I played through five levels of Princess Peach: Showtime, and here are my first impressions

Princess Peach: Showtime isn’t slated to land on Nintendo Switch until next month, but ahead of time, I got to play it. Last week, I spent an afternoon exploring the company’s latest first-party title and Peach’s big break as she finally stares in your own game.

Going into playing Princess Peach: Showtime, I made it my mission to not just compare Peach’s big break to the Mario games that have come before it. Everyone’s favorite plumber has had the spotlight cast upon his red cap and mustached face for decades, and now, finally, Mushroom Kingdom royalty is getting the same love.

There are of course going to be some similarities to Mario’s tenure, but thankfully for fans of Peach or anyone wanting something fresh, the game does deliver an entirely new experience.

I had the pleasure to dive into the latest first-party title from Nintendo ahead of its March release. I got to play through few different levels of Princess Peach: Showtime last week, with around an hour and a half to explore the game. I don’t want to spoil too much about the how and why of all the action, but the plot of the game is a little too fun not to share.

Peach finds herself locked in a theater by the game’s villains, the wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch, who twist and corrupt the different plays and productions into more harrowing performances for our playable Princess to traverse. She gets paired with the theater’s guardian, Stella, who allows you to wield an arsenal of different abilities based on the regalia you’re wearing.

The entire design of the game and its levels play into the stage production imagery and vibes. Enemies have come to life from the costumes lying around the backlots, and the props that were once used for Westerns, Japanese period pieces, and whimsical tales about patisseries have become obstacles to traverse. It’s all very over the top at times but nails the kind of tones and themes you’d expect from being set inside a theater.

The thorough theatrical theming also means that Princess Peach: Showtime also has tons of variety in how it actually plays. I got to explore five different levels in my early hands-on time with the title. The genres inspiring each level influences not just how each section looks, but also how each one plays.

The Western level, which lets Peach don a cowgirl outfit, gives her a lasso as the main way to dispatch baddies and interact with the world. Ninja Peach gets to navigate through a Shogun’s compound in one of the most fun stealth missions I’ve ever played, and Patisserie Peach sends you on a sweet quest to decorate some baked goods. One that left me hungry for another chance to get a higher score – and to actually snack on some pastries. Each of the levels I played was tailored towards helping you learn all about how your new ability works.

Nintendo has announced tons of other costumes for Peach to don and subsequent levels to play. The company wouldn’t give me an exact count on how many different levels there were in the game, but hinted there was plenty more for me to enjoy come launch day. All five of the levels I played had roughly the same 20-minute timeframe for completing them, and were all roughly the same difficulty.

Princess Peach: Showtime isn’t that difficult of a game, either. It has pretty simple controls for a release with as varied gameplay as this, too. That is hardly a bad thing, and it definitely keeps the game accessible to gamers of all ages. I wouldn’t say that it was basic or anything, but it focuses more on playing in the space you’re in with whichever equipped ability you have.

Princess Peach: Showtime will officially debut exclusively on Nintendo Switch next month. It lands on consoles on March 22 and retails for $59.99 – the usual cost of a first-party Switch game at launch. You can pre-order it ahead of time.

9to5Toys’ Take

After Mario had his time to shine with Super Mario: Wonder last year, I am so thrilled that Nintendo is finally ready to give Peach the same treatment. And even more than just the fact that Princess Peach: Showtime exists at all in the first place is just how much fun I had playing it. The game is inventive even for a franchise with as many entries as Mario has, and really is just plain fun.

There’s a lot of build-up for Princess Peach: Showtime to live up to. Even though the game is a more recent project for Nintendo, it’s the very first game to fully feature her as the main protagonist. Should it have happened earlier? Absolutely. But at least after waiting all this time for a solo Princess Peach game, Nintendo delivered a game like this.

It’s not perfect, however. The $60 price point demands a certain kind of execution, and the way that Princess Peach: Showtime plays makes it a harder sell for older fans. I enjoyed myself plenty from the five levels I got to play through. There’s plenty of that classic Nintendo charm that just makes the title a joy to play, but the actual level difficulty or length is going to leave more seasoned gamers looking elsewhere for their Mushroom Kingdom fix. But this is, of course, just from my first impressions! A full review won’t be coming until later in March.

Ultimately, the novelty of this game is tied almost exclusively to all of the different types of gameplay. Princess Peach finally gets to shine as the multi-faceted ruler she is, all while battling through some delightfully-themed stages. I would definitely keep your eyes on the launch of Princess Peach: Showtime to see if the full game manages to dismiss the questions I have so far about its appeal to older gamers.

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