But what do the other outlets have to say about Nintendo's next big release of 2024? Let's take a look.
We'll kick things off with Eurogamer, with Tom Phillips' hands-on preview flagging much of the ease that we mentioned but seemingly finding a little less charm in it:
while the set dressing may seem somewhat familiar, the game's opening suite of levels feel something of a more amateur production aimed at a younger audience, especially considering how low the difficulty of said levels are pitched.
On the flip side, IGN's Brian Altano found a lot to love from his preview, particularly praising the level variation and how the game manages to stand out from the Mario crowd:
Based on what I’ve played, Princess Peach: Showtime is wholly its own thing, decoupled from the traditional Mario game entirely, and throughout my time with it I found myself really impressed with how different and special each stage looked and felt.
Michael McWhertor's article for Polygon once again stressed how charming the game is, flagging the level replayability as a notably strong point. His preview does, however, mention some performance issues, so that could be something to look out for.
Like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Princess Peach: Showtime! appears to be packed with big, stage-changing moments.
For VGC, Andy Robinson praised the transformations that were shown in the preview and once again affirmed how pleasant of an experience the opening levels are:
the early stages are executed with enough charm, variety and brevity (each is over in around 20 minutes) that, in the opening hour at least, they make up a genuinely delightful variety show, especially for younger players.
Finally, for Gamespot, Steve Watts found Showtime to be "a tasting menu of different genres" and appreciated the opportunity that it will create for younger gamers to try them all out:
it's a sweet idea to let Princess Peach--fresh off her starring role in the blockbuster Mario movie--be the one to gently usher in a new generation of players.
So there you have it, a rundown of what the critics thought after a short time with the game. Princess Peach: Showtime! will start the performance on Switch on 22nd March.
