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Princess Peach: Showtime! is the latest entry of the Mario franchise and the second game to feature Peach as a main character since Super Princess Peach in 2005. Knowing Nintendo, this game will certainly be held up to the same level of scrutiny given to other Mario games by both players and developers alike, and this game certainly lives up to that standard.
Gameplay
The game revolves around clearing stages with periodic boss fights to progress the story. Each stage revolves about Peach obtaining and using the abilities revolving around the stage’s theme, symbolised by the game’s signature outfit changes.
These stages are divided across 5 floors, with each floor holding 4 stages. Players are free to challenge these stages in any order they desire, before unlocking the next floor by beating the floor boss. We like this flexibility as it gives us freedom to choose what we want to do, especially if we have a preferred theme.
Most of the game consists of side scrolling stages, with occasional breaks in the format for different game modes. Although you can’t change or select the outfits for each stage, it is not a problem as they are specifically designed to be only clearable with its corresponding themed outfit, which lets the developers design with the abilities of one specific outfit at a time, instead of considering all possible edge cases. Although moving sideways is easy, I found it a little bit hard at times to distinguish the distance between the front and back of the levels, which becomes noticeable in certain stages such as the Cowboy and Super stages.
Peach obtains up to 10 outfits for most of the base game. Spread across a total of 30 levels, this ensures that the gameplay is constantly changing and never overstays its welcome
Collectibles
There are 3 main collectibles in this game, those being sparkles, coins and ribbons. Sparkles and coins are scattered throughout each stage and can vary in difficulty to obtain, ranging from just completing certain parts of the stage, finding hidden spots and up to collecting enough sparkle shards within a time limit. Every stage also has a ribboner hidden somewhere as a bonus objective. Helping it will unlock a new dress design for either Peach or Sparkle.
The base game can easily be cleared without collecting all sparkles as the requirements to unlock the floor bosses are relatively low. Sparkles themselves are not too hard for an observant player to find, but can be easily missed if you progress to the stage too fast as there’s no backtracking past certain checkpoints, which are numerous. Each stage takes about 10-15 minutes on average to complete, but with no option to skip most dialogues, it can quickly build up and become tedious when doing multiple runs for sparkles.
Graphics & Audio
Princess Peach: Showtime evokes similarities in art style to Super Mario Odyssey (in a good way). It perfectly encapsulates the whimsical charm of Princess Peach and other residents of the Sparkle Theatre. The levels themselves double down on the stage play aesthetic. Props and scenes are mostly made of wood, and almost all character animations are done facing the player just like a real stage play would. Even the bosses are named and made from stage props, such as Disco Bird, the first floor boss which is… a bird with a disco ball for a body, what else did you expect?
Unfortunately, besides Peach, don’t expect any other familiar faces to make an appearance. Sure, the toads are there with her at the start of the game, but once you clear the prologue, they’re gone forever.
Instead, they’re replaced by the big-nosed Theets, drama actors and enthusiasts alike. They’re quite pleasant to be with, which is a good thing because you’re stuck with them for the entire game. Just like every other Mario game, this game features minimal voice acting which would not take away much enjoyment from your experience.
In terms of music, the soundtrack is surprisingly minimal, and over time we started to recognise similar songs played across most stages. Thankfully, each song gets a unique rendition depending on the stage’s theme, so it’s not as much of an issue compared to our expectations.
Story
For better or for worse, the plot of this game is very simple and straightforward. A new villain, Grape takes over the Sparkle Theatre by force to prepare for some sort of tragedy, locking everyone in or out. Peach then teams up with Sparkle, the guardian of the theatre, to free the Sparklas (trust me, it’s not as confusing as it sounds) and take it back from Grape and her minions.
That’s it. No plot twists, no surprise reveals, no further information. It’s about as straightforward as it gets for a Mario game.
Endgame
Upon completing the base game of Princess Peach: Showtime!, 5 new challenge stages will be unlocked, based on 5 different themes. These challenges are a significant test of the player’s skill and will end immediately if she gets hit once. They can be surprisingly hard, but reaching gold rank in each challenge unlocks a new dress for Peach.
Players can also run rematches against each floor boss, awarding new sparkles as rewards for completing specific objectives. Although these rematches change nothing in terms of mechanics or complexity, the objectives add an extra layer of difficulty for those who want to give it a try.
Lastly, a new shop will be opened which sells decorations for the theatre. Unlike the dress shop, this one only takes sparkles as a valid form of payment, so players who make the extra effort to collect them all will have more than just a portfolio of perfect stage clears to show off.
Verdict
For being the first game to feature the Mushroom Kingdom princess since Super Princess Peach on the Nintendo DS, it feels refreshing to be in her shoes once again. Although we personally found the simple story to be an upside, some people may be disappointed by the lack of complexity or depth in its characters, especially the antagonist.
Although the stages are fun on the first run, completionists may find it time consuming to gather all sparkles, due to requiring clearing the entire stage for the game to register sparkle collections. Thankfully, these nitpicks can be easily ignored for those who are looking to pick it up as a relaxing and simple game.
Overall, Princess Peach: Showtime! is an enjoyable game for Mario (and Peach) fans of all ages, with content catering to high-skilled players while not gatekeeping those who might be new to games like this.
Help Peach save the Sparkle Theater from the wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch, who have set the stage for the ultimate tragedy. Joined by Stella, the theater’s guardian, Peach is ready to save the day!
The Review
Princess Peach: Showtime!
PROS
- Lots of variance across stages
- Levels take a reasonable amount of time to complete
- Something for players of all skill levels
CONS
- Can be tedious to replay stages for 100% completion
- Lack of story and character complexity
