"Girlie Game… Slightly…"

So my sister bought Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS console, of course I wasn't expecting much from the game but played it anyway. And I was rather surprised… It was fun!

The story goes like this: There's appearently a “Vibe Scepter” that can change the emotions of people… So Bowser obviously wants this rod so he sends his minions to grab it and also imprison Mario, Luigi, and various Toads so they don't get in the way. When Peach returns from her walk she realises that the castle is in complete chaos. The toads that are left have been affected by the Vibe Scepter's powers and are running like maniacs. So Peach decides to save the day, but Toadsworth, her loyal servant or something is hesitant, and if she must go she must take Parry the Umbrella with her for aid. So she sets on her journey to save all the Toads, Luigi, and Mario.

The game works a bit different than most Mario games, Peach can Jump on enemies with A, Attacks with B or Y, and picks up with X. She also has a “Vibe Gauge” which depletes while any vibe is on, and can be refilled by swallowing enemies. About vibes: Peach can somehow control her emotions despite not owning the Vibe Scepter. Joy can fly and whirl away certain things, Rage burns things and makes your jumps heavy, Gloom creates water and makes you run faster, and Calm slowly heals HP.

The game starts of terribly easy, everything is laid out for you and it isn't necessarily hard to find the hidden Toads. It's usually “Use this vibe which opens this, go there, maybe some challenge in between, open box and get Toad”. Another annoyance is the fact that they went too easy with the Vibe Gauge, Enemies reappear so by simply going to any place with enemies again and again you can refill your Gauge completely, making things worse is the “Natural Power” drink which by simply standing still for a long time, refills your gauge. To make things worsen more whenever you have to use a vibe for something optional they usually provide crystals which will also fully refill your gauge making there no reason to preserve it.

As things get further you drop the training wheels and where a Toad is, is less obvious, and there are less of those annoying help boxes. It's now slightly possible to lose on the level and while it is slightly harder, It's still too easy.

By the time you reach World 8-1 you'll be ready to finish the game, but surprise! by the time you reach the final boss it claims that it is imperative that you collect all the Toads and was not a little side-quest and you must backtrack all of those levels that you didn't star already until you find every Toad. Once you do your treated to the end and the credits roll, and a little star appears near your save file.

You then get a new quest, it involves completing ALL of the levels and collecting music and puzzle pieces, it's completely optional but you'll feel like you have to anyways to truly say you completed the game. When you get everything there's little reward. No Perry Story Conclusion… nothing. Except the Endless Vibe, but by then you've 100% completed everything in the game so all you get to do is run across the levels using vibe more often.

There's also other things you can do, you can collect coins and buy stuff… but I ended up with 14,000 or so coins going unspent due to buying everything. There's a Glossary you can also complete which would pave way for another usage for the Endless Vibe ability. The Mini-Game room which doesn't keep score at all. Fun little puzzles, and the ability to watch all those dreams (I don't know why you would any one of them except 7.). If I recall there was another menu item but I don't recall it well currently.

But it's a fun time-waster, it gave me something to do in the meantime but after beating it two-four times (you have to.) It's simply just that game with the puzzles.

I recommend a buy, it's completely fun and while the main character is a princess which may turn off male gamers, I still recommend it and if you look past it you'll see a cute little time-waster Mario game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/06