12. The power of emotions: Super Princess Peach

 

Super Princess Peach is one of the games from my absurd purchase that started this experiment. And unlike Shrek the Third, this was a game I have always been curious to try.

Princess Peach as a character hasn't had a great run in most of the video games she is in. For the most part her role is that of the damsel in distress, or occasionally a support character... who eventually becomes a damsel in distress. There have been a few games where she was one of a larger cast who were playable, but until this game, none where she had the starring role.

The reaction to this game when it came out was not at the level other 2D Mario platform games reached, and I must admit at the time I was not particularly interested. At 25, as a instant ramen eating postgraduate student, I had to be pretty choosey when it came to which games I bought, and so in 2005 I also missed out on Mario and Luigi Partners in Time, Starfox Assault, Trauma Centre and Animal Crossing Wild World. I didn't even have the chance to play Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects*.

A lot of great art was created for this game. Hey Nintendo, give us a 2D Mario game with this artstyle already!

Super Princess Peach is a relatively traditional Mario platformer, with a twist. Rather than powerups granting different abilities to Peach, she instead has four abilities that she can access by use of a meter that depletes while they are used. Unfortunately, it is these abilities that are the controversial component of this game.

Each of these abilities are tied to Peach's emotions. Rage makes her catch fire and stomp the ground, Gloom makes her burst into tears and run fast, Joy makes her float, and Calm makes her regain health. I don't think I need to explain why the first game featuring one of Nintendo's few female character centering entirely around her wildly changing emotions might be just a little on the nose, do I?

Peach is not the only character who changes with their emotions in this game, as the plot revolves around the "vibe sceptre", which is used by Bowser's minions to unleash emotions across Vibe Island, where Peach and her holidaying. This sceptre results in many of the citizens of the island and minions in Bowser's army being overcome with emotions. So, is this game actually subversive because Peach is the only character who can actually control her emotions, with the rest of the predominantly male cast being completely controlled by their emotions? No, that would be giving the writers far too much credit. But it makes for an interesting discussion!

The bottom screen always features Peach and is suprisingly well animated, changing up when different emotions are used

I found the level design to be rather odd in this game. The game itself looks fantastic, with vibrant colours somewhat reminiscent of Yoshi's island with the crayon aesthetic. However, the art assets used to make the levels seem somewhat limited, which results in the use of a lot of smaller blocks to make up parts of the level. This results in an initial confusion where in most other Mario games, these would be breakable, and if not initially, definately after a particular powerup is found. My guess is this could be due to a limited budget, either time or money (or both), resulting in less time to create as much unique assets that other Mario games would get.
The small square blocks here are not breakable

Other art assets are quite good though. Enemy sprites, while inspired by earlier Mario games, have a lot of character. This is further enhanced by different emotional states resulting in different versions. For instance, there are three version of Goomba: normal, sad and mad. Each of these looks and behaves differently. Sad Goombas run rather than walk, and Mad Goombas stomp the ground, stunning Peach if she is too near.
  
FACT: Goombas are the best enemy in Mario games

The levels themselves, at least in the first two areas, are quite simple, which implies that the games were designed with a younger audience in mind. Levels do have collectables hidden within them, which does add a little challenge as you look for secret areas and solve puzzles. However, while the regular levels are quite easy, the boss fights are a huge increase in difficulty. At the end of my hour, I had beaten the first, and was attempting the second, and unlike the levels, had required multiple tries to defeat each. Fortunately, this was the first game to forgo a life counter in the Super Mario series, which as of Mario Odyssey appears to be a permanent removal.

Controls within the game are pretty much on par with what should be expected given the pedigree, with only as few odd quirks. Peach slides slightly after landing from a jump, which can be difficult to account for. A change implemented here that I would prefer to see in the series is that there is NO RUN BUTTON. instead, she runs by default, and only walks slowly when you hold down a button. Given the vast majority of the time in 2D Mario platformers is spent running, it has always seemed odd that Mario does not run by default. In addition to a standard moveset, and the powers from the emotions, peach has a melee attack using her umbrella. In a welcome change, Peach can actually gain additional moves using her umbrella in exchange for coins found in the levels. While these don't allow access to new areas, they enhance combat with two more options: a stomp and a fireball. A hover is also available, but it does not function as you would expect based on how Peach's hover works in other games, instead it functions closer to Yoshi's flutter jump.


Overall, this is a cute game I'm glad I finally got to try. It could have done with a bit more budget to make the levels feel less cut and pasted, and the premise isn't exactly great in the context. But I think I will go back to it, and possibly even to completion.

Next up: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate!


*This is a joke. But "Imperfects" is probably the most hilariously absurd mid 00s EA video game name.

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