YMMV / Princess Peach: Showtime!

• Accidental Innuendo: During the first Swordfighter level, one of the characters in the German translation says "Wer kommt und ficht für uns?"^note "Who will come and fence for us?" But one could easily be forgiven for reading the line as "Wer kommt und fickt für uns?"^note "Who will come and fuck for us?"
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Figure-Skater Darkla became popular with fans for his attractive design as well as being one of the more comedic and friendly antagonists, including his defeats where he's moved by Peach's beauty before exploding.
• Fandom-Specific Plot:
  • Fanart of Mario getting flustered over Swordfighter Peach became very popular following the reveal of the outfit, often with them trading their usual roles so that she is his hero and he is her "princess" and/or "damsel". In the same vein, there's fanart of Mario being lassoed by Cowgirl Peach.
  • Given that neither Mario nor Bowser are ever mentioned in the game, fans like to speculate what the two of them (and Luigi) were doing while Peach was at the Sparkle Theater.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Prior to the title reveal, people liked to call it Super Princess Peach 2, in honor of the original DS game starring her. It was also occasionally referred to as Untitled Peach Game.
  • Once it was revealed that Peach would be receiving costumes with abilities, and the Wicked Witch Grape's appearance with a prominent golden mask over her eyes, numerous jokes came about that this was Nintendo's version of Balan Wonderworld. Others who are in the know have compared it to Wario: Master of Disguise, as well.
  • Borrowing from The Super Mario Bros. Movie where Peach with the Ice Flower power-up gave her a blue dress, the initial teaser where Peach's dress started glowing blue had her named "Elsa". The Elsa jokes continued when the 2/14/24 trailer showed Figure Skater Peach. Other people jokingly called her a Super Saiyan when the trailer showed Peach's hair glowing since Peach's blond hair matches the color change for those going Super Saiyan.
  • And speaking of Super Saiyan, fans immediately labeled Radiant Peach and Super Radiant Peach as "Super Saiyan" mode. It's even powered by the Theets giving her hope to save the day, akin to Goku's Spirit Bomb.
  • Princess Knight Peach: A number of fans have noted that Peach's sword outfit bears quite the resemblance to the manga Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka. Other nicknames for Swordfighter Peach includes "Musketeer Peach", Peach in Boots, Revolutionary Girl Princess Peach and Cap'n Peach.
  • Detective Peach has been given the name of Sherlock Peach.
  • Patissiere Peach has been called "Chef Peach" due to looking like, well, a chef. And possibly due to being reminiscent of the Chef game in the Game & Watch Gallery series, which starred Peach as the titular chef in the "Modern" versions.
  • The game has been nicknamed Princess Peach Odyssey due to her gaining abilities from a hair accessory (Cappy for Mario and Stella's ribbon for Peach) which grants access to different forms. Bonus points in that Odyssey gave her a variety of outfits post-game, and fans joked that it was due to this factor that inspired Peach's costumes.
  • Dashing Thief Peach quickly got dubbed Phantom Thief Peach due to her resemblance to Ren/Joker (even having a grappling hook) and Haru/Noir's Phantom Thief outfits while being introduced hacking like Futaba/Oracle.
  • Mighty Peach has been called Big Hero Peach since her outfit looks like Baymax's, even colored red like his. The look has also frequently been compared to Wonder-Red's superhero outfit.
  • In conjunction with this game, Peach's role in the The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Peach being a fully playable character in both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and the 2023 remake of Super Mario RPG, several fans (among them IGN and Brie Larson in this interview) have declared 2023-2024 the unofficial "Year of Peach" in line with The Year of Luigi earlier, though unlike the Year of Luigi, this wave of Peach starring roles falls short of the 40th anniversary of her debut in Super Mario Bros..
• Fanon Discontinuity: Many fans prefer to use the original box art^note and corresponding artwork to represent the game than the newer one, feeling that its a much better representation of the game and its atmosphere^note Besides Kung Fu Peach's newer artwork, which was praised, and view the newer one as a unneeded attempt at making Peach look like a Xenafied badass, especially when she behaves like her normal sweet self in-game, and still manages to be that.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Barbie (2023) fans joined up with fans of Princess Peach Showtime. This is due to the many similarities of Barbie and Peach: peppy, pink-wearing, Girly Girl blondes with Barbie having a history of taking on different careers, and Peach gaining Power-Ups that let her take a variety of roles. It also helps that the film and the first teaser trailer for this game were both released during the summer of 2023.
  • Fans of The Little Mermaid swiftly joined the fray after the Mermaid Peach form was revealed. The fact that Peach has always been compared to Disney Princesses doesn’t hurt.
  • As soon as Dashing Thief Peach was revealed, fans of Persona 5 wasted no time joining in as well, due to her design resembling Joker and Haru of the Phantom Thieves and her introduction involving hacking like Futaba.
• Funny Moments:
  • Apparently, the Theets never realized their savior was the Princess Peach. It takes until the fourth floor for it to suddenly click.
  • Towards the climax of the Detective play's second act, a Sour Bunch crook bars the way further up the clock tower where a bomb has been planted. There's a tense stand-off as he readies to charge... and then the officer Theets rush past Peach and the Junior Detective to detain the crook by his third step forward, complete with a Big Ball of Violence.
    Police Chief: Arrest him!
  • During the second act of the Mighty play, the alien mothership expands and sprouts mechanical fists when making its final stand. The professor and recently rescued scientist Theets empower Peach to be giant and engage in a Behemoth Battle! …Except, since this is a stage play, this is represented by the building sets and backgrounds sliding away to be replaced with smaller standees.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: Much like Super before it, Princess Peach Showtime! isn't a difficult game to beat. Enemies rarely pose a threat, the game overs are extremely forgiving, and not even the bosses put up that much of a challenge (outside of the No-Miss and No-Hit challenges from the post-game). Most of the game's challenge comes from finding all the Sparkle Gems, some of which are cleverly hidden or require perfect play, and the rehearsal modes which definitely have plenty of challenge. Some players, however, do not mind the simpler nature, as it's accessible enough for children to play — while perhaps having parents do the harder puzzles.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Numerous fans are getting the game both because this is the first game starring Princess Peach in almost two decades, and also for the numerous outfits she will be wearing (especially Swordfighter).
• LGBT Fanbase: The second Swordfighter Peach, Kung Fu Peach, and Cowgirl Peach appeared in the trailers, sapphics were squeeing over the designs, which are heavily inspired off the aesthetics of the Takarazuka Revue. Others gushed over the game taking place in a theater due to the presentation of the level designs.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • She's everything. He's just Mario.^ExplanationA description for Barbie in her movie, used to emphasize Peach's new roles in the game. It also connects to a line for Peach's posters for The Super Mario Bros. Movie that goes "She can do anything!"
  • Detective Peach Watson^ExplanationOne of the costumes that Peach can wear is a detective outfit. A blonde detective with blue eyes naturally drew comparisons to one Amelia Watson of hololive.
  • "Balan Wonderworld but good."^ExplanationFollowing the direct trailer, many people have compared this to Square Enix's Balan Wonderworld due to the theater aesthetic and costume changing mechanic, but put trust in Nintendo that the game would turn out better than Wonderworld did.
  • Peach is Kirby^ExplanationFans note that Peach's transformations (Swordfighter, Patissiere, Kung Fu, Cowgirl, Figure Skater, Ninja) are similar to Kirby's abilities (Sword, Cook, Fighter, Whip, Ice Cutter and... Ninja). Helps that the two are adorable, pink characters with blue eyes. Stella's design wouldn't look out of place in the Kirby world. The jokes only increased after the box art was redesigned to give the front Peach a more determined look and martial arts Peach a more serious and angry expression, which quickly brought comparisons to the trend of giving Kirby angry eyebrows in the West during the 2000s and early 2010s. This case is different however, as the change was to all versions of the box art, not just in the West. To cement the similarities, the developers of the game are Good-Feel, who developed Kirby's Epic Yarn, in which Kirby also uses yarn similarly to how Peach uses ribbons.
  • Peach is Black Mask^{Explanation — Spoilers for Persona 5}Upon the reveal that Peach can not only be a Great Detective as Detective Peach, but also a Phantom Thief as Dashing Thief Peach, fans put two and two together and began drawing parallels to the traitor Black Mask from Persona 5, Detective Prince Goro Akechi, who similarly serves dual roles as a Phantom Thief of Hearts and an ace detective.
  • Princess Peach will star as the main character in a brand new game (temp.)^ExplanationRather than simply list it as Untitled Princess Peach game or something similar, when listing upcoming titles in an earnings release, Nintendo instead gave Princess Peach: Showtime! an overly long temporary title that was just the game's verbatim description from the June 2023 Nintendo Direct. Many people jokingly wanted this title to be the final one and even made fanmade logos for it.
  • MatPat was right?!^{Explanation (SPOILERS)}The final boss battle has Peach transform into Radiant Peach and then Super Radiant Peach, giving her longer hair and a bright blue dress similar to Rosalina, which many fans of Game Theory recall the video of Peach supposedly being Rosalina's ancestor.
• Moe:
  • Princess Peach was already adorable, but her new transformations make her even cuter.
  • Stella continues the trend of adorable companions, looking like a cheery sunflower.
  • The ten Sparkla Theets come off as this, looking like little kids playing dress up even if their skills are the real deal.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Mermaid Peach's singing.
• Nightmare Fuel: While the game is mostly Sweet Dreams Fuel, it does have its moments.
  • While the bosses aren't that hard to beat, they do come off as quite creepy, especially Purrjector Cat.
  • Grape herself comes off as this, as a sorceress who wants to take over a theater for no reason other than wanting to turn the stories into tragedies. During the finale, after Peach seemingly defeats her, she grows to a gargantuan size and obliterates the entire theater, the one you'd been working so hard to save this whole time, with Stella saying she will destroy the whole island if left unchecked. Her final form is also quite terrifying, especially as her mask slowly begins to crack as she takes damage.
  • The first Mermaid act is a colorful, vibrant fantasy world reminiscent of Atlantica in The Little Mermaid. The second act, on the other hand, takes an unexpectedly dark turn as you hunt down a scary-looking Ghost Ship resembling a gigantic, monstrous shark while swimming through dark and unwelcoming waters. The third act is arguably even more bleak, as massive whirlpools of dark energy are threatening to destroy the entire underwater utopia if you don't put a stop to them.
  • The basement levels as a whole are this. They take place in unsettling eldritch locations that just get progressively weirder as you play through the stages.
• Older Than They Think: Fans were shocked at the Transformation Trailer that showed Cowgirl Peach on horseback. But it turns out Peach has ridden a horse before, in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Players quickly noticed that Showtime is noticeably more difficult when going for 100% Completion for one special reason: You cannot backtrack through stages. Did you miss a Sparkle Gem, or make a mistake during a setpiece? You have to do the entire level over again. Players have cited just how deflating it is to go through the level and the indicator pops up telling them they missed a gem, which means they have to re-do the level just before finishing it. And heaven help you if the level has been particularly lengthy with a few setpieces, as the Sparkle transformation cutscenes are (generally) the only things that can be skipped, and you only get one chance to get a Sparkle when doing a level.
• Signature Scene: The debut of Swordfighter Peach from the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, as it reveals the gameplay and how Peach will be getting many outfits.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • The game can be seen as the right way to make Balan Wonderworld as they both are about the main character getting all kinds of different power ups that change the game play in a stage show environment.
  • Plot wise it is very similar to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! out of any Mario game. Because it has a strong emphasis on Genre Roulette. This includes but not limited to. The Cowgirl Peach level is like the episode Butch Mario & The Luigi Kid as they are both western plots about a bunch of bandits terrorizing a small western town.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: The entire game, if you remove Grape's end game, is essentially Princess Peach traversing numerous plays to help the friendly Theets while getting to wear fancy costumes in wonderful setpieces.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • A month after the game was announced, the game's official box art and its corresponding artwork were given a small but impactful overhaul, most notably in remodeling the face of Peach's center render — her expression was changed from a cute, excited one to a more determined one and had altered facial features, changes which many compared to her design in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This kicked up a large amount of discourse online, with some fans fearing it as the first sign that the controversial changes made to her film counterpart would begin to appear in her game counterpart, arguing that it was Out of Character and a sign of unwanted Xenafication, while some also disliked her resembling her movie design due to it looking more Disneyesque, and others simply thought it looked weird. The other change — Martial Artist Peach's face — however, was generally seen as an improvement, as while it also changes Peach's expression from neutral to doing a Kiai, it complements the action pose she's in and gives her a more serious expression while remaining true to her original game design. Ultimately, these fears largely died down after the transformations reveal trailer and the release of the demo of the final game, which reveal a design and personality much closer to the original is still used in-game.
  • Criticisms have emerged ever since fans noticed Peach's voice having a deeper tone than in past appearances, with some seeing it as yet another sign of unwanted changes to her personality, although not as much as previously feared.
• That One Achievement: One of the Sparkle Gems for Grape's boss fight requires you to complete the entire first phase without defeating any of her underlings. They can each take a few hits, but not only are there a ton of them, they also move around and change positions constantly. On top of that, Grape has quite a lot of health, so you're going to be there for a while.
• That One Level:
  • Rehearsal levels tend to trend to the difficult, due to their One-Hit Kill nature demanding careful use of mechanics and minimal margin for error.
    • The Dashing Thief rehearsal requires precision flying to collect enough gems for all the Sparkle gems, which is made harder by the awkward hitbox, wind, and not being able to get hit at all.
    • For the Mighty Rehearsal top score, you have to rescue 60 Theets from being captured by aliens. The aliens in question either run around the stage capturing them (which runs the risk of one slamming into you and ending your run), or come in UFOs that grab Theets and fly away with very little time for you to react. Not to mention there's very little margin for error - aliens kidnap three Theets at a time, so you can maybe afford for one or two of them to get away, and the final wave comes with several UFOs at once, making it nearly impossible to stop them all unless you're good at throwing things.
  • Pattissiere-2 has you baking cookies to hordes of zombified Theets with ravenous appetites. Not only is it a Timed Mission like in the first act, but if you're not fast enough the zombies will chew through the barricade that's holding them back, instantly forcing you to start over. Getting through the segment isn't too hard, but it becomes downright hair pulling if you're going for all of the Sparkle Gems. Not only do you have to fill up the gauge, but you must also feed every horde before the time runs out. With only sixty seconds to work with, this requires extremely optimized efficiency and leaves practically no room for error. And if you fail? Have fun redoing the whole level just so you can try again!
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The changes made to the original box art were criticized by a fair share of fans.
  • Similarly, a number of fans took a dislike to the deeper voice Samantha Kelly uses for Peach, with many fearing that Nintendo is trying to discard the voice fans have been familiar with for decades to make her sound more like Anya Taylor-Joy's performance in the movie. The final game reveals that the deeper voice is mostly for Peach's more action-oriented forms such as her Swordfighter form with her base form and a few others such as Patissiere Peach sounding more similar to her regular voice. Given that Peach is playing a different character in each of the plays, it makes sense that she change her voice to suit the role.

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