Princess Peach: Showtime! (2024)

If you happen to be one of the gamers who think “Princess Peach: Showtime” is not good because it’s a “kiddie” game, well, someday, you might have a young niece or nephew or kids of your own, too. When that day comes, you just might come to appreciate how great it is to have a game like “Princess Peach: Showtime” as you watch that same child laugh and have a blast while either playing the game or watching you play the game while you’re sitting together on the couch. Trust me, it’s one of the greatest joys of being a gamer.

Princess Peach: Showtime! had the potential to be much more than it is. It’s upsetting that it’s so simple and easy, and feels like a waste of the sheer amount of creativity that went into the concept of the theater, plays, and costumes. It’s that creativity that’s preventing me from giving this game a lower score. But on the merits of its gameplay alone (and the fact that it’s not a very long game — I completed it in about 15 hours), this isn’t Nintendo’s strongest showing.

There’s charm, there’s cuteness, there’s a generous difficulty curve and there’s a plot that passes the Bechdel test. This is the right step forward for Peach into the spotlight, and I hope Showtime! is the first of many more adventures to come.

Prince Peach Showtime! is quite a lot of fun, it features vibrant visuals and a wide range of various talents that the lead heroine can display.

All the way down, the theme of “not enough” pervades Princess Peach: Showtime! The costumes Peach wears look cute but their gimmicks are limited both in terms of their abilities and the game’s implementation of them. The lack of imagination is unbecoming of Nintendo, and it’s a real shame because Peach deserves a much better game. It’s like nobody’s heart was in the making of this, and while there are some entertaining moments, Showtime! simply has very little to show for itself.