Princess Peach: Showtime! Preview: Theatrical Thrills

When it comes to gaming’s biggest icons, Princess Peach is easily one of the best recognized. The character made her debut all the way back in 1985, and has appeared as a playable character in games going back to Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES. Despite having such a rich history, Peach hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to headline her very own games. Princess Peach: Showtime! on Nintendo Switch marks just the second time the character has gotten a starring role. Ahead of the game’s launch next month, ComicBook.com had a chance to go hands-on to see how things are shaping up. 

When Princess Peach: Showtime! begins, our heroine is going for a stroll through her kingdom when she gets an invitation to the Sparkle Theater. However, Grape and the Sour Bunch invade upon her arrival and, in the resulting chaos, Peach gets separated from her loyal Toads and her trademark crown. Allying herself with the theater’s guardian Stella, Peach sets out to stop the villains, fix the theater’s scripts, and save the stage productions. 

A Princess Transformed

When Peach begins her journey, she starts on the first floor of the theater, and players are given the freedom to choose between four plays, each of which has a corresponding transformation. As our preview started, we had the opportunity to check out Swordfighter Peach, Cowgirl Peach, Patisserie Peach, and Ninja Peach. Each of these areas offers something a bit different from the rest, and the gameplay has a wide variety. Swordfighter Peach is offensive-minded, stabbing away at her foes and dodging their attacks. Meanwhile, Ninja Peach is more focused on defense; this transformation lets Peach blend in with her surroundings to evade members of the Sour Bunch, striking when their backs are turned. Cowgirl Peach focuses on lassoing enemies and chasing them down on horseback. 

All three of these transformations have their own looks and feels, but the gameplay predominantly focuses on 2.5D platforming. Between its transformations and perspective, the best comparison on Nintendo Switch would be Kirby Star Allies. However, the gameplay changed quite a bit with Patisserie Peach. If anything, this section of the game feels like it pulls inspiration from the Mario Party series. The area had little in the way of enemies and instead tasked Peach with baking cookies and decorating cakes. Funny enough, this might have been the most challenging area, as some of the cake designs were pretty intricate! The game seemed forgiving in that regard, as my messy designs were accepted and helped me progress. However, I found myself wanting to do better.

The final Peach transformation that Nintendo showed us was Figure Skater Peach. Unlike the other transformations, this one is found on a different floor of the theater, which we did not get an opportunity to see. Figure Skater Peach’s area was also more minigame-focused, with goals that included nailing twirls and jumps while literally skating circles around her opponents. 

Of the five transformations we got to experience, Ninja Peach was my personal favorite, but Patisserie Peach proved genuinely surprising. Since the transformations on each floor can be played in any order, I prioritized Ninja, Cowgirl, and Swordfighter, thinking they’d be the most enjoyable, and that I might not have enough time to experience them all. However, the gameplay variety in Patisserie Peach’s area added to the game’s appeal, and I found myself excited to see just how varied the rest of the transformations are. 

A Fitting Presentation

All of Peach’s transformations are well-designed and have distinctive personalities. However, the game’s stages might be even more impressive. Since the entirety of Showtime is set in a theater, elements of the stage look like they’ve been hand-made by a crew. The weeds that Swordfighter Peach cuts down all look like they’re made of painted cardboard, while the horse ridden by Cowgirl Peach is a toy carried by ropes; even the tidal wave ridden by Ninja Peach is just a large prop with a video of an animated wave being projected on to it! These design elements sell the setting and concept in a way that feel reminiscent of Paper Mario, while still feeling unique. 

I found myself blown away by the game’s art direction, but some of the cinematic sequences seemed to have some slowdown. That’s a bit surprising for a Nintendo-published game on Switch, and I’ll be interested to see if they look more impressive in the finished version. 

Short but Sweet?

After playing about an hour of Princess Peach: Showtime! I find myself cautiously excited. The gameplay is fun, the presentation is incredibly clever, and the variety should keep things interesting. Unfortunately, I can’t shake this nagging feeling that I may have already played half the game. My sincerest hope is that’s not the case, and Showtime will have a good amount of content to keep players invested. It’s been far too long since Peach had a game all her own, and it would be a shame if such a promising title ended up understaying its welcome. 

Are you looking forward to Princess Peach: Showtime! on Nintendo Switch? Do you plan on picking up the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

Princess Peach: Showtime! was played during a hands-on preview event hosted by Nintendo with travel expenses paid for by the publisher.