For this week’s retro review, I dug out a game from my collection purchased a whole year ago. Not exactly retro, but this game was very much overlooked and understandably so.
“Super Princess Peach” for the Nintendo DS appears on the outside as a cutsie platformer that’s simply milking the Mario franchise for all its worth (and it is).
However, underneath the surface, there are some aspects of this game that save it from being a complete disaster and actually make it quite enjoyable at times.
“Super Princess Peach” startsout practically opposite of how every other Mario game begins: Mario, Luigi and the Toads have been kidnapped by Bowser. It’s up to Peach to save them all.
So, it’s off to Vibe Island where the Princess must find her comrades hidden in each level.
Aiding the Princess on her journey is a magical umbrella aptly named Perry.
Peach is also prone to mood swings, which are beneficial to the player.
She can switch from being joyous, enraged, calm and gloomy, each applying a different effect. Joy allows Peach to fly, while Rage burns down ice. Gloom allows Peach to extinguish fires with her tears, and Calm restores her health.
The “Vibe Powers” (Peach’s emotions) are an interesting addition to the game and add some new flavor to the platforming genre. The player simply taps one of the corners of the bottom screen to switch to an emotion.
Flying around can be very handy, and using Rage basically makes Peach invincible, so it’s not like the powers are useless fluff added to the game.
I, personally, enjoyed the quirkiness of them and the humor as well.
Furthermore, you can upgrade Peach’s powers by purchasing items at the shop. This adds a bit more depth to the game, allowing you to customize Peach as you see fit, which is never a bad thing.
The boss stages also make good use of the touch screen function of the DS.
Most of the time you’ll have the protect Peach by breaking up obstacles that are flying around the bottom screen, while she floats down with Perry from the top screen. This was an interesting idea, and it can be quite fun as well.
However, this game is extremely short. You could easily plow through the entire story mode in a lazy weekend. And with other great platformers on the DS these days (like “New Super Mario Bros.”), this game is pretty mediocre.
There’s a bit of replay value, hunting for puzzle pieces and extras scattered about the levels and playing minigames.
But with no online play and no multiplayer mode, there’s really no reason to pick this game up once you’ve gotten everything, at least for a few months.
So, yeah, it’s a cutsie rip-off of “Super Mario Bros.” But if you’re dying for a platformer to play on the DS and you’ve already mowed through “New Super Mario Bros.”, “Super Princess Peach” is worth coughing up the money for a used edition in a bargain bin or a deal on eBay.
And hey, I made it through the whole game review without one joke about women and mood swings!
The bottom line: “Super Princess Peach” for the DS: 6/10.