The wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch have taken over the Sparkle Theater, and now it's up to Peach and the theater's guardian Stella to save the play––and the day! Peach can transform and use fantastic showstopping abilities to face off against the Sour Bunch. Fend off the Sour Bunch with sensational swordplay as a swordfighter...en garde! In another role, Peach puts on her detective hat to find out whodunnit in a museum mystery. From kung fu master to pastry chef, Peach’s roles give you distinctly powerful ways to save the play!
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a super cute game! the gameplay is very simple, which makes sense for the audience it caters to. each stage is fun and the evolution of peach's abilities throughout the game keeps the experience interesting.
my biggest gripe is that it runs terribly, at least on version 1 of the switch. i am able to play tears of the kingdom with the usual frame drops, but this game has some severe problems with loading times and general smoothness in how it runs.
my biggest gripe is that it runs terribly, at least on version 1 of the switch. i am able to play tears of the kingdom with the usual frame drops, but this game has some severe problems with loading times and general smoothness in how it runs.
Where it Shines:
Playing Dressup - 7/10
Cuteness - 7/10
The Good:
Princess Peach: Showtime! is a game that on paper looks really fun, cute, and perfect for casual gamers. The costumes are fun, there are different dresses for Peach to wear between levels, and overall it's cute and has some great level ideas.
The Bad:
However, that's where the good things end. The execution of these days, unfortunately suffer greatly. I really, really wanted to like this game, but it can't decide who it's for. It should be aimed at kids/casuals, but a lot of the design in it is so obtuse or too challenging for what it needs to be, simply because they decide to reinvent the wheel on basic things they shouldn't.
Here are my notes on how they could improve this game.
Don't Use Unskippable Dialogue - It's 2024. Seriously. Why can't I skip dialogue and cutscenes? This is a game that is designed for you to repeat levels to go back and collect everything, but you can't skip anything you've already seen. What's worse, the dialogue often advances SO slowly. The game has decided to force you to read and witness things at ITS pace, and it doesn't accomplish anything except frustration. If you die, prepare to rewatch everything. If you want to go back to get everything, same deal. Kind of unacceptable in a modern game. There are some moments where you can advance dialogue, but it only is outside of the actual levels, and it's too few and far between. The vast majority of the game is like "LOL watch this again bish"
Clearly Show Your Button Prompts - This game has QTE's, but it doesn't actually tell you WHICH button you are supposed to press. There are only two buttons, but it's still annoying. I was fighting the first swordfighter boss, and it involves perfect parrying, which I was doing, but nothing was happening. Turns out I was supposed to do the jump parry, not the attack parry, not that it tells you this shit. Additionally, there are little areas that you can light up by spotlight to enter bonus rooms, but there's no button prompt for that. Just make sure you detect the controller's rumble or pay attention to it's design. Well, playing on a Hori Pad with no rumble meant I missed a bunch of them. Like just put a button prompt on screen, why all this secrecy? So I can come back later to find them and suffer your cutscenes again?
Some Costumes Need To Be Reworked - There are a lot of fun ones in the game. For example, the Patisserie Peach is SUPER CUTE AND FUN. Perfect for a game like this, aimed at kids and casuals. Then there are costumes like the Swordfighter, where you have to do perfect timing dodges and parry's, which elevates the difficulty more than it should. I'm not saying these things are souls like by any means, but they just don't really belong in a game like this, or at the very least, there should be accessibility options for assist modes or something for those that would struggle, or like me, just find it annoying.
Additionally, some of the designs just feel super rushed. One is literally a Little Mermaid rip off. It's not just Mermaid Peach, it's Ariel. Peach uses her voice to sing as her power in this. I don't mind this being a ripoff per se, but what I do mind is that it doesn't feel like a proper rhythm mini game at all, these fish swim up to you and when you time the note it swaps to the other side and just feels super unintuitive. We have had rhythm games for decades, don't reinvent the wheel on mechanics that are already established. This is a note I have with the game in general.
Don't Force Me to Play EVERY level - This game is structured like Peach's Castle in Mario 64. In that game, you collect enough stars to unlock the next floor. In this game, you do have a minimum star amount you need, but you also HAVE To defeat each level. None are optional. So if you hate a particular costume, tough luck. It's 5 floors, 4 levels each, and the costumes repeat two or three times. I got to the end and was like, finally, I can defeat the final boss. But you know what? Nah, fuck you player, Here's a basement with like 12+ more levels, defeat all these too. I was already forcing myself to get through the annoying design of this game just to witness the fun parts, but at this point I was insulted. I finally abandoned it.
Your World Looks Great, Your NPC's Don't - The character design for the Grapes and the Sparklas are completely boring. They are just spheres stacked on each other. It's not an aesthetic choice that works. This isn't N64 era of graphics, the Switch isn't that weak, you could make better looking characters with some actual textures and detail. Heck, you don't even need to do that. YOU ARE PRINCESS TOADSTOOL, WHY AREN'T THESE NPCs JUST TOADS???? Completely baffling
Don't Overstay Your Welcome - This game is way too long for what it is, primarily because of what I mentioned before. If you make the levels optional and just make there be a minimum star requirement to unlock new floors, it's no issue. But as it stands, this game forces you to play everything, and it feels like such a slog when it should be a light, casual romp. After Floor 3 in this game, every time I picked it up I felt like I had no energy to keep playing and see it through, which is a bad sign.
Summary:
This game has great ideas but horrible execution. It can't decide who it's for, and doesn't respect your time.
I really, really wanted to like this game. I was SO stoked for it. I figured this would be a little palate cleanser I could knock off the backlog, but instead it's surprisingly one of my ABANDONED games this year.
The sad thing is, it could be so much better. The complaints I have above may not matter to you, or maybe you're reading them and think I'm being too picky, which I can accept. But I went into this game with a smile on my face, excited, and I ditched it feeling frustrated and like my time was wasted.
This game should have been an easy homerun, and easy 4 stars, but instead of just keeping it simple, they make strange decisions the whole way through that do nothing except take away agency from the player.
TLDR; More like Princess Peach NOtime
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Playing Dressup - 7/10
Cuteness - 7/10
The Good:
Princess Peach: Showtime! is a game that on paper looks really fun, cute, and perfect for casual gamers. The costumes are fun, there are different dresses for Peach to wear between levels, and overall it's cute and has some great level ideas.
The Bad:
However, that's where the good things end. The execution of these days, unfortunately suffer greatly. I really, really wanted to like this game, but it can't decide who it's for. It should be aimed at kids/casuals, but a lot of the design in it is so obtuse or too challenging for what it needs to be, simply because they decide to reinvent the wheel on basic things they shouldn't.
Here are my notes on how they could improve this game.
Don't Use Unskippable Dialogue - It's 2024. Seriously. Why can't I skip dialogue and cutscenes? This is a game that is designed for you to repeat levels to go back and collect everything, but you can't skip anything you've already seen. What's worse, the dialogue often advances SO slowly. The game has decided to force you to read and witness things at ITS pace, and it doesn't accomplish anything except frustration. If you die, prepare to rewatch everything. If you want to go back to get everything, same deal. Kind of unacceptable in a modern game. There are some moments where you can advance dialogue, but it only is outside of the actual levels, and it's too few and far between. The vast majority of the game is like "LOL watch this again bish"
Clearly Show Your Button Prompts - This game has QTE's, but it doesn't actually tell you WHICH button you are supposed to press. There are only two buttons, but it's still annoying. I was fighting the first swordfighter boss, and it involves perfect parrying, which I was doing, but nothing was happening. Turns out I was supposed to do the jump parry, not the attack parry, not that it tells you this shit. Additionally, there are little areas that you can light up by spotlight to enter bonus rooms, but there's no button prompt for that. Just make sure you detect the controller's rumble or pay attention to it's design. Well, playing on a Hori Pad with no rumble meant I missed a bunch of them. Like just put a button prompt on screen, why all this secrecy? So I can come back later to find them and suffer your cutscenes again?
Some Costumes Need To Be Reworked - There are a lot of fun ones in the game. For example, the Patisserie Peach is SUPER CUTE AND FUN. Perfect for a game like this, aimed at kids and casuals. Then there are costumes like the Swordfighter, where you have to do perfect timing dodges and parry's, which elevates the difficulty more than it should. I'm not saying these things are souls like by any means, but they just don't really belong in a game like this, or at the very least, there should be accessibility options for assist modes or something for those that would struggle, or like me, just find it annoying.
Additionally, some of the designs just feel super rushed. One is literally a Little Mermaid rip off. It's not just Mermaid Peach, it's Ariel. Peach uses her voice to sing as her power in this. I don't mind this being a ripoff per se, but what I do mind is that it doesn't feel like a proper rhythm mini game at all, these fish swim up to you and when you time the note it swaps to the other side and just feels super unintuitive. We have had rhythm games for decades, don't reinvent the wheel on mechanics that are already established. This is a note I have with the game in general.
Don't Force Me to Play EVERY level - This game is structured like Peach's Castle in Mario 64. In that game, you collect enough stars to unlock the next floor. In this game, you do have a minimum star amount you need, but you also HAVE To defeat each level. None are optional. So if you hate a particular costume, tough luck. It's 5 floors, 4 levels each, and the costumes repeat two or three times. I got to the end and was like, finally, I can defeat the final boss. But you know what? Nah, fuck you player, Here's a basement with like 12+ more levels, defeat all these too. I was already forcing myself to get through the annoying design of this game just to witness the fun parts, but at this point I was insulted. I finally abandoned it.
Your World Looks Great, Your NPC's Don't - The character design for the Grapes and the Sparklas are completely boring. They are just spheres stacked on each other. It's not an aesthetic choice that works. This isn't N64 era of graphics, the Switch isn't that weak, you could make better looking characters with some actual textures and detail. Heck, you don't even need to do that. YOU ARE PRINCESS TOADSTOOL, WHY AREN'T THESE NPCs JUST TOADS???? Completely baffling
Don't Overstay Your Welcome - This game is way too long for what it is, primarily because of what I mentioned before. If you make the levels optional and just make there be a minimum star requirement to unlock new floors, it's no issue. But as it stands, this game forces you to play everything, and it feels like such a slog when it should be a light, casual romp. After Floor 3 in this game, every time I picked it up I felt like I had no energy to keep playing and see it through, which is a bad sign.
Summary:
This game has great ideas but horrible execution. It can't decide who it's for, and doesn't respect your time.
I really, really wanted to like this game. I was SO stoked for it. I figured this would be a little palate cleanser I could knock off the backlog, but instead it's surprisingly one of my ABANDONED games this year.
The sad thing is, it could be so much better. The complaints I have above may not matter to you, or maybe you're reading them and think I'm being too picky, which I can accept. But I went into this game with a smile on my face, excited, and I ditched it feeling frustrated and like my time was wasted.
This game should have been an easy homerun, and easy 4 stars, but instead of just keeping it simple, they make strange decisions the whole way through that do nothing except take away agency from the player.
TLDR; More like Princess Peach NOtime
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
very charming and the devs clearly put a lot of effort into that but unfortunately the gameplay itself falls flat not just due to the controls being simple, but everything is just way too easy. having a game with simple controls is not a bad thing at all but at least let me do more than one attack which is usually the exact same thing no matter the transformation. imo this is why the transformations such as patissiere and figure skater are easily the highlights (although I did still enjoy dashing thief, ninja, and kung fu also) I can also understand making games easy to appeal to younger audiences and easy games can still be engaging! but the difficulty and the VERY simple controls combined unfortunately made me bored quite often. not to mention the performance issues (20fps during a lot of cutscenes is something!) especially since they're charging full price for the game, I REALLY wanted to like this as peach hasn't had a solo game in almost two decades but unfortunately while it's presented BEAUTIFULLY it feels like that's what the entire budget went towards
bon jeu pour passer le temps, j'ai pas envie de le terminer
Legalzinho, bem feitinho, mas nada demais. Kirby tem uma proposta parecida (jogo bobo pra criança no qual o protagonista se transforma e ganha novos poderes) mas é muito melhor. Princess Peach Showtime não tem desafios maiores para quem é experiente, e as transformações são fixas em casa fase.
Uma coisa que poderia ajudar o jogo é a capacidade de pular cenas de história, e de repetir uma parte específica da fase. É muuuuuuito chato colecionar todos os sparkles porque precisa repetir a fase do zero e assistir toda a história meio teletubbies que tem nas fases.
Uma coisa que poderia ajudar o jogo é a capacidade de pular cenas de história, e de repetir uma parte específica da fase. É muuuuuuito chato colecionar todos os sparkles porque precisa repetir a fase do zero e assistir toda a história meio teletubbies que tem nas fases.
É muito divertido, fofo e lindo. Gosto como ele explora muito gameplays sem se comprometer e mesmo assim sabe explorar bem todos. So podia ser um tiquinho mais difícil. Mas não me atrapalhou, ainda amei