Is it just me or is it a tad misogynistic to finally unfetter the perpetual damsel in distress Princess Peach and make her a protagonist, only to arm her with a parasol and her mood swings?

I like Princess Peach, it's a great game, a throw-back to the side-scrolling, quasi-puzzler action of all the great Super Mario Bros. adventures, but why undermine the positive message with such an odd choice of "power ups?"

In the game you play as Princess Peach, finally not the damsel but the heroine, out to save Mario from the clutches of the princess-grabbing Bowser. Instead of outfitting the princess in some sort of clothes that would make it possible for her to, I don't know, walk five steps without falling on her face, they have her wearing a full ball gown and tiara. She also carries a parasol that she can thwack and poke enemies with. But her main weapon is her unstable personality.

The touch screen has pictures of four moods on it, when you touch one she gains an ability for a short period of time. Tap the angry face and things explode in fire around her. Tap the sad face and jets of tears sprout from her face. This may sound familiar to those of you who are in long-term relationships or married.

Despite the odd assortment of weapons, the game is actually quite a solid side-scroller created in the grand tradition of all the Mario brother games that have come before it.

The four power-ups (you can also be excited or happy) allow the game designers to come up with some interesting baddies and ways to get around them.

At first glance, Super Princess Peach may seem like a game for children, but play it for a few minutes and you'll come to realize that it's one of the better traditional Nintendo games to come down the pipe in some time. But it's disappointing that Nintendo finally turned Princess Peach into a heroine only to seemingly poke fun at womanhood.

Super Princess Peach for $34.99 [Amazon]