Princess Peach: Showtime! review: An excellent platformer that knows its strengths and its audience

Princess Peach: Showtime! is not the usual 2D action-platformer that most spin-off Mario games tend to be. It's a bit hard to describe or classify this game within any single genre; it's more like a mish-mash of different genres that ultimately results in a rather intriguing and dare I say, fun, gameplay experience.

As someone who's spent a good amount of time playing games like Super Mario Maker 2 (which I don't seem to get enough of, despite having played it for more than 500 hours), Mario vs Donkey Kong, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Mario Kart, I always appreciate these spin-off Mario games.

While Princess Peach: Showtime! doesn't feel or play anything like other Mario spin-off games, it doesn't mean you should look past it, especially if you're a fan of 2D platformers. Although not perfect by any means, the game knows its audience and plays to its strengths rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

Princess Peach: Showtime! - A flawed, but ultimately fun platformer

Visuals, audio, and presentation

I've always been an advocate for art style over raw graphical fidelity. Don't get me wrong, graphical fidelity does matter, especially in games that aim to immerse you into a grounded story. Titles like Uncharted, Horizon Forbidden West, and Red Dead Redemption 2, all highly benefit from their photorealistic visual and graphical presentation.

Nintendo's first-party exclusives never fail to impress with their art style and presentation (Image via Nintendo)

However, for most games that don't aim to tackle a grounded setting and want to be just a simple video game, having a good and attractive art style is paramount. This is what most Nintendo flagships excel at, and Princess Peach: Showtime! being no exception.

Much like other Mario spin-offs on the Nintendo Switch, Princess Peach: Showtime! is a colorful and aesthetically charming game. Also, its soundtrack, while not being a standout akin to Super Mario Wonder or Luigi's Mansion, is still quite good, and is fitting to the setting as well as Princess Peach herself.

Gameplay and level design

Princess Peach: Showtime! is by far the most kid-friendly Mario spin-off game I've played on the Switch; period. Yes, most Mario games are built with kids in mind, but they also offer ample depth within their gameplay for grown-ups, whether it's the advanced drift to boost skills in Mario Kart or the clever use of Guigi in Luigi's Mansion 3.

From decorating pastries to fighting automatons, there's plenty of variety in the levels here (Image via Nintendo)

The gameplay premise of Princess Peach: Showtime! is quite straightforward: you take control of Princess Peach; not in her damsel in distress avatar but in her more heroic and charismatic one as she tries to save the Sparkle Theater from evil Madame Grape and well, Drakle.

As you go through different missions themed around certain theatrical scenarios, you gather up the power of Sparkle, which you wield against Madame Grape and the Sour Bunch. Each different mission gives Peach an excuse to don a new and unique get-up, from pastry chef to fencer, and even a sneaky ninja.

Each different costume comes with its own set of abilities that lets Peach complete that very level. The levels also don't restrict you in any way, you can either blaze past it, completing it with just a handful of Sparkles in your possession, or you can take your time collecting every single collectible.

There are also occasional boss fights in some levels, albeit on the same scale as the mainline Kirby games (Image via Nintendo)

The gameplay here reminded me a lot of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, a game I played and absolutely loved last year, despite its super simplistic gameplay. Also, the level layout here is extremely reminiscent of another fantastic Nintendo title—Mario vs. Donkey Kong—minus the "angry tie-wearing monkey" part, of course.

Difficulty or lack thereof

While I did enjoy the 25 hours spent playing Princess Peach: Showtime!, I must admit the game barely has anything in terms of challenge. The lack of difficulty isn't inherently a bad thing per se, especially considering the target audience, but it sticks out like a sore thumb if you contrast it against other Mario spin-off games.

While the boss fights and platforming can be fun, they lack the difficulty factor (Image via Nintendo)

However, Princess Peach: Showtime! at its core, is a game specifically aimed at kids, and for that particular audience, there's ample challenge to be had here, especially if it's their very first foray at a Nintendo Switch or puzzle-platforming game. Just don't expect Mario Maker 2 levels of difficulty.

Despite targeting the young audience, Nintendo hasn't spared any expense in making the game as accessible as possible, without compromising quality, which is often missing from most games for kids. While the lack of challenge is jarring for a Mario spin-off, making the game as accessible to kids as possible is necessary.

Performance

Nintendo Switch is a considerably dated hardware. It's only a miracle that the console still holds up well, despite its age. However, the last few years of Nintendo exclusives, from Bayonetta 2 to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, have proven that the Switch is on its last legs. Princess Peach: Showtime! also homes in on the same fact.

There are some framerate drops, especially during boss fights or certain cutscenes (Image via Nintendo)

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a good-looking game, but admittedly, it's not something that's pushing the boundaries of real-time graphics. Despite that, I've seen more than a handful of framerate dips while playing in handheld mode, as well as massive resolution drops due to the aggressive DRS.

Apart from these framerate and resolution scaling issues, I haven't experienced any major technical hurdles (crashes, freezes, etc.) playing the game. I also tried playing Princess Peach: Showtime! in docked mode, and saw similar results, albeit with a few lesser framerate drops, but at the cost of lower resolution than native 1080p.

In conclusion

Princess Peach: Showtime! is an excellent platformer, but not something you'd want to place alongside other Mario spin-off games. While the level designs, premise, and gameplay here are very reminiscent of the classic 2D Mario games, albeit with Princess Peach's unique abilities, it's also quite different from the traditional Mario experience.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a good game, held back by lack of difficulty and some minor technical hiccups (Image via Nintendo)

The level designs are top-notch, especially with each being themed after different theatrical scenarios, which gives Peach the excuse to try out different costumes and the abilities associated with them. However, the game sorely lacks in terms of challenge.

Princess Peach: Showtime! isn't a game I'd recommend to anyone looking for a traditional puzzle-platformer. However, for parents who might want to spend some quality "game time" with their toddlers, or those who might be on the lookout for the perfect birthday present, it's the perfect game, that I can't recommend enough.