Finally, 39 years since she first debuted in Super Mario Bros., Princess Peach is taking centre stage – quite literally. This game is no case of the missing princess (British royalty conspiracy theories aside). Instead, Peach gets to be the hero of every single show as she treads the boards.
Princess Peach: Showtime! opens with a theatre troupe coming to town, but no sooner has our erstwhile princess set foot inside for the grand performance than it is taken over by the malevolent forces of Grape and the Sour Bunch. Don’t worry, they’re easily identifiable by the dimming of the stage lights and their campy villain garb in shades of mauve.
Locked on the lower floor of the theatre (more of a Vegas casino, really), Peach joins force with an adorable anthropomorphic star-ribbon hybrid named Stella. In order to banish the sour grapes, who are turning the comedies into tragedies, she must run through their plays and take charge of the narrative with the power of SPARKLE!!!
Each play follows a three act structure. Behind the first door for each one lies a journey through a fantastical theatre set, collecting coins, solving puzzles and blasting baddies – first with the power of Sparkle (yes, it really is that simple) and then with whichever special move that gets unlocked when you step into the main character role (which ranges from swordfighter through to detective). The backdrops are incredible, a hybrid pantomime-cabaret style bursting with fun. The game will try to rush you through each stage but if for those who can resist the urge to keep moving, there are all sorts of treasures to discover and even secret backstage areas to explore.
Along with ensuring the show goes on, you need to collect a series of Sparkle fragments hidden in the game, along with - very, very importantly - outfits. The gameplay is engaging in its own right (I may have missed my bus stop a non-negative number of times playing my review copy), but best part is getting to play dress up with Nintendo’s best character.
Full disclosure: I am a huge Princess Peach fan. For any game of Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart, I’m backing the pink princess. I’m also a (semi) reformed theatre kid. So a video game where Princess Peach is both the main character and taking to the stage with her name on top of the playbill could have been made for me in a laboratory.
With its seemingly endless magical girl transformations, the game provides the dress-up doll glee that the Barbie movie didn’t quite deliver. Watching Peach turn into a swordfighter/cowgirl/mermaid/detective/superhero/baker hits the same spot every time and carries on the grand anime tradition of Sailor Moon.
Importantly, these aren’t just fashion moments, they are power-ups in the strongest sense. It’s genuinely moving to have a feminine side character get to hog the limelight, and the theatre is the perfect backdrop for this transformative moment in gaming.
Unfortunately, because this game is skewed at a younger audience with a girly MC, it’s already attracted the ire of the serious gamers, who have taken a break from their Call of Duty and Mountain Dew marathons to whinge on Youtube, endlessly. Yes, not everything is made for you, but don’t get all sour grapes over it.
The Discourse TM did make me realise, however, that few games are both accessible for girls and will also have them getting to grips with the basics of action games. In Princess Peach, that’s no longer the case: they can learn how to associate buttons with actions, fight and perform puzzles, navigate miniboss and boss battles, and work out how to unlock secrets in the game environment.
As a more experienced gamer, it is a great refresher, and honestly, as a completionist, unlocking all the outfits will take me a good long while. Plus, for younger gamers getting one of their first tastes of Nintendo, the plays are absolutely perfect for turn-based playing for friends or siblings on a single console.
At the ancient-by-internet-standards age of 31, I wish I could go back and give my younger self this game. The next best thing is getting to play it now.
