Nintendo announced an untitled game centering Super Mario’s Princess Peach at its Direct showcase on June 21. It’s been nearly two decades since we last saw the smiley pink princess as a true protagonist; the last time she got her own game was 2005 platformer Super Princess Peach.
“That’s right,” the Nintendo developers say through a translator, “Princess Peach will star as the main character in a brand new game.”
The mystery game was mentioned alongside Nintendo’s Super Mario RPG remake announcement — that much desired Super Nintendo re-do will come out on November 17, and Nintendo is also currently working on a remaster of eerie 2013 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon.
Everything we know about Nintendo’s new Princess Peach game
Back to Peach, though. Nintendo was coy about details, but from the bubbly, bubblegum-coloured trailer, I’m already feeling very excited about it.
In the very brief trailer, we see Peach blossom onto a stage and then run through its set — complete with facsimile castles and knee-high enemies — to sparkle her way to victory. A seven-point star (with ribbon arms!) trails behind her, and she harnesses its power to eliminate enemies blocking her way and complete set pieces, like a bare cherry tree in need of more frothy flowers.
Something interesting happens when she “steps on this particular spot on stage,” the developers said. A cutscene seems to trigger, and Peach’s star whirls around her until her dress turns Cinderella blue, and then supernova white.
“What on Earth is happening?!” the developers say. I don’t know, Nintendo, you tell me.
The project does not yet have a release date, but since Nintendo’s Direct focused on 2023 games, I’m guessing that it’ll be in our hands soon.
Earlier this year, Peach was one of the highlights of The Super Mario Bros. Movie — well, as much as she could have been in a movie Kotaku managing editor Carolyn Petit described in a review as a “corporate brand-building exercise.”
“Princess Peach here is cool and competent and not relegated to being the damsel in distress that she has been in so many Mario games,” Petit continues, “but she’s still a shallow archetype.”
As the first Peach game in a long time, this untitled game is a huge opportunity for Nintendo to correct its habit of falling into tropes. I’ve always loved Peach’s prettiness and dresses, but I’m sure she’s capable of more than that, too.
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