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Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch
Price: $59.99 USD
Developer: Good Feel
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: March 22nd, 2024
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Good Feel is not a Nintendo first party studio, but they work with Nintendo all the time on releasing games for the Switch and other Nintendo platforms. One of the big ones for the Switch was Yoshi’s Crafted World, and while there were indeed issues with that game from small performance problems and the game being a tad too easy; it was an overall fun game! Princess Peach Showtime is another example of a game that has a few issues that it is plagued by, but overall it was a fun game to play.
The story reminds me of a story that is like the ones that are in the Luigi’s Mansion games. Peach gets invited to a show where she ends up getting trapped by an evil villain named Madame Grape. Madame Grape takes over the theater, captures all of the stars of the plays, and changes the different plays for her own personal agenda for the production she wants to make. Peach needs to work with Stella, an individual that is known for working with all the main characters of the plays, in order to rid the theater of the darkness and Madame Grape. The plot is pretty basic overall, with villains blocking your path and friends that are wanting to help you fix the plays. Nothing of the plot is that great, and there are no big surprises; however, gameplay for me is king so hopefully that is better… right?
Well, it is better sometimes and then other times it is actually just a slog to get through. There are a total of 10 different transformations that Peach takes in the game and some of these transformations are a blast to play, while others are simply not fun. Personally, I loved Figure Skater, Detective, and Cowgirl Peach, but I loathed the Mermaid and didn’t like Mighty Peach. For each transformation, there are 3 levels that Peach needs to complete, totaling 30 levels, plus 5 bosses. In order to play the different bosses, you have to collect enough sparkle gems to unlock the boss doors that are on the different floors. Levels vary in terms of how long you will spend in them and how many collectables are located in them.
Each Act 1 mission has 10 sparkle gems, each Act 2 has 7 gems, and each Act 3 has 5 to collect. These require you to collect fragments to get a complete gem, look in hidden locations, not get hit by something, solving simplistic puzzles, among other challenges littered throughout the game. Besides the gems, you can also get a ribbon or bow by finding the trapped or captured individual in each level. This will reward you with a different look for either Stella or Peach. One of my biggest issues with this game is if you miss the ribbon or sparkle gem in any level and want to collect everything, you have to go back into the level and complete it again! You can’t just leave once you get the collectable you were missing, and it sometimes is a slog to do this when it comes to certain transformations. You can also collect coins to purchase more outfits and to save you if you somehow die in the levels that are mostly straight forward and pretty easy.
Honestly, the game has a lot of charm in many ways, and the levels are very distinctive from one another. None of them felt the exact same, even if they are very linear with little to no exploration. There is even post game content where you can find ninjas that are hiding in levels, optional challenges, and also challenging the bosses again to get three more sparkle gems per boss. I will say that the bosses are absolutely one of my highlights through my 8 hours of play. The end of the game, I had a lot of left over sparkle gems and what do they give you? An option to add different decorations to the theater, and photos for an album to remember your journey. To say I was slightly disappointed there was no secret cutscene or something like that is an understatement. Honestly, the gameplay has some strong parts, but then there are other massive issues that make it not as fun to try and get 100% completion.
The overall art and sound design of the game is probably one of the better aspects of the entire game. The different levels all look and sound very unique to the transformation that is taking place from the Japanese era style of the Ninja and Kung-Fu transformations to the musical and rhythmic feeling of the mermaid levels. The voice acting in the game overall was nice, but nothing absolutely stellar since not everyone had voices and those that did sounded like the typical Mario universe character.
The performance of the Switch held its own with the game not really having many frame dips, crashes, graphical issues, and the like. The game isn’t a demanding one compared to something that is an open world title, so I didn’t expect there would be any issues with performance. I played the game mostly in handheld on the OLED and it looks beautiful with the different colors popping through the screen. When I played a couple of levels on my TV, it actually didn’t look as good if I am being honest. If you expected anything less than a solid performance as a whole, in a Nintendo published game, you haven’t seen the mostly solid performance that is in every game from Nintendo (minus a few exceptions… IYKYK).
All in all, I had a lot of fun with the game. Sure, there are issues when it comes to the game being too easy overall, some of the transformations were not as fun to play, and the story is way too safe and predictable. There are other shining highlights like the bosses being well designed, the artistic style of the different plays, and the overall vibe of the game is upbeat and fun to play, for the most part. I wouldn’t say that this is a must play for those that are fans of a platformer game, as there are better experiences available for the system but it isn’t a bad game overall. I also wouldn’t classify this is a must play for Switch owners, but if this is a test for future iterations of what could become a new franchise for Nintendo where they grow the foundation of what is here, it would be cool to see. They have Luigi’s Mansions, 3D Mario games, Wario Ware, Captain Toad (which they need to make a sequel for crying out loud), so why shouldn’t they also have a go in making more Peach games.
Review Score: 7/10
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