Princess Peach Showtime is a spirited, if safe starring role for Nintendo’s iconic heroine

It’s fair to say that after nearly 40 years since her debut in the original Super Mario Bros., Princess Peach is well overdue a proper starring role.

Not including the more-than-a-bit-dated 2005 DS game Super Princess Peach – in which, for those not aware, she used her emotions as a superpower – Peach’s only main playable appearance outside of multiplayer spin-offs have been as part of selectable rosters in the likes of Mario Bros. 2, 3D World, and recent series 2D entries.

And virtually every other character on those Mario rosters has had their chance to shine. Luigi has the Luigi’s Mansion games, Toad has the Captain Toad spin-offs, and heck, even Yoshi – who started not as a character, but a power-up – has dozens of solo adventures. For most of Mario’s history, Peach has been the end-game objective rather than a character of her own.

Arguably, the perma-damsel-in-distress’s most heroic role came in last year’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, when Anya Taylor-Joy introduced a more empowered take on the role. Thankfully, it’s in this spirit that one of gaming’s most iconic female characters appears in her latest chance in the spotlight, Princess Peach Showtime.

The familiar cutesy aesthetic is very much present here, but in this performance, Peach is absolutely not playing the victim. Instead, she’s an ass-kicking, laser-blasting, puzzle-solving saviour who confidently takes on every challenge in front of her and comes out on top.

It’s perhaps unsurprisingly an adventure very much aimed at younger players, and as such 30-something Nintendo stalwarts might not get the challenge they’re looking for, but as we mentioned in our preview last month, Showtime is an experience that’s absolutely bursting with charm and personality – and that can take even the most simple collection of game mechanics a very long way indeed.

The entire game takes place inside a theatre which has been overtaken by the witch Madame Grape and her gang, The Sour Bunch, who have transformed each of its many