Princess Peach: Showtime! received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its story, gameplay, and soundtrack but criticized its low difficulty and technical issues. The game sold 1.22 million copies in 10 days.
Plot
One of Princess Peach's Toads receives a flyer advertising plays at the Sparkle Theater. Intrigued, Peach decides to attend the theater, accompanied by two of her Toads. As they arrive, a wicked sorceress named Grape and her minions, the Sour Bunch, invade and take over the theater, trapping many visitors inside the building, including Peach, who loses her crown during the commotion. Peach then meets Stella, the Sparkle Theater's guardian, and agrees to help her restore the theater. Making their way throughout all of the different plays, Peach and Stella work to rescue the Sparklas, who are the stars of all of the theater's plays.
After rescuing all of the Sparklas from the Sour Bunch, Peach assumes the form of Radiant Peach and confronts Grape at the theater's bottom floor, where the latter is eventually reduced to nothing more than her mask. However, Grape regains power and transforms into a giant version of herself, destroying the theater in the process. With support from the Theets, Peach and Stella resume battling Grape and eventually defeat her before restoring the theater to its original state. During the credits sequence, Peach performs with the Sparklas and reunites with the Toads, who give her crown back.
Gameplay
A gameplay screenshot showcasing the theater setting of the game
The player controls Princess Peach and has the ability to interact with objects and characters with the help of a sentient ribbon named Stella. By standing on a circular platform, Peach will gain special abilities to fit each play's setting.[2] Peach's transformations include Swordfighter Peach, Patissiere Peach, Ninja Peach, Cowgirl Peach, Figure Skater Peach, Detective Peach, Dashing Thief Peach, Mighty Peach, Mermaid Peach, and Kung Fu Peach, each with unique abilities.[3][4][5] Peach's health is measured through five hearts, but an additional three hearts can be granted for easier difficulty by equipping the optional Heart Charm power-up. It is also possible to unlock skins (called "Ribbons") for Peach and Stella by rescuing a Theet named Ribboner in each of the game's levels, playing a "Rehearsal" challenge, or using Sparkle Gems, which act as the game's currency.[6]
Development
During the June 21, 2023 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced a new game centered around Princess Peach was in development and would be released for the Switch in 2024.[7] The September 14, 2023 Direct revealed more details about the game, including its title, Peach's sidekick Stella, the first few transformations, the main villains Grape and the Sour Bunch, and a release date of March 22, 2024.[8][9] The game uses the Unreal Engine 4 game engine.[10]
On October 12, 2023, news outlets noted that the game's box art and key artwork had been changed to give Peach more determined facial expressions, which have been compared to her appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.[11][12]
The game's development company was not officially revealed until March 21, 2024, when it was discovered via credits that Good-Feel was the developer and that the game was directed by Etsunobu Ebisu.[1] Good-Feel's involvement with the game was leaked from its demo code two weeks prior.[13][14]
Princess Peach: Showtime! received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[15]
IGN's Logan Plant gave the game a 7 out of 10, praising its variety with the stage play, story, costumes, and music, while also praising its bosses as "strong suits." However, he criticized the completion aspect, commenting that the length of the levels were rather long due to the cutscenes. Plant also raised concerns about the graphics and framerate, saying that Peach's model was rather "blurry" at times, and found that the loading screens also lagged slightly. In the end, he applauded the game for putting more emphasis on Peach and enjoyed the genres available.[22]
GamesRadar+'s Dustin Bailey also liked the variety in stage design, praising one of the levels as "the type of mystery the player would be solving in the vein of a classic point-and-click adventure game." He complained that the game did not have much replay value, however.[21]
In a more critical review, The Guardian disliked the game's repetition, calling it "paper-thin". They also considered the game rather "shallow", saying that some of the game's ideas felt like they were "prototypes which escaped Nintendo headquarters." Their more positive notes included the ice-skating levels and kung-fu vignette adding appeal.[27]
Sales
Princess Peach: Showtime! was the best selling game in Japan for the week of 24 March, with a total of 77,562 units sold.[30][31] It remained number one in Japan the following week.[32][33] In the UK, it debuted at number 3 for the week of 26 March.[34][35] The game was the 6th best selling title in the US during March 2024, without digital sales included.[36]Princess Peach: Showtime! was the 3rd best selling game between April 1 to April 28 in Japan.[37] The game sold 1.22 million copies,[38][39] which it achieved in 10 days.[40] In May 2024, it was the 9th best selling physical game in Japan.[41]
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