Nintendo is set to make a bit of history with Princess Peach: Showtime! on March 22. The upcoming Switch release gives gaming’s most iconic female character her own solo adventure for the first time since 2005’s critically dissected Super Princess Peach. It’s a dream moment for players who’ve spent the last two decades wishing Peach would get another shot as a leading lady.
As it turns out, that crowd includes a superfan: Brie Larson.
The Academy Award-winning actress made an appearance at the first hands-on preview event for Princess Peach: Showtime! last week, where Digital Trends chatted with her about the game. It wasn’t a random cameo. Larson is a vocal Nintendo enthusiast who has shown up in Switch ads and done interviews about the company’s games. She’s almost become an unofficial ambassador, and that’s due to her long history with Nintendo and its games.
“They were just everything,” Larson tells Digital Trends. “I don’t think there was a time in my life where I didn’t have a Nintendo console. It was the thing that always bonded me and my sister. So many different consoles, so many different games. And that’s been a real thing that’s never left me and I continue to return to.” 
Larson’s Nintendo history runs deep. When asked about her favorite games, she points to classics like Duck Hunt, the original Super Mario Bros., and The Little Mermaid. Later in our conversation, she spoke to her love of Metroid and offered a strong defense of the polarizing Super Mario Sunshine: “For some people, cleaning up your city and your community is what you want to do in a video game!”
But her focus is on Princess Peach: Showtime! when I chat with her. That’s because it’s a game Larson’s been wanting to see her entire life. In a 2021 interview with (Not Quite) Susie Homemaker, Larson prophetically said “I’m sitting here going ‘When’s Peach getting a stand-alone game?’” So it comes as no surprise that she was excited to try out a few levels of Peach’s new game.
“I love the game and I’m excited to play more of it,” Larson says. “To see Peach shining in this way and all these different facets … it’s like the games that I’ve known, but it has this transformation twist in it that’s just hers. I love that! … I really want to talk to [my sister] about this because this is stuff we’ve talked about and dreamed about our whole life.
“It’s the Peach Era. We’ve been waiting for this!”
Peach was always the place to get to, and now you get to be the place that you wanted to get to.
Larson’s feelings will likely feel familiar to anyone who has wanted to see the heroine step out of Mario’s shadow again. Princess Peach: Showtime! delivers on that dream with a transformative gameplay hook where Peach jumps into various plays and takes on a variety of jobs. Nintendo’s first demo showed off a handful of powers, from her swordfighter to figure skating forms (Ninja Peach is Larson’s favorite so far). It’s almost as if Nintendo is making up for lost time, proving that Peach can do anything other game heroes can. Larson sees empowerment in that concept.
“I just loved Nintendo, and loved games, and I loved being in these fantasy worlds. They always helped me dream. It was like this fantasy that brought me closer to reality,” Larson says when we talk about the importance of gaming. “[Peach] was always the place to get to, and now you get to be the place that you wanted to get to. That is, for me, a lifetime of fulfillment.”
We still have another month to go until fans can have that full experience. Thankfully, Larson has her hands full until then with another game. Before our time was up, I asked her about last year’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. She’s previously cited The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as her favorite Nintendo game of all time, but Tears of the Kingdom might now be the reigning champ.
“I think it’s now my favorite!” she says. “It’s so hard to say because it’s the game I’m playing right now. I feel like I always become a bit like, ‘This is the best!’ I always feel like I’m shouting to myself in my living room like ‘Nintendo’s outdone themselves this time!’ to the air. But it’s just really amazing the amount that you can do in this game and you have all this freedom. It’s just been a really magical time. And I’m playing it slow. Like I’m doing everything, because I just don’t want it to end!”
Princess Peach: Showtime! launches on March 22.
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