Princess Peach: Showtime!
The Mushroom Kingdom’s most famous monarch gets her first solo gig in decades – and neither Mario nor his arch nemesis have been invited
“Patissiere?” “No, Pat is over there – this is Princess Peach in the form of a pastry chef.” f you were expecting Showtime! to have more narrative pull than your average Mario adventure, think again. The gist is this: Peach’s trip to the theatre has been upended by the dastardly Grape and her gang, the Sour Bunch. So the Princess must take her fruity foes to task, using a magic ribbon to turn herself into anything from a swordfighter to a particularly efficient pastry chef.
Kung Fu Peach and Mighty Peach (think superhero) are combat-focused; Mermaid Peach sings to conduct sea creatures; Figure Skater Peach would rather out-skate her enemies than fight them. You’re always doing something different in each colourful 2.5D level, which elevates this title above your average platformer.
No matter the transformation, activating its unique ability rarely involves more than pressing or holding a single button – whether you’re throwing a lasso as Cowgirl Peach, hacking terminals as the excellently named Dashing Thief
IPeach, or throwing buses around as Mighty Peach. This is very much a kid-focused game, and not one that weaves many chucklesome meta gags into its writing like Nintendo’s best games often do. Progress is gated by how many gems you’ve collected, but you’ll get at least half of each level’s offering without trying; most enemies go down with one flick of Peach’s ribbon; and while you lose coins when you die, it never feels like much of a punishment. Only timed rehearsals add a bit of challenge.
It’s not one of the Switch’s most graphically impressive games, looking fuzzy in places, but the theatrical theme allows for lots of variety. In the space of a few levels Peach might find herself in a western, a whodunnit mystery, and under the sea.
As one of Nintendo’s best ever consoles winds down, it’s great to see Peach doing the saving for once… and there aren’t many games of this quality that cater to a younger audience these days. Matt Tate