In ‘Princess Peach: Showtime,’ there’s seemingly nothing Peach can’t do
Princess Peach has done a lot over the years. When she’s not being kidnapped by Bowser, she can usually be found playing golf or tennis, racing go-karts, or participating in the Olympic Games. But the one constant is that it’s always in a supporting role. That’s no longer the case in Princess Peach: Showtime.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, Peach has top billing in a marquee Nintendo release, with Showtime launching on Switch in late March. I got to play about an hour of it at a preview event, and what stood out to me is just how much Nintendo has her doing in her first standalone adventure since 2005’s Super Princess Peach.
While it remains to be seen how this formula holds up for a full-length game, Princess Peach: Showtime at least looks like it’ll have a fairly ridiculous amount of gameplay variety to check out when it launches in just a matter of weeks.
Gone sour
Like most games in the Mario milieu, Showtime seems pretty light on plot. Put simply, Peach has been trapped inside the Sparkle Theater, a playhouse that has been commandeered by the villainous Grape and their henchmen, known collectively as the Sour Bunch. Grape and the Sour Bunch have proceeded to make a perverse mockery of all the Sparkle Theater’s shows, and it’s up to Peach to save each show by playing the starring role and defeating any bad guys in her way.
It’s a charming premise made more endearing by the game’s visual style. Each level is presented as a play, meaning Peach is navigating through a bunch of sets on stages with goofy stage lighting and other accoutrements you’d expect to see in a playhouse. What this means for gameplay is that it’s essentially a side-scrolling adventure with limited 3D movement and two simple buttons: one for jumping, and one context-sensitive action button that changes depending on what costume Peach is wearing.
Oh yes, costumes! That’s the whole thing with Showtime. It’s kind of like a Kirby game except each stage is designed entirely around on costume for Peach to wear. I got to try five in the demo: Swordfighter, Cowgirl, Ninja, Patissiere, and Figure Skater.
Each has one central ability tied to that aforementioned action button. Swordfighter swings a sword, Cowgirl uses a lasso, Ninja stealthily takes out enemies with kunai, and Figure Skater performs tricks in accordance with moving symbols on the ice. Patissiere was perhaps the most unique and challenging of the bunch, however, as it asked me to mimic requested cake designs in a fairly precise manner. It felt like a more meaty (and better designed) Mario Party mini-game.
The most encouraging thing about my time with Showtime is that each of those five costumes were fun to play around with in the time the game gave me to play with them. Each level was just a few minutes long at most and full of variety, even given the limited mechanics of each costume. This is thanks to some hidden depth each transformation carries, such as a perfect dodge/parry mechanic in Swordfighter mode or fast-paced platforming sequences in Ninja mode (complete with stylish wall-running).
Where it could go wrong
Based on my relatively brief time with Showtime, it’s looking like a cute and very family-friendly adventure thanks to its mechanical simplicity. My expectation and hope for Showtime is that it’s no longer than about 10 hours or so. That would be extremely refreshing, given that I’ve logged dozens of hours into four giant RPGs in 2024 before February is even over. I could really go for something more bite-sized right now.
Beyond my own personal choices, though, I hope Showtime maintains some brevity just because I’m not sure how much meat there is on the bone of each transformation. I could see them being fun for three or four levels apiece, but any more than that would probably be asking a lot of the game’s limited movesets. In fairness, there appear to be several more costumes that I didn’t get to play with, so maybe the game can sustain a satisfying amount of playtime due to sheer variety alone.
I certainly trust Nintendo’s level designers to get the most out of each transformation. That’s definitely not in question. Regardless, it’s just nice for Peach to get to do something other than play sports or get kidnapped. Let’s hope 20 more years don’t pass before her next shot at a starring role.
Princess Peach: Showtime launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch on March 22.