Who cares if it's girly...it's fun!

User Rating: 9.1 | Super Princess Peach DS
The DS has practically revived 2D side-scrollers. There are so many great ones on the system. Some of these titles include the likes of New Super Mario Bros., Sonic Rush, and Yoshi’s Island DS. Critics’ reviews and consumers’ pockets alike have praised all of these games. However, there’s one title I left off that list that deserves just as much, if not more, recognition: Super Princess Peach. Released in February of 2006, I personally think it was somewhat lost in the hype leading up to New Super Mario Bros. That said, the game did sell fairly well and critics didn’t give it bad scores, but Super Princess Peach still deserves more. It is an amazing game that is not to be missed.

However, that does not mean the game is without its problems, the biggest one being the story. Apparently, not too far away from the Mushroom Kingdom exists Vibe Island. Hidden on this island is the powerful Vibe Scepter. Bowser discovers it and uses his newfound power to kidnap Mario, Luigi, and some Toads. Thankfully, Peach is gone for a walk when the kidnapping happens. It is now up to her to save everyone. This, while not the best of videogame stories, does its job of tying the game together.

The weak aspect of the story has to do with Peach’s talking umbrella, Perry. There is a side story revolving her and one of her lost relatives. Sadly, this is told in black and white cut scenes that are very unappetizing to watch. Also, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in these cut scenes. All of this would be bearable, however, if the story was actually good. Sadly, though, it’s not, with the biggest problem being that it doesn’t really conclude at the end of the game. It just leaves you hanging and wondering what happens next.

Thankfully, this doesn’t ruin the game, as Super Princess Peach is still a blast to play. The basic goal of the game, like any platformer, is to make it to the right side of the screen. However, how SPP does this is unique. Thanks to Vibe Island, Peach has four different emotional powers at her disposal. These range from Gloom (crying streams of tears) to Calm (which restores Peach’s health). Each of these powers is implemented very well into the game’s eight worlds. They don’t feel gimmicky at all, and you’ll have to use them quite often.

However, you can’t us them all the time, as there is a Vibe Gauge that shows how much Vibe power you have left. When the Vibe Gauge runs out, you won’t be able to use your “emoti-powers” until you refill the gauge. Perry the umbrella is the main way you do this. She can scoop up enemies and then absorb them to fill up the Vibe Gauge.

Perry also has other powers. Some of these you’ll have at the start of the game, others you can purchase from a shop, and still others can be found throughout the game’s levels. Most of these abilities are quite fun, but there is one that feels quite gimmicky and tacked on. This power enables Perry to turn into a submarine and allows Peach to swim underwater. The gimmicky part of this is that to shoot your weapon – water bubbles – you’ll have to blow into the microphone. This feels very forced, like the developers felt like they just had to make use of the microphone somehow. However, you don’t use the submarine a ton, and it won’t make you not enjoy the game.

Coincidentally, this is how most of Super Princess Peach’s gameplay problems feel. They are unfavorable, but they don’t detract a whole lot from the overall experience. One of these problems is the game’s bosses. A lot of them are repeats from Super Mario Sunshine for Gamecube. Also, the way you beat these bosses is essentially the same as in SMS. While this isn’t a huge deal, it would’ve been nice if the development team had put in some more effort on making the bosses original.

One aspect of SPP that might turn off some players is its difficulty. While it does have its hard spots, you’ll be able to breeze through most of the game without any trouble. However, I still enjoyed the game very much, despite it not providing a huge challenge.

Even if you find SPP to be easy, it doesn’t matter, because you’ll still be playing the game for a long time. After you beat the main game, you can go back through the levels to find new collectibles. Also, there are twenty-four all-new levels that are jam-packed with goodies as well. These goodies actually have a purpose, too. For example, if you get all the puzzle pieces, you’ll be able to play eight different jigsaw puzzles. Also, there are three different minigames that you can collect new levels for. If that weren’t enough, there’s also music notes scattered throughout the levels that add a new tune to the Music Room, which is where you can listen to all of the songs you’ve discovered.

And you’ll want to listen to it, as Super Princess Peach’s soundtrack is expertly composed. The music is almost all, if not completely, original, and each different world has unique music. For example, in the cloud world the music is very cheerful and whimsical, where as in Bowser’s Villa the music is much more eerie-sounding. To accompany the wonderful tunes, SPP delivers excellent sound effects. Probably the aspect that stands out the most about the sound is the voice acting. OK, it‘s not really voice acting, more like voice snippets, but all of it is very well done. Like the music, you can listen to the voiceovers in the Music Room.

The audio isn’t the only aspect of SPP’s presentation that is done well. The graphics also excel. They have a hand-drawn look to them and, for the most part, are very clean and crisp looking. Also, everything, from Peach to the lowliest enemy (I’m looking at you, Goomba) is very detailed. You can even see Peach’s jewelry - that’s how detailed the graphics are. In addition to that, there’s also a lot of variety to the different worlds. Each has a distinct look to it, from the trees of Hoo’s Wood to the spooky corridors of Shriek Mansion.

Two small complaints about the presentation: Though the graphics and sound in Super Princess Peach are terrific, I do have one small complaint about each. To start with the audio, sometimes the instruments playing the music can get repetitive, like there’s not a ton of variety in the sound of the different songs. As for the visuals, every once in a while there will be some shading that doesn’t look quite right. One example is on the leaves of the plants in the environments. They just look like they could’ve been shaded a lot better. Anyways, both of these gripes are hardly worth noting, but I felt like I should mention them since this is a review, and not a glorifying ad for the game!

I just have one more thing to say. If you don’t want this game by now, then my review has not done its job. Super Princess Peach is an excellent game. While its story does suffer, the rest of the game makes up for it. SPP’s gameplay is unique, its music beautiful, and its graphics gorgeous. On top of all that, the game has quite a bit of lasting appeal in the form of items to collect, new levels to explore, and extras to delve into. All in all, Super Princess Peach provides a truly masterful experience that is not to be missed.