Super Princess Peach

Super Princess Peach
Now it's Peach's turn to save Mario and Luigi.
Protagonist(s): Princess Peach Genre(s): Platform Platform(s): Nintendo DS Release Date: JP: October 20, 2005 TW: October 20, 2005 KOR: November 4, 2005 NA: February 27, 2006 AU: March 30, 2006 EU: May 26, 2006 Developer(s): Tose Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Mario

Super Princess Peach is a 2D platform game developed by Tose and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It was released throughout 2005/2006, and is the first Mario game on a dedicated console to feature Princess Peach as the main protagonist (although the first one overall was the Nelsonic Game Watch game Princess Toadstool's Castle Run). It was also Peach's only starring role until Princess Peach: Showtime! 19 years later.

Why It's Joyful

1. The idea of making Princess Peach the protagonist of a Mario game is an excellent one, considering she had barely any starring roles for 20 years (besides the Nelsonic Game Watch game Princess Toadstool's Castle Run).
2. Interesting story in which Bowser gets his revenge on Mario and Luigi by kidnapping them, and now Princess Peach must rescue the Bros. instead of the other way around.
3. Throughout the game, you can use the Touch Screen to activate one of Peach's four Vibes, provided she has enough Vibe Energy to use them.
   • Joy: Peach becomes happy and floats through the air, creating a cyclone when she is left aloft that can clear fog. You can hold the A button to make her ascend and reach otherwise inaccesible areas.
   • Gloom: Peach cries uncontrollably, causing her to run quickly across collapsing floors and make plants grow. She can also use her tears to put out fires, activate water wheels, and create icy floors in colder levels so that she can slip under tight spaces.
   • Rage: Peach enters a towering rage and catches on fire, which can be used to light torches or fuel hot air balloons. Whenever she jumps, she stomps to trigger an earthquake that can stun nearby foes and activate Rage Switches.
   • Calm: Peach renegerates her health by taking deep breaths; the effect lasts until her life bar is full or she runs out of Vibe Energy.
4. Perry the Parasol is introduced in this game, and he serves as both Peach's primary ally (in the same vein as Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey, F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine, Huey from Paper Mario: Color Splash, Olivia from Paper Mario: The Origami King, etc.) and weapon/tool, with many abilities such as breaking blocks, picking up and throwing objects (similarly to Parasol Kirby), and giving Peach more Vibe Energy when he eats lifted enemies.
   • You can also purchase upgrades for Perry to improve his combat and navigation abilities, including Bowlbrella (which allows Peach to cross water), Floatbrella (which allows Peach to hover so she can cross gaps), Poundbrella (which is a stomp that can break blocks and attract items), and Subrella (which turns Perry into a submarine so Peach can travel underwater, and he can also shoot bubbles when the player blows into the DS Microphone).
5. Amazing and colorful graphics, with a wide variety of level designs such as Ladida Plains (grasslands), Shriek Mansion (similar to Ghost Houses), Fury Volcano (lava world), Giddy Sky (clouds), etc.
6. Good enemy variety, ranging from your typical Mario fare (Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Spinies, Rexes, etc.) to foes that can use Vibes (such as Rage or Joy).
7. Catchy and upbeat soundtrack composed by Akira Fujiwara that fits in well with Peach's bubbly personality.
8. Coins actually serve a purpose in this game, unlike most Mario games where they are solely used to get extra lives: here, they are used at the Toad Shop to purchase concept art, music, Perry upgrades, puzzle pieces, etc.
9. Similarly to Super Mario Bros. 3, at the end of each level is a Goal Roulette which will award Peach a set number of coins based on the type of item she gets.
10. Creative and fun boss fights, just like one can expect from the Mario franchise, with returning ones such as King Boo, Wiggler, Petey Piranha, and of course, Bowser (the final boss), as well as some new ones such as Blizzaurus and Hoo.
    • After you beat each boss, Peach and Perry rest at a campfire before moving on to the next area, while Perry has flashback dreams about his past that become more in-depth and complex as you progress.
11. Once the player beats the main game once, they gain access to a New Game+ mode, which gives Peach all of the powers she unlocked in addition to the new Dashbrella power. Also, they can unlock three bonus levels in each world after beating the bosses.
12. There are three fun minigames unlocked throughout the main game, those being Toad Jump, Toad Tote and Toad Shot, in which you help the Toads in various scenarios. Initially, there is only one difficulty level, but you can buy harder ones via the Toad Shop or find them hidden in the levels themselves.
13. Scattered throughout the worlds are Puzzle Pieces, which can be used to piece together eight puzzles. There are a total of 144 pieces, and the puzzles themselves can be solved from the menu screen at any time.
14. After getting 100% completion on either their first run or in a New Game+, the player unlocks the Endless Vibe feature, which gives Peach unlimited Vibe Energy so that she can use her Vibes with no limits. It can also be turned off in the menu if the player doesn't want to use it.

Bad Qualities

1. Sometimes the Vibes don't respond whenever you tap them, so you may have to activate another one first.
2. To access the final boss, you must rescue the Toads in every level. While players who had the manual would know this, those who didn't have one wouldn't know how to access Bowser's Castle.
3. Missed opportunity: Luigi is held captive in Giddy Sky rather than by King Boo in Shriek Mansion, which would have been a reference to the Luigi's Mansion series if he was.
4. The game is relatively short and can be beaten in about 4 hours if you focus on finding the Toads and completing each level.
   • Besides that, the game is also rather easy, as Perry will tell you exactly what to do in each boss or puzzle scenario; however, you can also skip the Hint Blocks if you want more of a challenge.
5. There is no lives system, so there is no penalty if Peach dies. Other Mario games without lives at least take away a few Coins from the player (like in Super Mario Odyssey), but here there is no such penalty.
6. The final boss fight against Bowser is a major difficulty spike compared to previous ones, as his attacks are hard to dodge and it's difficult to figure out how to harm him. Thankfully, you are healed between each of his phases and can learn his attack patterns; really, the hardest part of the fight is knowing how to knock back the bombs Bowser throws at you while dodging his attacks.

Reception

Super Princess Peach received generally positive reviews from critics and players (scoring 75/100 and 7.9/10, respectively, on Metacritic). The game's art style, soundtrack, gameplay, and having Peach as the protagonist were praised, while the low difficulty was criticized. The game also did receive criticism for the perceived sexism of having Peach rely on emotions while the mainseries Mario games have the titular duo use merely their strength, which was addressed in Princess Peach: Showtime!.

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