In recent years, Princess Peach has increasingly become an active participant in Mario’s adventures rather than a mere damsel in distress. More recently, in the remake of Super Mario RPG, a game that I also reviewed here at Gamohol, the Princess is one of the members of the playable group and has abilities that reverberate her personality, just like in the original game.

In Super Mario 3D World and, more recently, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, another title that you can read my review about here on the site (being, for me, one of the best games of 2023), Peach is one of the playable characters, something that had only happened previously in a main Mario adventure in Super Mario Bros. 2, years ago. In addition, appearances in spin-offs such as Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis and Super Smash Bros.

But Peach never had a game to call her own until 2005, when Super Princess Peach was released for the Nintendo DS. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but it’s a 2D platformer in which, this time, it’s the princess who takes on the role of protagonist, while Mario and Luigi are the ones who have been captured.

Princess Peach: Showtime! was worth the wait

Almost 20 years later, now in 2024, Peach finally gets a new game in which she is the protagonist: Princess Peach: Showtime, developed by Good-Feel, a company associated with Nintendo and also known mainly for the most recent games in the Yoshi franchise: Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U and 3DS versions) and Yoshi’s Crafted World (Nintendo Switch), Wario Land: Shake It (Wii) and Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Wii and also its revamped 3DS version).

With so much experience with established Nintendo franchises, this time Good-Feel had the mission of giving Princess Peach a new game in which she was the protagonist. And they didn’t disappoint.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a 2.5D platformer (a style of game that seems commonplace, but not so much when you look at it), exploring issues of depth, exploring different settings and the 10 different costumes that Peach wears in some of the attractions in the theater taken over by the Madame Grape, the main villain of the game.

Despite the game’s very simple difficulty to complete, the game has some challenges if you want to collect everything it offers and, when you finish it, the game even adds more collectibles to give you an excuse to re-explore the stages you’ve already done.

A beautiful game for a livestream

For a live stream, the game is very welcome for bringing a well-known character like Peach into a beautiful, exuberant game, with mechanics that will change with each stage and that won’t leave you feeling constantly bored.

Both the player and those watching will be thrilled and will be overwhelmed by all the beautiful and cute details of the game, which also has localization for several languages.

However, to be honest, I think that the game, despite having a replayability factor that is in line with the genre, loses out on two aspects: although it’s very easy to leave some collectibles behind and have an excuse to revisit the stages, there are some challenges that you have to do without the possibility of error and, if you fail, you sometimes have to redo the whole stage to try and get it again.

Some stages are very enjoyable to redo, while others aren’t as much fun, and the game could give you the opportunity to skip some cutscenes, even if they are integrated into the gameplay, something that would already help the gameplay function, especially when you return to the stages just for the sake of the collect-a-thon.

The second reason would be to introduce an excuse to revisit the levels only after the game has finished; although it’s an interesting idea, I think that any collectibles could be included progressively as the game proceeds, thus giving a better sense of progression and reward.

Finishing the game and simply having something else to do, even if it’s optional, sometimes feels like forced replayability. These are the only major flaws within the game, which is otherwise very beautiful and doesn’t spoil the whole experience, which surprised me a lot as a whole.

The game can be completed, without worrying about all the collectibles, in around 6 to 8 hours. If you explore the game as much as possible and don’t commit to collecting everything, you can complete it in between 10 and 12 hours. To complete all the tasks given by the game (100% progress), it takes an estimated 15 to 20 hours.

In the end…

For a game that’s fun and has content that’s considered OK for a platform game, i.e. it’s not boring during its gameplay, extending it for so long in terms of its replayability factor can be a burden and even bore those who enjoyed the game the most.

As for the performance aspect, the game is exclusive to Nintendo Switch and I did experience some performance drops during some cutscenes and loading screens, but nothing that affected the gameplay. Still, it’s important to talk about it.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Nintendo Switch (2024)

Performance

Streamability

Audience Engagement

Replayability

Summary

Princess Peach: Showtime! works very well as a 2.5D platformer and features Peach in a leading role that suits the character very well, with gameplay that works wonderfully, entertains and captures the player’s attention. Despite some forced replayability issues and some people who may find the game too easy, it has soul and it adds a lot by constantly adapting its gameplay to each stage, not making the game boring in its normal progression, failing only in terms of its exaggeration to fulfill the longer content factor in the game.

3.9

NINTENDO ESHOP

Ludovicoluka

I have 25 years, I produce content to internet for 4 years and I like retro games, indies and I’m an enthusiast for new launches. I have as my favorite games Donkey Kong Country 2, Super Mario World, Hollow Knight and Red Dead Redemption II, per example. I like to experiment everything and the more, the better, but I never get sick of my comfort games!