gameplay experience, the variety of gameplay presented in Princess Peach: Showtime! make it an easy recommendation.
8/10
Copy of Princess Peach: It’s time! provided by Nintendo UK for review purposes.
