Platform: Nintendo DS
Published by: Nintendo
Price: $39.99
You can’t wait for the new Super Mario Bros. to hit the Nintendo DS, eh? Well, neither can I. Thankfully, now the wait won’t be quite as unbearable.
Super Princess Peach adopts the Mario platforming that we all know and love, taking on a look and feel that is very similar to Super Mario World on the SNES. This time out, instead of doing her best Kim Bauer impersonation, the Princess of all things Toadstool is tasked with rescuing her plumbers in arms, Mario and Luigi. The game is set across 8 worlds, with 6 stages a piece, full of Goombas, Koopa Troopers, Lakitu’s, Piranha Plants, and more Super Mario enemies than you can shake a, well, umbrella at.
Princess Peach is armed not only with a magical, talking umbrella, but the ability to use her emotions via the bottom touch screen to employ special attacks to overcome obstacles and puzzles found in each world. These puzzles never prove to be incredibly mind bending, so if you’re looking for something challenging in the realm of The Legend of Zelda or Prince of Persia, you’re going to be disappointed. What Princess Peach does well, however, is make an incredibly accessible game that can appeal to all ages and sexes, and for that you’ve got to applaud Nintendo. Anything that pulls in new gamers and interest is always a plus.
Each stage contains three toads that the Princess is tasked with finding. You can complete the stage without finding all three, and continue to move on through the level, however, if you truly want to beat the game, you’ll eventually need to track down all the missing Toads. Also, at the end of each level you’ll encounter a boss battle, with each fight making use of the Princess’ emotion powers in unique and interesting ways.
Along the way you’ll be able to use collected coins to purchase power ups, special abilities, puzzle pieces, mini games, and more. For the card-carrying members of the 100% club, Princess Peach does offer a lot to find, and even though the difficulty level is pretty low, the replay value manages to stay quite high.
The music in the game has a distinct sound all its own, with not much in the way of sampling from previous Mario titles. It still manages to be catchy (not quite on the level of the classic Mario Bros. theme) and never manages to get annoying, even with the Princess’ shrill voice popping up from time to time.
The game looks incredible, as far as 2D gaming goes. The colors are vibrant and varied, and match the pastel palette of the Princess nicely. The sprites are all large and detailed, and the game manages to be the best looking of all the Mario platformers to date. You’ll not find any stunning effects, or incredibly rendered CGI here, but Princess Peach does a great job of reminding people that a game doesn’t need all that flash and false substance to be incredibly fun and engaging.
If you’ve been pining for the days of old 2D platforms, Super Princess Peach will go a long way towards filling that void. I definitely suggest giving the title a chance, and feel free to punch anyone that says you’re playing a game for girls. If there’s one thing video games have taught us, it’s that punching solves everything.
- Dustin Chadwell currently resides in Ohio, USA. He's been playing video games since the Atari 2600, and believes he can whoop anyone's ass in Joust, and Galaga. Probably not Halo 2 though. New technology tends to confuse him.