Do you smell that? That smell of flowers and anticipation? That, my friend, is the smell of the first Nintendo game to feature Princess Peach as the main character in nearly twenty years.
Seriously. Super Princess Peach, a 2003 game for the Nintendo DS, was the last and only game in which Peach is the main character. As wild as that is (I mean, there are three Luigi’s Mansions), Nintendo is thankfully working to strengthen those numbers. The June 2023 Nintendo Direct announced that a new Peach-centric game is coming next year. In the immortal words of Lizzo, it’s about damn time.
We didn’t even get a name for it, and we saw about 30 seconds of gameplay. But that’s all I need to know right now. I am goddamn delighted. Arguably the best thing about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is that Peach was a total badass. You can’t give us a badass movie version of Peach and not follow that up with a Peach-protagonist game.
It looks like there is combat—Peach kind of flicks a ribbon at an enemy—but it’s very light and, dare I say it, dainty. But you know what? Dainty is good. Dainty is “in.” How many good video games are there that you can describe as “dainty?” It’s the year of the Barbie movie, after all. The Peach game looks very pink and seems like it will incorporate some kind of magical girl-style costume change. It’s unapologetically girly, and dammit, we deserve this.
Super Princess Peach, by the way, is very much a take on the classic Super Mario Bros. 2D sidescrollers. Except all the mechanics are centered around Peach. One of the game’s central mechanics is Peach’s “vibes,” where she gains extra powers for being happy, sad, angry, or calm. Peach is truly just like me.
The new Peach game looks to be more in the style of Super Mario 3D World. But then again, we know so little about it that it’s hard to say. For now, I’m merely happy to know it’s coming our way next year. God knows this would-be-E3 season just keeps piling on games for me to play this year, while I’m still enraptured in Tears of the Kingdom. A brand new 2D Mario mere weeks out from Spider-Man 2? Help.
So I’ll see you soon, Peach. You and your cute little flower friend. Who has a little bowtie? And ribbon hands?! What more could I possibly want?
(Featured image: Nintendo)
