Princess Peach: Showtime! Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · March 26, 2024

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review, A mysterious, masked villain has taken over Sparkle Theater and it’s up to Princess Peach to save the play – and the day! Take center stage with a wardrobe of showstopping transformations in Princess Peach: Showtime!

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
4.6GB Download size.
Opening and ongoing tutorial pop-up.
Sparkle gems.
Collect coins from enemies, and interact with the environment.
Special outfit sparkle gems turn you into someone like a sword Fighter.
3D action platformer gameplay.
They do make every outfit feel unique.
The sword Fighter costume can introduce a more in-depth fighting system with dodge and slow-mo dodges.
You can choose and replay any level.
The game is all about a theatre invaded by the enemy and you go into different show genres to collect the gems and sparkle.
Theets are the inhabitants of the world and you rescue them, and they help you.
Posing can be done and if you find certain places you can trigger a secret area.
The patisserie outfit has you manually decorating cakes and mixing cakes in a bowl with a sort of mini-game feel and progress to it.
A lot of style and atmosphere throughout.
Collection is where you can see all found ensembles, movies, and songs.
Unlock and equip new dress designs from the wardrobe menu.
Two control layouts, the game only uses two buttons and a stick.
Easy to get into.
The game uses a heart based life system, enemies and Theets can drop hearts.
Every level has coins, gems, and a bow to find, the gem bar fills in as you go which helps if you are on mission one.
When you lose all your lives you use coins to respawn.
Every stage has a boss fight at the end.
A shop is available and sells outfits for you and your sidekick Stella using coins.
Great animations like when Peach will go underwater or stealthing around.
Memorable and fantastic set pieces.
Collected sparkle gems can be given to Stella to power her up and progress the story.

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review Cons:

No voice work.
So much stopping and starting.
Never sure when you have hit a checkpoint.
The game doesn’t run that well in places.
Dropped coins dissappear very fast.
The game is very stunted and doesn’t really offer a lot in terms of deviation or how you play out a sequence.
Doesn’t have the greatest loading times.
You are never sure when and where you interact with parts of the level.
Boss fights are not as engaging and feel repetitive.
The game has great parts but they are never truly fleshed out and come and go so quickly you cannot get into it.
No difficulty or tips help and when you match this with anything can be important it can be tricky to make out things or younger players may get frustrated.
The dresses feel pointless and are very underwhelming.

Related Post: Son of the Dragon King Preview (Steam)