It's kinda hard to believe, especially given how ridiculously popular the whole Mushroom Kingdom thing is, that we've had so few games starring its actual ruler as the protagonist over the years. Yes, there was Princess Toadstool's Castle Run on Nelsonic Game Watch back in 1990, Princess Peach's very first leading role (which you probably don't need to rush out and buy), and Super Princess Peach on DS, but nothing that feels like a proper turn as the core of a full-on adventure. Until now, that is.

Yep, whilst we were fully expecting this to be a throwaway sort of experience given the above track record, it turns out Princess Peach: Showtime! is easily Ms. Toadstool's finest hour (shocker), and a far more engaging romp than we had prepared for. It's still 100% a game aimed squarely at children, mind, and there's really not a whole ton of challenge for those seeking it, but for younger gamers, for relatives or friends sitting down to have a good old Nintendo sesh with some smaller kids, there's a whole lot of fun to be had with this one.

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review - Screenshot 1 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

The story in Princess Peach: Showtime sees Peach thrust into action against the evil Madame Grape and her Sour Bunch as they take over the Sparkle Theatre, where they've decided to go ahead and start making a huge mess out of all the plays. What a bunch of tools. It's up to Peach, alongside a cute little star called Stella, to jump through a whole bunch of different theatrical scenarios and gather up the power of Sparkle, which they will then use to defeat the power of...Darkle. Not even making that up.

So, what you've got is a great big excuse for everyone's favourite ass-kicking, Sour Bunch-slapping Princess to don a whole bunch of cool costumes as she assumes roles which include slick swordfighter, nimble sneaky ninja, superhero, chef, ice-skater, and...well...we won't ruin any more of the transformations, as discovering them is half the fun.

Each play is housed within a level-select setup that's hugely reminiscent of Super Mario 64 — that's far from the only retro Nintendo game reference for the elders to watch out for — and each one provides a whole new set of gameplay mechanics for you to get to grips with as you decorate cakes, bullet-time dodge ninja attacks, do a little singing and dancing, partake in some endless running and, honestly, so much more besides.

Zipping through each of these levels, or taking it slowly to collect every single sparkle and secret (the only correct way to play), it's a constant joy to see just how much love, care, and attention to tiny little details Nintendo has put into this one. Sometimes younger players do tend to get a rough ride with sloppy gameplay experiences and cash grabs, but not here. Every play is smartly designed and engaging, every single one has fun surprises to uncover, and you're constantly buffeted from one scenario to the next, never getting time to feel bored or restless as the controls and objectives keep switching things up.

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review - Screenshot 2 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

Can you hold your nerve to delicately decorate a spinning cake as baddies close in from every angle, then immediately put on your best Ace Attorney impression to solve a quick mystery across the street? How do you feel about engaging ninjas in mortal combat on your way to winning a dance competition on ice? Because, these are the tasks you're being set here, Princess. As soon as you feel you're mastering a mechanic, it's snatched away and replaced with something even more silly and fun, and all of this mayhem is so nicely animated and detailed that it's hard, as jaded as we are, not to crack a smile. Seriously, once you've seen Ninja Peach sneaking underwater with a tiny little bamboo pipe in her mouth for air, you'll never be the same, mate.

Of course, none of this constant changing and shifting would really work if it weren't all immediately accessible to even the greenest of gamers. Each of these minigames, challenges, and scraps is designed to be played with minimal button inputs. It's sometimes just the one button, in fact, or at a push you'll be required to hold a direction whilst pressing a single button, so there's really no barrier here for quite young kids indeed if instructed and supported properly by an older buddy.

Within about an hour of booting this one up, we'd fully shifted from a wary if not weary mindset to being completely and utterly engaged, genuinely having a very nice time indeed, thank-you-very-much, and that's to say nothing of the two young 'uns we were romping through it with (they were enthralled). Is it a shame there's no multiplayer? A little. It sure would be nice to all play at the same time, but y'know it's a concession worth making for a game that feels unique to itself. We've got New Super Mario Bros and Mario Wonder for that type of carnage, after all, and swapping a controller around works perfectly fine between pals. And anyway, this is about Peach, she's the star of the show this time — finally — and nobody else is sharing that limelight.

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review - Screenshot 3 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

As you progress through the campaign you'll open up more floors of the Sparkle Theatre (as well as more stuff we're not allowed to mention), completing four plays on each level destroy Madame Grape's barriers and move on up to the next area. Each play has three acts through which Peach progresses and evolves as that particular hero, and you even get a whole bunch of surprisingly robust big boss battles to engage in, too. You'll need to be eagle-eyed to hoover up all the sparkles in a stage first time around (we don't think we managed it once, in fact) and there are also secret pose locations — hold in the shoulder buttons to look fabulous, darling — and a little bowtie guy hiding in every act. You can easily rack up double figures of playtime hours grabbing all of this stuff.

There's just so much more going on here than we had expected. We've said that already, but it's worth reiterating — Showtime really does throw a lot of different stuff your way. It also looks properly fantastic at points, with a nice mix of styles employed across the various stage productions you'll visit. There are loads of outfits and designs to unlock for Peach (Stella even gets her own ribbon collection) — it's Nintendo once again fully delivering on that seal of quality, innit.

Or at least it would be, if it weren't for a few niggling performance issues, which we still just never expect to see from the Big N, as the Switch — quite understandably at this point — begins to groan under the stress some seven years down the line from its initial launch. They aren't huge problems, let's be clear: the frame rate can drop and stutter here and there, once or twice quite noticeably, and there's a blurriness to handheld at points that threatens to dull the sheen of the whole endeavour. But it's not a fast-moving or challenging game, and so these bumps can be forgiven more than usual seeing as they aren't at any point directly affecting our ability to complete tasks.

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review - Screenshot 4 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

And so, in the end, what we've got with Princess Peach: Showtime is a fantastic kid's game that revels in creativity and silliness, throwaway mechanics, great big goofy bosses, and just straight-up old-school fun. It's far more adventurous than we'd expected, less about fashion and more about being an all-conquering badass and, if you can look beyond the odd stutter and few patches of blurriness now and then, we reckon you'll have a great time with this one. Even more so with some young Peach fans along for the ride.

Conclusion

Princess Peach: Showtime! sees Nintendo finally give everyone's favourite imaginary princess the rollicking adventure she deserves. We had expected a rather throwaway offering here, a bunch of minigames and Mario-lite platforming maybe, but what we've got is one of the better kid-focused games on Switch. There's creativity, style, and fun to spare here, with levels packed full of secrets, cool outfits, and enough new mechanics to ensure nothing ever outstays its welcome. Come for the fashion, stay for the boss battles, slo-mo bullet dodges, and cardboard horse chases. Besides a few niggling performance issues, this is Nintendo on rather cracking form. Encore!

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