Super Princess Peach is one of those titles that I never would have expected to happen until I saw some screenshots that brought it into reality. After that, the thought of a Super Mario Bros. style platformer starring Princess Peach got me kind of excited! After all, we haven’t seen a new Mario based platformer since Yoshi's Island was released on the Super Nintendo. This type of game is the bread and butter of gaming that I was raised on. Mario leaves some pretty big shoes to fill. Is Peach up to the task?

Facts and Features:

• Peach is ready for a brand new adventure!
  
• Use different vibes to interact with the environment around you!
  
• Nintendo's first original platformer since Yoshi's Island!
  

Feel The Vibe?
The setup behind Super Princess Peach is that Bowser and his cronies have infiltrated Vibe Island, where emotions run wild, and discovered the very powerful Vibe Scepter. With this weapon he is able to lay siege to the Mushroom Kingdom and captures Mario, Luigi and a multitude of Toads. How exactly this happens they leave completely to the imagination. It all takes place in a quick opening movie when you start a new game. It must be some scepter if it can bring down Mario just like that. Fortunately for Peach's sake she was out for a walk when all this went down. Not one to just sit on her duff and cry about it, Peach grabs her magic umbrella Perry and heads off to Vibe Island to rescue Mario, Luigi and the entire Toad population.


Don't worry, Perry is here for you!

In perfect Mario tradition, Vibe Island is made up of eight different worlds each with it's own theme. Fire, water, and haunted mansion-you all know the drill. It seems that Bowser has decided to move all his assets to this Vibe Island. If I was able to finally take down Mario because of it I think I would too! An awesome collection of enemies from the entire Mario collection is strewn about Vibe Island. Even ones that were exclusive to one title or another are found here; back to cause more ruckuses. I kept finding myself thinking "Wow, I haven't seen that guy in so long!" It brought back a great feeling of nostalgia that reminded me of when I was in elementary school.

Peach's umbrella Perry is no ordinary parasol either. There is quite a back-story for Perry that is unlocked and explained as you progress through the game. The fact that this umbrella can talk ought to tip you off that something is up. You start out the game just being able to wallop enemies with Perry, and as you collect coins you can buy him new moves like a ground pound or a charge-up magic blast. Also he comes in handy as a basket to sit in and slide down ropes, or the coolest trick ever, turning into a submarine!

Princess Peach is not wholly unaffected by the effects of Vibe Island herself. Her emotions have some pretty major side effects. She can burn with the fires of anger, fly with joy, spew fountains of water with sadness, and recover health with glee. I am sure this has only to do with her being on Vibe Island, and absolutely nothing to do with being an over-emotional woman. All of these powers are easily switched on simply by touching the corresponding emotion on the touch screen, and switched off by touching the screen again. Peach has a vibe meter that runs down whenever you have one of the emotions activated. You can recharge the vibe meter by collection powerups or by picking up enemies with Perry and having him eat them. Yeah...there is definitely something going on with this umbrella.