Highlights
- Princess Peach Showtime offers a unique and varied gameplay experience, with stages featuring various genres and requiring different skills from Peach.
- The costumes in Princess Peach Showtime have a major impact on gameplay, similar to Kirby's copy abilities, offering new powers and play styles for Peach.
- While there are similarities between Princess Peach Showtime's costumes and Kirby's copy abilities, there may be differences in how they are utilized between levels, potentially offering major changes throughout the game.
Princess Peach Showtime looks to take a different approach than most Mario titles, and actually draws comparisons to another Nintendo hero's adventures. There are a lot of factors that go into making Princess Peach Showtime look unique among the Switch's library of games. Of course, since it's only the second time that Peach has taken the starring role in a game, it makes sense for the developers to innovate since she doesn't have a dedicated gameplay approach. What the developers came up with looks fresh and fun, while also being a bit familiar for fans of another franchise.
The Nintendo Direct showed off Princess Peach's new video game in more detail, giving a better idea of what players can expect from it. Unlike the classic style of platforming that she can perform in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Princess Peach Showtime seems to have much more variety in what it offers. Different stages offer different genres, such as a swashbuckling platformer or a cerebral mystery, all of which require different skills on Peach's part. The variety is quite fitting, considering the game's setting taking place across several plays. It's Peach's first solo adventure in over a decade, and it seems destined to stand out.
Princess Peach Showtime's Costumes Could Be Similar to Kirby's Copy Abilities
The most interesting aspect revealed so far in Princess Peach Showtime's costumes, which have a major impact on gameplay. While Peach has some abilities in her default mode with Stella's magical ribbon, her costumes give her new powers that change her playstyle significantly. Her Swordfighter and Kung Fu Peach outfits are give her impressive combat abilities, while Detective Peach grants her the ability to investigate and analyze evidence. Patissier Peach is the most unusual costume revealed so far, giving her enhanced cake-baking and decorating skills. It's an interesting choice, but not the first Nintendo game to embrace such a gimmick.
The way that the costumes in Princess Peach Showtime change gameplay is reminiscent of copy abilities from the Kirby games. Kirby's most famous power is the ability to absorb his enemies and use their powers as his own. Each ability gives him a new attack, with some providing several new moves for him to use. There is even some similarities between the copy abilities and some of Peach's new costumes. Swordfighter Peach is reminiscent of Sword Kirby, and Kung Fu Peach brings to mind Fighter Kirby. It creates an odd distinction between two characters that previously had very little in common.
Despite the similarities, there are a few things that could set Princess Peach Showtime's costumes apart from Kirby's copy abilities. In past games from Kirby's catalog, he can typically bring any power the player desires into any level, as long as he finds it first. However, it's not clear if Princess Peach Showtime will allow Peach to bring different costumes between stages. It is admittedly difficult to imagine how some of the more specialized costumes like Detective or Patissier could be useful outside of levels designed around their abilities. If that is the case, then it would discard Kirby's mix-and-match mentality in favor of major changes between levels.
Princess Peach Showtime is finally giving the princess a chance to adventure on her own. However, her skillset seems to take less from her role in the upcoming Super Mario RPG remake and more from Nintendo's favorite pink puffball. Peach's ability to swap her powers depending on which costume she's wearing is an unexpected move, and it could bring fans of Kirby games to check it out due to the similarities. While Princess Peach Showtime's costumes may not be exactly like Kirby's copy abilities, the princess' abilities have enough similarities to seem like the Mushroom Kingdom's equivalent of such.
Princess Peach Showtime will be released on March 22, 2024 for the Nintendo Switch
