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| A captivating show. |
It feels like forever since Nintendo's iconic Princess Peach starred in her own game. Her last being 2005's Super Princess Peach for Nintendo DS, which seems to be forgotten these days. Well, she's back again with Princess Peach: Showtime!, a theater-based adventure that has her starring in a bunch of roles to thwart a band of thieves on Switch. I was mildly curious about it since seeing that Peach can transform into different roles was enough to grab my attention. It's even developed by Good-Feel, the team behind Kirby's Epic Yarn, which I enjoyed back in the day. So, does the game manage to deliver a grand time?
The game begins when Princess Peach visits the Sparkle Theater, where upon her arrival, the show's disrupted by Madam Grape and the Sour Bunch as they take over the place in an attempt to ruin the shows. Along with the theater's guardian, Stella, Peach must traverse through each floor, saving the captured inhabitants and saving the theater by beating Grape and her gang. As you'd expect from a Nintendo platformer, it's light on story but still had some nice moments that flesh-out Peach's personality.
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| This time, Peach's on her own adventure. |
Princess Peach: Showtime! is a simple platformer as you only use the A button to jump and B button to use Peach's current ability. As you play through the game's levels or "plays", Peach will transform into various costumes in order to defeat enemies and rescue the Sparklas, the stars of each play. The combat was light as enemies take few hits to beat. Even the dodge as well as parry windows were generous so genre newcomers can easily play it. Showtime! packs over 10 transformations for Peach. The likes include a detective, ninja, martial artist, mermaid, space ranger, figure skater, baker, sword fighter, and cowgirl. With all that, you'd expect some similarity in play-styles, but shockingly, each felt completely different.
Each play cleverly made use of Peach's roles. For example, Ninja Peach makes use of a ninja's ability to sneak around and strike an enemy while Detective Peach is more slower as she must look for clues to advance the area. The more action-packed ones had Cowgirl Peach using her lasso to detain enemies as she chases them on her horse, so some plays are more faced-paced than others. In short, the varied collection of plays were a lot of fun and visiting every floor an exciting affair.
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| Take to the shadows with Ninja Peach! |
Sparkle Stars are scattered in levels, some being more hidden than others. Collecting a set number of them will unlock the floor's boss door as well as neat picture to view in the gallery. There's coins to collect which functions as a life system if you lose all your hearts in a level in addition as a currency to buy Peach and Stella new dresses and ribbons, respectively. That said, the powers lacked any depth aside from the one action you can perform, which can get repetitive quickly.
Upon beating the game, the post-game content have you replaying levels for full completion, trying out the boss rush mode, collecting all accessories, and playing the hidden ninja challenge. It took around six hours to beat with me nabbing almost all sparkle stars and secret ribbons. It doesn't warrant the $60 price that Nintendo's charging as I think $40 feels a lot more appropriate here.
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| The amount of variety here is commendable. |
Princess Peach: Showtime! looks pretty good with a flashy art-style to boot. I liked the theater aesthetic as you can see the set shift as you move between acts and even see the threads that control the enemies. Sadly, the game suffers from some tech issues with a low-resolution image on both docked and undocked modes that was very noticeable when playing. Also, the load screens were oddly choppy for no reason as well. The game's music was catchy throughout, with the ninja theme being my favorite of the pack.
Overall, Princess Peach: Showtime! was a good adventure all-around. While it's not the most demanding platformer you'll play, the game was a decent time thanks to an impressive array of varied levels and addictive collectables that have you looking everywhere for them. It does the job of entertaining both younger players and genre fans alike, so if you're a fan of Peach or just looking for a short platformer, then Princess Peach: Showtime! is worth a try.
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