Super Princess Peach

Super Princess Peach is a platformer title for the Nintendo DS. In this game, the roles are reversed. Rather than Mario starring as the protagonist and Princess Peach the classic damsel-in-distress, it is Mario, Luigi, and the Toads who are the ones in need, as they are kidnapped and taken to Vibe Island by Bowser, who has stolen the Vibe Scepter, a magical item capable of influencing emotions. Princess Peach, with the help of a talking umbrella, Perry, and her own powers of emotion, must rescue them. This is the second adventure installment in the Mario franchise in which Peach appears as a stand-alone playable character, with the first being Princess Toadstool's Castle Run.

Story
While Princess Peach is on a stroll, Bowser and the Koopa Troop, with the Vibe Scepter take over her castle, capturing Mario, Luigi, and Toad. Upon Peach's return, she finds her castle guards in a variety of emotions ranging from sad, happy, or angry. Peach then decides to rescue Mario, Luigi, and Toad, who have rescued her on many occasions in the past. Before she leaves, Toadsworth gives her a magical, sapient umbrella named Perry, whom he recently bought from a merchant. Perry offers to help Princess Peach on her journey. The story of Perry before he was purchased by Toadsworth is revealed throughout multiple dream sequences. Regardless, as Peach travels throughout Vibe Island, Perry is shown to be a very useful ally in many situations.

Vibe Island locations
Vibe Island is the World Map for Super Princess Peach, consisting of eight locations (or worlds):
 * Ladida Plains: A normal grassland world, with generic enemies being common.
 * Hoo's Wood: A forest-themed world, with generic enemies being common.
 * Shriek Mansion: A Mansion-themed world, with ghost and sad enemies being common.
 * Fury Volcano: A volcano/lava world, with fire and angry enemies being common.
 * Wavy Beach: A beach-themed world, with generic enemies being common.
 * Gleam Glacier: A snow and ice world, with sad and angry enemies being common.
 * Giddy Sky: An aerial, cloudy, sky-themed world, with calm and glad enemies being common.
 * Bowser's Villa: Bowser's Castle, the final world, with all types of enemies.

Peach's Vibes
During the course of gameplay, the player is able to help Peach trigger one of four vibe abilities, provided she has an adequate amount of energy in the Vibe Gauge (located on the top left screen of the Nintendo DS, below her main health meter) to do so. In order to do this, there are four colored Heart Panels on the bottom screen, each representing a certain vibe. The player can touch them to allow Peach to proceed with the related action for each vibe ability.

The four vibes are as listed on the following chart: To refill the Vibe Gauge, Peach is able to collect blue gems that are scattered around each stage. Perry is also able to eat most basic enemies to achieve the same result by picking them up while they are upside down and stunned, then pressing "Down" on the Control Pad to swallow them.

Perry's Assistance
Perry can form into several different objects to aid Peach's travels as well, from a boat to a submarine, from a cable car to a laser weapon. More details about each strategy are listed below:
 * Bowlbrella
 * Floatbrella
 * Poundbrella
 * Chargebrella
 * Slidebrella
 * Subrella
 * Dashbrella

Bosses
Upon completion of the main five levels in each of the first seven worlds, Peach is able to proceed to the respective boss area. Each boss uses a vibe ability at some point during the battle; in most cases, this is after three out of five hits, and generally lasts the remainder of the battle. In order to face the final showdown at Bowser's Villa, however, all the Toads prior to this level have to be rescued. When this criteria is met, Peach and Perry are able to proceed toward the final showdown with Army Hammer Bro and Bowser.

Game Extras
During the course of gameplay, there are extra unlockable materials that players can obtain upon meeting certain criteria. These unlockables can be accessed by pressing to open up the menu when the player is on a map screen.

Glossary
Every time the player defeats an enemy (or, in the case of an invincible enemy, first visits its stage), the enemy's description will appear in a bestiary-like glossary. A few enemies are not included.

Minigame
Three minigames can be unlocked by playing through the course of the game: Toad Jump, Toad Tote, and Toad Shot. Initially, there is only one level that can played for each upon unlocking the minigame. Additional levels can be found hidden in stages or by purchasing them from the shop. Each minigame has ten levels. There is also one that is playable during the intro sequence, when Peach obtains Perry from Toadsworth. It can be replayed by holding and pressing.

Puzzle
Eight puzzles are assembled by collecting the puzzle pieces hidden throughout stages and by purchasing them from the shop. Only upon finding all the pieces to a puzzle can the player actually attempt to put it together.

Music Room
The Music Room for Super Princess Peach is where the player is able to listen to the game's musical score and some of Peach's voices. In order to unlock this extra, the player has to find or purchase at least one soundtrack. The tracks are shown to be played by the band to the left of the screen, called the Peach Hit Five. Initially, it only consists of Peach and Toadsworth, but once more soundtracks have been unlocked, three Toads will join. There is a total of 60 soundtracks in the game, five of which are Peach's voice overs.

Bonus
After each boss battle, Peach and Perry rest before continuing on to the next area in Vibe Island. During each rest period, Perry has a recurring dream that seems to reveal more and more about his past. Perry's story shows that he was originally a human boy, but was taken from his grandfather by a pair of evildoers who transform him into an umbrella, trapping him in that form. Luckily, he managed to escape from them and used his magic glow to attract a traveling merchant Toad who added him to his wares. Eventually, Toadsworth met Perry and bought him from the merchant, leading to the events of the main game. The story itself is completely separate from Peach's main tasks in her adventure. There are a total of seven sequences in all. At least one "Perry's Dream" sequence has to be viewed in the main game itself in order for this option to be available.

Additionally, if the player has purchased the Endless Vibe item, the player is given the option to turn it on or off here.

Reception
Super Princess Peach received mixed to positive views. The female protagonist was applauded, while the actual gameplay was met with more mixed reception.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. 2: One of Peach's primary ways of defeating enemies, by picking them up and throwing them at each other to defeat them, is reused from this game. Also, the Floatbrella move works like Peach's gliding did in this game.
 * Donkey Kong: The final boss fight against Bowser bears some resemblance to the final battle against Donkey Kong in the 1994 Game Boy game, including his becoming giant and also the protagonist using some weapons he knocks down against him to defeat him by throwing them to his face (Mario using barrels on Donkey Kong, and Princess Peach using Bob-ombs against Bowser, respectively). Similarly, both Bowser and Donkey Kong's transformations occurred due to contact with an item earlier (Donkey Kong due to landing on several Super Mushrooms, and Bowser using the Vibe Scepter in a last ditch effort to defeat Peach).
 * Super Mario World: Some of the enemies in this game reappear in Super Princess Peach. Most of the Brick Blocks resemble Rotating Blocks.
 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: Some of the enemies in this game return in Super Princess Peach. The lamps in Shriek Mansion 3-2 resemble the Spooky enemy from this game. Some of the Brick Blocks resemble Egg Blocks. Giant Kamek enlarges himself for his battle, similar to how Kamek did so for the bosses in this game. The Bowser battle has a second phase where the player must throw objects at his face, like with his younger self in this game. Perry eating enemies to recharge the Vibe Meter is similar to Yoshis eating enemies to gain eggs.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Toadsworth, Petey Piranha, and Gooper Blooper return in this game. Petey Piranha, Wiggler, and Gooper Blooper are defeated in similar ways to their respective battles from this game.

References in later games

 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Perry appears as a trophy.
 * Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games: In the Wii version of the game, one of the questions in the Heroines Quiz! asks whether Peach ever saved Mario and Toad, with Omochao later explaining that she did so with the help of a "magic parasol".
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Perry returns as a spirit.

Trivia

 * This and Paper Mario: The Origami King are the only two games where Peach's title is officially translated into its katakana form as「プリンセス」(Purinsesu) rather than the kanji form「」(hime). In this case, it is used in the game's title.
 * A promotional browser game was released in 2005 called Super Princess Peach -- Parasol Fall.