‘Princess Peach: Showtime!’ is the best ‘Barbie’ game I could ever hope for

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With the motto “You can be anything,” Barbie dolls became an intrinsic part of childhood for multiple generations. Now the Super Mario franchise is taking a page from Barbie’s playbook and giving Princess Peach her own dress-up adventure.

Princess Peach: Showtime! was released on March 22 as a rare solo adventure for the monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach has often been reduced to the damsel-in-distress role in the Super Mario franchise. Fortunately, as years went by, the Princess became one of the most powerful gals in gaming, with her own story to tell, as The Super Mario Bros. Movie proves. Nevertheless, Peach has often been obscured by the shadow of the mustachioed plumber when it comes to video games.

Peach has been a playable character in the Super Mario video games since 1988’s Super Mario Bros. 2. Since then, the Princess has shown up in every title of the Mario Sports, Mario Kart, and Mario Party games. She is also part of multiple platforming titles, and in 2005, she even got her first (and until now only) solo adventure in Super Princess Peach. Yet, even Super Princess Peach doesn’t do much to give the Princess a unique gaming identity, as the title is a platformer in which roles are inverted, and Peach must save Mario from Bowser. The game’s structure is the same as Super Mario Bros. titles, not something Peach can claim as her own.

This short history lesson helps to put into perspective how fresh Princess Peach: Showtime! feels. This is the first time in four decades that Peach has been granted the opportunity to star in a video game that doesn’t follow the rules of the overall Super Mario franchise. Instead, Princess Peach: Showtime! has its own villains, NPCs, and gameplay loop. More importantly, in giving Peach her own voice, Nintendo drew inspiration from another iconic brand, turning Princess Peach: Showtime! into the best Barbie game you could hope for.

How Princess Peach: Showtime! echoes Barbie’s dress-up game

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