Today, we're taking a look at Super Princess Peach, a spinoff of the classic Super Mario platformers. Did our feminine royalty live up to the hype where her Italian plumber partner always succeeded?
Super Princess Peach was initially released for the Nintendo DS on October 20, 2005 (in Japan), with a North American release happening on February 27, 2006. It was published by Nintendo and developed by Tose. The DS game was one of the best-selling units for the system, with 1.15 million units sold worldwide.
Super Princess Peach takes the classic Mario Bros. trope and turns it on its head. This time, it's Mario who's kidnapped, with Luigi and Peach's Toads being taken by Bowser. In turn, the King of the Koopas gets ahold of the Vibe Scepter, which manipulates other people's emotions. With her sidekick, Parry the parasol, Peach must go to Vibe Island and rescue her lover and her brother.
There's a good reason why this was one of the best-selling games for the Nintendo DS. Super Princess Peach follows the classic Mario platforming formula to a tee while showing off its innovative level design and mechanics in the process. There's also enough post-game content to keep the player on its feet, offering a tougher challenge with additional levels.
Another plus of Super Princess Peach is the usage of emotions. While it is quite misogynistic to have the titular player, who's a woman, be emotional throughout her journey, you use Peach's emotions to get through parts of each level. Granted, you don't have an infinite amount of vibe that fuels said emotions. But that adds to the strategy when you're trying to 100% the game.
But there are some parts that rubbed me the wrong way. For example, the hitbox in the final fight against Bowser was confusing, causing immense distress. Another issue was having minigames before each boss fight. While many of them weren't too challenging, they were hard enough to be tedious, leading to frustrating moments.
Still, that shouldn't deter you from playing Super Princess Peach. It's a quality platformer that leaves you coming back for more. Whether you're collecting puzzle pieces or looking to beat Bowser a second time, definitely get Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS.