Super Princess Peach/Gameplay

Princess Peach

Super Princess Peach is a fairly linear 2D platforming game. The titular lead Princess Peach is able to jump, slide, run, and crouch to navigate across platforms, ladders, and to solve puzzles. She has limited health while progressing, which lowers after being attacked by an enemy, falling into a pit, or hit by a stage hazard. There are pink heart collectibles that will restore health in either half-heart or full-heart increments. Peach also has a variety of other skills and tools available to complete her task.

Vibes

Princess Peach has the ability to control her Vibes, similar to the power granted by Bowser's Vibe Scepter. This intensifies her emotions, allowing for a variety of effects to take place. These Vibes aren't infinite, though. Peach has a "Vibe Gauge" next to her health bar that progressively drains when Vibes are being used. The Vibe Gauge can be refilled either by collecting blue Vibe Crystals, or absorbing a carried enemy. Using a Vibe will change the music, and Peach's image on the bottom screen.

Rage

Best to leave her alone

When using Rage, Princess Peach catches on fire. Flammable objects like lanterns, wood bridges, or snowmen will ignite into flame. Enemies will usually be instantly defeated upon coming into contact with the fire—including some that otherwise cannot be defeated. Peach can't jump very high or far, and falls with force onto the ground, stunning nearby enemies with an earthquake. Her movement is slowed significantly.

Gloom

When using Gloom, Princess Peach begins uncontrollably crying large streams of tears. These tears damage enemies, water plants, and can break down sand or fire. While running, Peach has increased speed and height.

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  A dehydrating experience

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  Faster than blue doughnut blocks falling

Joy

When using Joy, Princess Peach gains the ability to fly...as long as is being held. When held, more of the Vibe Gauge is used. When is released, Peach begins to descend but creates a tornado, knocking away enemies, gas, and clouds. There's no limit to height gained, only how much Vibe Gauge remains. This is an excellent recovery in case Peach falls into a pit by mistake, or to take shortcuts through levels.

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  Talk about being in high spirits

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  This power will blow you away

Calm

Take a chill pill

When using Calm, Princess Peach will slowly regain health. With enough Vibe Gauge, her entire health meter can be replenished. This is an excellent way to get out of tricky situations. If used near a pipe that infinitely spawns enemies, it can ensure a full replenishment of health, too.

Perry

Perry is Peach's main line of attack against enemies and bosses on the quest to defeat Bowser. A mysterious umbrella found by Toadsworth, Perry is packed full of tricks and transformations to help Peach along.

Simple techniques

Perry's main attack is swiping at a foe by pressing . This attack will defeat a majority of enemies—those immune will have Peach bounce off of them with a little bit of a stun effect. The other primary function of Perry is to pick up enemies or objects with . They can then be thrown with , tossed lightly with , or if it is an enemy, absorbed to restore the Vibe Gauge with .

Upgrades

A large variety of upgrades for Perry are available in the Shop, in various levels, or by completing the main story. Most of these increase movement or attacking capabilities.

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  Floatbrella, purchased in the shop

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  Poundbrella, purchased in the shop

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  Chargebrella, purchased in the shop

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  Slidebrella, found in 3-1

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  Subrella, found in 5-2

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  Earned for beating Bowser for the first time

Floatbrella

Serves as a form of hover jump: Perry will attempt to float in the air for a few seconds, allowing Peach significantly more horizontal movement. Once Perry stops floating, Peach will fall down and this ability can't be used again until Peach reaches the ground.

Poundbrella

Operates similarly to a ground pound in other Mario titles: Peach speeds downward, plowing through blocks and enemies below. Any other enemies on screen will be stunned, and some objects will move positions slightly. Once activated, this move can't be cancelled, so aim carefully!

Chargebrella

Charge an attack by holding , then release to send a shockwave projectile in a forward direction. It spans the whole screen, and defeats most enemies that are defeated with a normal Perry attack. This can only be charged on the ground, but Peach is able to jump upwards and release the attack.

Slidebrella

It's impossible to avoid collecting this power-up, but it allows Princess Peach access to using slide rails for autoscrolling sections. Perry slides along rails, with the ability to jump in an arc to other ropes.

Subrella

Perry turns into a submarine, and can fire bubbles at nearby enemies to defeat them. The use of the microphone is required to activate bubbles. Up to five bubbles can be on screen at once. Peach's horizontal speed is significantly faster than vertical, so be prepared when handling enemies.

Dashbrella

Unlocked after defeating Bowser, this power allows Peach to attack repeatedly while running, with no delay. This primarily to take out strings of enemies or otherwise act less precisely when handling enemies.

Objectives and Level Completion

Super Princess Peach features a wide variety of exploration, collectibles, and objectives to reach while playing. Strictly speaking, the only necessary components in order to complete the game is to beat every level by reaching the goal, and collect every Toad hidden in each stage. Peach will never reach Bowser by not completing stages, and the final level does not unlock unless all 86 Toads are saved prior.

This is far from the extent of what the game has to offer. Hidden in most stages are Puzzle Pieces, which unlock a puzzle solving minigame under the Puzzle menu. There are eight puzzles, three of which can be completed before beating Bowser, and five which require exploration within the postgame. In other stages, Music Scores can be found. These purple cubes feature music tracks heard throughout the game, which are performed by the band The Peach Hit Five within the Music Room.

After defeating Bowser, all Toad locations add new Puzzle Pieces and Music Scores to be collected, by replaying stages a second time.

In addition to these collectibles, various Mini-games can be played, after first unlocking them throughout stages. Additional levels can be purchased in the shop or by completing the bonus levels unlocked by beating Bowser. After completing each world the first time, a new memory cutscene from Perry unlocks under the Bonus menu.

Finally, the Glossary keeps track of every enemy encountered throughout Peach's quest. As each enemy is defeated, they are added to this booklet. For enemies that cannot be defeated, they are simply added when encountered.

Completion of a level will unlock the next level, until reaching the sixth stage. This stage features a mini-game, generally requiring use of the touch screen to pass. Once complete, the boss of the world can be fought. This unlocks the next world. After defeating Bowser, all worlds gain three new stages to complete, after defeating the world boss a second time prior.