Princess Peach: Showtime! review: Peach’s solo adventure is a fine first act

Princess Peach: Showtime! MSRP $60.00 Score Details Pros

Inventive powers
Lots of collectibles
Charming visual touches

Cons

A few dud abilities
Slow pace hurts level replays
Underused theater gimmick

The Nintendo Switch’s life may be moving towards its end, but Princess Peach: Showtime! arrives at the dawn of a new era. The Mario series is in a bit of a renaissance thanks to the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Nintendo is making sure to capitalize. In addition to a sequel, the company is pushing out a flood of game ports, remakes, and spinoffs. Each one isn’t just expanding the Mario universe; they’re preparing its wide cast of heroes for their Hollywood spotlights. They aren’t just sidekicks anymore. It’s showtime.

In that context, Princess Peach’s first solo adventure since 2006 is a necessity. Even if Princess Peach: Showtime! isn’t the most exciting spinoff in the franchise’s long history, what’s important is that it places the series’ leading lady at center stage. The colorful puzzle platformer establishes who she really is when she’s not getting kidnapped or serving as a player two. It’s a foundational move, one that both Nintendo and its movie partners can build on to better flesh out a character who’s rapidly becoming a mainstream role model apart from Mario.

As the kickoff for a new series, Princess Peach: Showtime! is an uneven but solid building block. It gives the princess a creative, endearing adventure custom-built for kids who will benefit from seeing Peach shine. The transformative concept still has room to grow, though, as its underutilized theater gimmick and simplistic gameplay make for a game that feels like a dress rehearsal before the big show.

The many roles of Princess Peach

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a puzzle-platformer with a Kirby-esque twist. After getting trapped in a theater that’s been taken over by the evil sorceress Grape, Peach must jump into a series of plays to try and save the theater’s acting troupe. To do