Several previews of Princess Peach Showtime have hit the internet, and now we have a much better idea of what to expect from the upcoming title.
As we have seen from trailers, the conceit of this new game is Princess Peach entering each stage as a literal theatrical stage, each showing a completely different play. She puts on a different costume, magical girl style, to fit the theme of the stage, and they subsequently unlock a completely different gameplay style.
So, the thing many, if not all, of us suspected from the trailers, is that this game is going to be easy. Sure enough, various previews from games media and Nintendo influencers confirm that that is exactly what it is. Some previewers compare it to Good-Feel’s games, such as Yoshi’s Crafted World. Nintendo hasn’t shed more light on the staff who made this game yet, so it may turn out that this was a Good-Feel project as well.
Certainly, some gamers can also make comparisons to the Kirby games. Princess Peach Showtime doesn’t base its appeal on difficult gameplay, a la Dark Souls, or emergent game design or open worlds. It’s a straightforward action game, which places a huge emphasis on presentation and elegant game design.
So don’t expect to feel rewarded for coming up with complex new combos or inventing new ways of locomotion. Peach has a jump button and a universal action button, whose function changes with each stage. For example, Cowgirl Peach uses her lasso skills to attack enemies or grab items, and can then throw those items to other enemies.
On the other hand, Ninja Peach has stealth based gameplay, which incentivizes attacking enemies when they aren’t looking, but also just slipping away from enemies completely. Patisserie Peach represents another gameplay mode found in some of the stages; instead of platforming, she spends her time on stage baking various cakes and pastries, in a cooking mini-game reminiscent of Cooking Mama.
There is some challenge in the game, but that comes in a way reminiscent of Mario franchises, including Luigi’s Mansion. Completing the stages will be easy, but finding all the collectibles in each stage will pose some challenge.
Princess Peach Showtime also features boss battles, but previewers were not allowed to share more on that end. Overall, Princess Peach Showtime wasn’t designed to be revolutionary or whatever. It certainly isn’t symptomatic of what games made for women are like in 2024.
Instead, this is more of a Mario franchise game, with the spotlight placed on Princess Peach as a playable character. This allows Peach to join Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Captain Toad as characters in the Mario franchise who have received their own games where they are the playable character.
Princess Peach Showtime will be released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on March 22, 2024. You can watch a few of the previews we used for this article below.
