Pixels in Pink

For years, a huge part of Nintendo's brand has been the powerup style of eating a mushroom or putting on a hat and changing your abilities and appearance. Recently, Princess Peach was infused into her own powerup used by Toadette to form Peachette, leading into the internet's decision to invent the ever-infamous Bowsette.

(Of course, Bowsette isn't the right name for such a fusion, as the "ette" suffix is from Toadette, not Peach. A true peach-bowser fusion would be Peachowser. Or maybe Beach? 🏖️ I digress.)

Princess Peach has been playable in many Mario games, but has starred in few games of her own. Her humble main-character debut was in 1990, when her very own game, "Princess Toadstool's Castle Run," was featured in a playable McDonald's toy watch.

Since then, Peach has only gotten one title game, "Super Princess Peach," a game where her special abilities are linked to her emotions as she explores "Vibe Island."

It's been more than 20 years since the announcement of "Super Princess Peach," and Nintendo fans have become restless for our favourite girl to get her chance in the spotlight once again.

Nintendo delivered by, literally, putting her in the spotlight.

I LOVE THIS GAME !!

Why exactly do I like this game, apart from my apparent bias for Princess Peach and the colour pink in general?

Primarily, the style and aesthetic of the game are pleasing to me. The transformations are so cute, and I love the whole aesthetic of the game. It feels like exactly what Princess Peach’s very own game should have been like. 

I played a lot of dress-up as a kid, and I get stupidly happy from putting Peach in all her different dresses and costumes.

My favourite part of the gameplay is getting a taste of all the different combat/strategy styles it takes to complete each chapter. If I had to pick a favourite, it might be Cowgirl Peach. Lassoing is such a fun way to take out enemies.

In terms of the plot itself, I found it entertaining enough despite its simplicity. This is completely silly, but I love Grape. It’s totally ridiculous to name Peach’s on-screen nemesis after a sour fruit, and the goofy little grape minions are so bizarre. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but the whole Bowser thing can get old, and I love having new and unique villains be introduced.

It fits with the silliness of the game as a whole for Grape to have no perceptible backstory. In Super Paper Mario, Count Bleck got entire cutscenes and a tragic backstory about forbidden love, while Grape is just… evil for no reason? I could complain about it, but I actually love it and feels like it fits with the general atmosphere of the game really well. 

CRITIQUES:

This all being said, I feel like there are a few things the game could have improved on.

Logic: I’m trying to understand why some of the stages are set up like plays, while others just lead you into a whole other dimension. Why is Princess Peach actually baking and not in a play about baking? How is this theatre containing an entire winter wonderland inside of it?

There seems to be a real difficulty jump from completing the gameplay on each regular level to the boss levels, particularly the Purrjector and the Spotlion. There are so few opportunities to attack the bosses, and it can take a lot of time waiting for each stage to be over so that you can get a single hit on the boss.