Review: Princess Peach: Showtime

Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS didn’t get the recognition it deserved in 2005. It sits there patiently on my shelf for the next person to ask about it, but in the meantime, I’ve been waiting for a new true Peach-centric follow-up.

It’s finally here in the form of Princess Peach: Showtime, and this one is a lot less risky but far more palatable as a result.

Princess Peach: Showtime (Switch)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: March 22, 2024
MSRP: $59.99

Like any good Mario-adjacent game, it takes roughly five minutes (if that!) for Princess Peach: Showtime to get started. There is practically no nonsense or filler here: Peach is attending a play at a massive theater, and her plans are dashed by sorceress Grape and the Sour Bunch. It’s up to Peach to enter an array of themed levels, and don outfits like Swordfighter, Detective, and Cowgirl to save the day with the help of Stella: a cute star-like creature.

The story serves its purpose and is very much playing out in the background. In fact, the entire framework of Showtime is extremely Kirby-like. If you rush through and don’t attempt to get all of the collectibles in each stage, you can complete it in about five hours. It’s breezy in that way, mostly to its advantage, as stages don’t overstay their welcome and frequently oscillate in length. Some levels might be a short but quick high-octane race, and others are more traditional platforming/beat ’em-up hybrids.

This focus on variability is all due to the costume system. When Peach enters each stage, she dons a specific outfit for the occasion, which completely changes the way you approach your path to the goal. Nintendo can’t resist crafting most of them as action romps, but a few stray far off the beaten path into microgame territory.

Again, there’s a lot of variance involved, directly tied to the format of the stage itself and the actual outfit you’re using. Some folks might be down on the lower-energy bake-offs with the chef costume (technically referred to as Patissiere Peach), or the slow nature of the Detective levels, which task you with “accusing/investigating” certain objects or persons (at the cost of health for wrong guesses). Some of you out there might rave about them.

Other concepts are more stealth-oriented like Ninja Peach’s gimmick, or entirely action-oriented, like the Swordfighter and Mighty (read: sci-fi) areas. Interestingly enough, this subversive approach to traditional platforming even extends to at least one boss, who is not foiled as a result of a direct battle. While not everything in Showtime hit as well as it could have, I was constantly guessing what would happen next, or how the team would even approach frequently-used outfit gimmicks in a different light. It’s a variety show in video game form.

It helps that Nintendo keeps things simple. Peach is mostly controlled via two buttons: action and jump. These are practically universal barring a few outfits, and help keep the focus on the action and platforming itself without having to sift through menus constantly. Actually, tutorials are cleverly dispensed through an optional button press prompt: ensuring that said text isn’t dominating the screen every time you encounter a new outfit.

One thing I’d be remiss not to mention is the game’s entire presentation: folks, it is charming. Little horses are held up by string like a puppet show, enemies flourish and egg you on as a hammy theater villain would, and environments weave in and out of the background like tiny little stagehands are manipulating them. While screenshots will show off just how vibrant the game is, you need to see it in motion to appreciate the craft involved here. We need more games that look like Tearaway, Black Knight Sword, and Puppeteer: they are too far between.

There are a ton of secrets to discover in each stage, typically hidden behind a fake wall or through the game’s spotlight/taunt button, which activates conspicuous environmental objects and transports Peach to a bonus zone. After you’ve finished the core story mode and cleaned up the theater, you’re able to jump back into every stage and go for every collectible, with a few secrets in tow that I won’t spoil here. If you’re a completionist, you’ll have a lot to do before moving on from this one.

I was pleasantly surprised by Princess Peach: Showtime, and the aforementioned unpredictability is a huge reason why it will likely remain in my permanent rotation of Mario games going forward. I’d love to see Nintendo give more mascots a showcase like this, with a similar go-for-broke variety format. Keep ’em coming!

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}