Princess Peach: Showtime! is Nintendo’s latest action-platformer starring the pink princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach! Read on to learn everything we know, our review of its Switch demo, and more.
Everything We Know About Princess Peach: Showtime!
Princess Peach: Showtime! Story Plot
Princess Peach Showtime! is a flashy game set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Our titular character was on a visit to the Sparkle Theatre, only for it to be overrun by the Wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch. With help from the theater’s guardian, Stella, Peach must save the day, and the show! Use her various costumes and transformations to run the Sour Bunch out and prevent the Wicked Grape from wreaking further havoc on the other shows.
Princess Peach: Showtime! Gameplay
Princess Peach: Showtime’s gameplay sought to somewhat differentiate itself from the platforming and traversal of traditional Mario games by giving each stage and play its own gimmick. Platforming still exists as a gameplay mechanic, though Princess Peach: Showtime! is more focused on the action and puzzle elements. Combat is far more complex than mere jumping and spinning, as it features parry and counter-attack mechanics, all the while giving Peach myriad ways to engage the enemy.
One of the two costumes featured in the demo is the Patisserie costume for the Festival of Sweets area. This costume doesn’t have the combat capability of the Swordfighter costume in Castle of Thorns, but it does assist Peach in the mini-games present in this particular area. The two minigames presented were Mario Party level in difficulty and complexity, although they still require split-second timing and great manual dexterity to 100%.
While all the content can be run through in 30-45 minutes, depending on your skill level, the demo has no definite time limit, allowing you to set the pace. Right at the end, previously unrevealed costumes are presented via a short montage. These new costumes’ names are not revealed, but among them are a mermaid costume, a cowgirl costume, a mecha-like costume, a figure skater costume, a masked stranger costume, and a ninja costume.
Princess Peach: Showtime! Release Date
It was announced during Nintendo Direct September 2023 that Princess Peach Showtime! will be released on March 22, 2024. The release time is yet to be determined.
Princess Peach: Showtime! (Demo) Review
A Stunning First Act!
I had high hopes for this game ever since it was revealed on a Nintendo Direct last year. It’s been a hot minute since Princess Peach was given her own title, and on the Switch, no less. In the days leading up to its release, I was worried that it’d just be another Mario game with Peach superficially tacked on as the protagonist instead of our favorite diminutive Italian plumber. It’s a good thing I didn’t bet on it though, because Princess Peach: Showtime! is where Peach definitively takes center stage with her own unique adventures. There’s no saving this damsel, as she’s the one doing the saving!
The demo itself is just a small bite of what’s to come, featuring only two of the ten costumes teased along with a small section of their respective levels (or "stages", as the actors call them). You start off with the same cutscene shown in the game’s trailer (plus a few additional scenes), proceeding to a short tutorial stage after Wicked Grape—this game’s big bad—overruns Sparkle Theater with her Bunch. You get acquainted with Stella, the theater’s guardian, and start throwing down against the Sour Bunch immediately.
Right from the get-go, it became clear that this isn’t your usual sidescrolling Mario title. Instead of a 3D character maneuvering in a 2D space like Nintendo’s recent titles (looking at you, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Wonder), Peach can go pretty much anywhere on the stage, with every encounter feeling like an overworld exploration segment rather than a defined platforming section. It's closer to the freedom of movement present in games like Mario Galaxy and Mario Odyssey, although you are still limited to the confines of the "stage". Peach’s jumps and attacks are simple in her base form, but there are secret areas and hidden coins aplenty, should you be enough of a sleuth to find them.
While that’s all well and good, the game only really opens up when you get to your first costume, "Sparkle," or as Stella calls it, the Swordfighter. You get a sword when you don this costume, as well as a whole suite of fighting moves (shocker, I know) to use on the charging members of the Sour Bunch. The variety of attacks surprised me, however, because I didn’t think they’d add parry, counter-attack, and air attacks in a game like this. Usually for these seemingly lighter casual games, it’s just a swing forward against the enemy and nothing else, but Peach’s unique freedom of movement in this game lets her dance around her foes like an honest-to-goodness swordfighter.
Swinging as an enemy attacks lets you parry their strike, opening them up to a devastating counter right after. You can do this in quick succession and actually make a decent combo if there are enough targets. It’s not as complex as most 3D action games, but it has enough of a deviation to give this game its own je ne sais quoi.
The second area, a confectionary wonderland called the Festival of Sweets, is where you don the Patisserie’s Sparkle, which grants Peach the baking know-how she needs to assist with preparations for the eponymous festival. I was wondering how a toque and apron were going to help Peach fight off the bad guys, but I was banking on the wrong idea. This area ain’t an arena, it’s a Mario Party segment.
Festival of Sweets isn’t about beating the Sour Bunch into jam, it’s about replacing the sweets they stole through a series of mini-games. You only get two for now—cookie making and cake decorating—but I imagine that the full game would have plenty more. Though it did leave me wanting more, I appreciate the games however simple they were. The cookie-making mini-game in particular was a bit too simple, requiring only one timed button press, but the cake-decorating portion was fun enough to get me to try it a second time.
Design-wise, it has that Nintendo polish that we know and love, so I can’t really complain there. Peach looks as bubbly and regal as she always does and everything looks like it’d slot in nicely with most Mario games. I must say, however, that the Switch is starting to show its age a little, though that’s no fault of the game itself.
The game doesn’t really stand out in terms of audio. Technically, this game has voice acting, though it’s mostly just grunts and sighs with the odd word here and there to keep things coherent. The Mario franchise was never known for its voice acting anyway, so this is a minor nitpick at best. At least the music is up to snuff.
As far as demos go, Princess Peach: Showtime’s is pretty darn good. I think it showed enough of the game to give me an idea of what to expect, while still keeping enough of it out of reach to preserve the full experience on full release. I appreciate that a lot of effort was made to make this game distinct from other Mario games. That much was given to other standalone titles for the franchise’s main cast members (i.e. Luigi’s Mansion, WarioWare), so it’s good to see Princess Peach have this one all to herself.
There’s no curtain call for this play just yet, but that was a stunning first act!
Princess Peach: Showtime! on Nintendo eShop
Game8 Reviews
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Princess Peach Showtime! Product Information
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| Title | PRINCESS PEACH SHOWTIME |
|---|---|
| Release Date | March 22, 2024 |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Supported Platforms | Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Rating | ESRB E 10+ |
| Official Website | - |
