The 'Shroom:Issue 217/Critic Corner
Director's Notes
Hello readers, and hello April!! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and most of us recently lost an hour of sleep that we still haven't recovered from. In our mass unrest, writers here in Critic Corner have been working overtime to bring you an incredible amount of things to read, including SEVERAL new and one-time sections by Boo1268 (talk), Sentient freedom (talk), Yoshi18 (talk), and Waluigi Time (talk)!
Thank you for voting Half-Baked Reviews as March's Critic Corner Section(s) of the Month!! Be sure to give your love to all of our sections here, and give a shout out to our writers whether in chat or in their forum threads dedicated to their sections. Be sure to vote vote vote!
And now for my regular announcements: We've decided to implement in Critic Corner something similar to News Flush over in Fake News, where no formal sign-up application process is required for one-time or limited sections. From now on if you just want to send in a single review for something you just read, watched played, tried, whatever, you just have to send me your review privately either to me directly in chat, or in a message to me on the forum at least one week before each 'Shroom is to be released! There's no commitment or obligation to provide a full monthly section (although you absolutely can shift it into one if you so choose), just send us your thoughts on a thing and we'll feature it here! If you have any questions or curiosities about this, please feel free to ask!
As always, if you would like to help Critic Corner, we always have openings for more writers! You are free to write for sections such as Character Review and Movie Review, or really anything you'd like to do! There's no pressure to have a huge section; they can be shorter and concise! The application process is very simple, starting with reading the Sign Up page, and sending your application to Meta Knight on the forum. Any idea you have is welcome, and if you have any questions or need help signing up, please feel free to reach out to myself or other 'Shroom peeps!
Section of the Month
| CRITIC CORNER SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | Anton's Half-Baked Reviews | 15 | 62.50% | Hypnotoad (talk) |
| 2nd | Shoey's Shoetacular Reviews | 3 | 12.50% | Shoey (talk) |
| 2nd | Great Intros In Media: Twin Peaks | 3 | 12.50% | Paper Plumm (talk) |
| 2nd | Graphic Novel Review | 3 | 12.50% | FunkyK38 (talk) |
'Shroom FM
Welcome back to 'Shroom FM! One review this month is slightly longer than the others... try to spot it, if you can!
Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong ⭐
Frequent 'Shroom FM readers (I am sure one exists and is likely plotting my death) will recall that my previous takes on BCNR have been slightly mixed - I thought For the First Time was decent, didn't care for Ants from Up There (so much that I got the title wrong) and warmed up to them again on Live from Bush Hall. It's disappointing that a lot of the discourse around this album has been dominated by the departure of former vocalist Isaac Wood in 2022 but - not to be mean to the guy - I like the band a lot more now. There's nothing bad about Wood's vocal performances, he's a really expressive and engaging voice, but I'm not always the biggest fan of that style in general. Instead, three of the band's six members - Georgia Ellery, Tyler Hyde and May Kershaw - share vocal duties between each song. Without one singular lead vocalist you do get much more of a sense of the band working in tandem. This also showcases the versatility of each musician here, all six being multi-instrumentalists - and the band's wide instrumental palette. This is very clear if you see the band play live - a lot of swapping instruments, and at one point Kershaw is playing both the accordion and the piano at pretty much the same time. The band's sound has definitely grown since their previous release; very progressive and folky, there's generally a warmer feel to a lot of the songs here, not always necessarily 'happier'. "Besties" is a fantastic opener - really vibrant and upbeat with a massive intro, Ellery's vocals are fantastic and portray the fragility of the lyrics well, and I love the chord progression in the chorus. Songs like "Socks" and "Salem Sisters" progress and build nicely, "Two Horses" is a great tale of betrayal, and "Happy Birthday" through to "Nancy Tries to Take the Night" is the best run of songs on the album, everything here just comes together so well. The weakest point for me is the title track - cutting back the instruments to just a choir of recorders is a neat idea but I think in this case it lasts for a bit too long. But who cares? Great album, wonderful range of sounds and a real testament to how well the band work together.
Destroyer - Dan's Boogie
After not really being taken by 2022's LABYRINTHITIS (as in, I completely forgot it existed and I listened to it), Dan's Boogie is a real breath of fresh air and some of the best material I've heard from Bejar in a long time. A couple of moments passed me by a little bit but the highlights here - the title track with its magnificent piano lines and soaring atmosphere, the slightly weird but laid-back feel of "Bologna" with Dan's vocals perfectly matched with Fiver, "Cataract Time" which sounds like something from Kaputt... A lot to sink into here.
YHWH Nailgun - 45 Pounds
Frustrating album. There's so many things that should make this feel exciting and fresh - the fantastic percussion throughout, the weird, discordant synth stabs and other noises, the stop-start nature of the loudness - but none of these songs do anything interesting with them. Almost all of them just run of ideas halfway through or end abruptly just as they get going. I also don't like the way the vocals sound in the mix here - there's a sort of blurriness to them, a bit of distance, which kind of matches the blurry album cover but ultimately means they don't stand out.
Elemental Enemies
Hello there readers of The 'Shroom! It is I, Boo1268, the Fancy Phantom. I don't know about you but I was a HUGE fan of Skylanders back in the day, and I still am. Now the series main hook of toys-to-life was SO GOOD it inspired others to attempt to follow in their footsteps with differing ranges of success for each one, but we're not here to talk about that, we're here to talk about a specific game in the Skylanders series: Skylanders Trap Team.
For you see in Skylanders Trap Team the main gimmick was that using a special crystal insert and the respective crystal element you could capture some of the villains of the game and play as them for a short period of time, and in the game certain villains could only be captured with a Trap of their element. But, as I was looking at the villains I got to thinking: how do some of the villains fit into their respective element?
Well, being inspired by Lockstin & Gnoggin's Pokemon Type Explained videos, I am to answer that question! So join me as I try to explain how these respective villains fit their types. To elaborate further, in Skylanders there are ten elements: Water, Fire, Life, Earth, Air, Undead, Tech, Magic, Light, and Dark. Each villain has a specific element that they are assigned to, certain elements have more villains than others but for now we will start with the elements that are featured as starter traps in the box, those being the Life and Water Elements.
So we'll start off with the Life Element and for this group we have the following:Sheep Creep, Broccoli Guy, Cuckcoo Clocker, Shield Shredder, Chompy, Chompy Mage. Now how this works is that we will be looking into what makes each villain their respective type things, such as design, abilities, villain quests, lore, personality, etc. Each villain won't go in any sort of order but it tends to be that villains that most suit their type and have the most detailed explanation are at the top, and the villains that are the least connected or more rather should NOT be connected (if specifically stated) go at the bottom. But now with that out of the way let us start with...
Well that's it for the Life Element! Thank you all for reading this silly little thing I made! See you next time, portal masters, as we cover the second elemental Trap featured in the starter pack... The Water Element! But for now, as I always say: Merci, au revoir!
Movie Review
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
A while ago, I was talking to Shoey and we ended up on the subject of reviewing It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. It hasn't had an official soundtrack release yet so it's out of the scope of The Peanuts Sessions, but I thought ah what the heck why not. So here I am, stretching the boundaries of what can legally be called a Movie Review with a 25-minute TV special.
Anyway, yeah, you read that right, Arbor Day! Why does this exist? I like the environment as much as the next guy, but was Charles Schulz just sitting at home one day and thinking to himself, "Well, we already did Peanuts specials for Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Valentine's Day, so uh... Arbor Day, yeah!". I mean, it's far from the weirdest concept for a Peanuts special, to be fair, but this may very well be the only Arbor Day special in existence. If it's not, please let me know because I'm legitimately curious!
So here's the way things go. Sally gets called on in school to explain Arbor Day, and having failed to study for the assignment, humiliates herself by saying it's the day when ships come sailing into the arbor. She ends up getting assigned a full report about Arbor Day, which turns into planting a garden in Charlie Brown's baseball field with the rest of the kids while Charlie Brown is preoccupied preparing for the start of the season. In a case of everyone becoming kind of stupid, only Linus seems to realize and/or care that this is a terrible idea, even when they're doing things like planting a tree on the pitcher's mound, but can never warn Charlie Brown because Lucy always cuts him off. Charlie Brown sees the final product and freaks out, then Peppermint Patty arrives with her team and gets ticked off by the state of the field, but they decide to have the game anyway. Charlie Brown's team actually manages to start winning for once because they're able to use the plants to their advantage (sounds like cheating) while Peppermint Patty's team struggles to adapt. But as we all know, the universe hates Charlie Brown and a sudden rainstorm cancels the game just before he can throw the last out.
It's... okay. It's not unenjoyable to watch, but I do feel like this special is, on the whole, somewhat sparse in the wit and humorous situations that make Peanuts memorable. There's a few good bits in the beginning - the standout moment being when Sally and Linus are in the library and the focus shifts to Snoopy, who's reading dog training manuals and finds them so hilarious that he gets kicked out for laughing too much - but you can tell the middle portion rides hard on the absurdity of making a garden out of Charlie Brown's baseball field without doing much that's very clever or funny with it. It only really gets good, in my opinion, at the portion consisting of the ballgame itself, which is only the last ten minutes of the special. Mostly I just like it because it's the most interesting thing this special ends up doing with its premise. Between this and Mario sports games, I'm convinced real sports would be a lot more interesting if teams were allowed to have gimmicky, weird stadiums, but what do I know. Even then, they do lose the plot a little bit and depict a few scenarios that have nothing to do with the field being overrun by plants. For example, one scene has Lucy hit a home run after Schroeder promises to kiss her if she can pull it off (assuming that she won't, as she's notoriously one of the team's worst players). This scene actually ended up being recycled several years later in The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show with repainted backgrounds to remove the plants and the voices dubbed over by the contemporary actors, and nothing seems weird about it being completely out of the context of It's Arbor Day!
This special is also the animation debut of Lucy and Linus' little brother Rerun, who appears in two scenes riding on the back of his mom's bike. At one point they ride past the ballgame and Rerun coincidentally catches a ball hit by Marcie, which for some reason Charlie Brown celebrates as "the greatest catch I ever saw". No, I'm calling Charlie Brown out! That was not a catch, the ball flew out of the boundaries of the field and was caught by a bystander, that's a home run! Marcie should've scored! Then again, there's also a scene where a ball lands in the baseball glove of a scarecrow and that's considered a catch too, so I guess all the rules of the game just flew out the window. But back to Rerun, he has no impact on the special other than that and I'm convinced he's only here because someone thought the scene where he catches the ball would be funny.
The voice cast does a solid job and is mostly the same as other Peanuts specials of this time period (except Dylan Beach, in his sole performance as Charlie Brown). One of my favorite line deliveries is when Charlie Brown sees the state of the ballpark for the first time and shouts "Look at my pitcher's mound! It's got a tree on it!", I just find the way he says it really funny and you can hear the despaired disbelief in his voice, because who else would this happen to besides him? I do have to give the producers props for how they were usually pretty good at getting competent actors, which isn't always the easiest thing to do when you're dealing with child actors, and managing to capture the vibe of the characters despite decades' worth of recasts.
Of course, I would be remiss not to talk about the soundtrack. It's another very solid addition to the Peanuts lineup, and technically consists of entirely new tracks according to the cue sheet, but there's unmistakably hints of previous tracks like "Linus And Lucy", "Joe Cool", and "Baseball Theme". This was the last special that Vince Guaraldi composed the music for, as he passed away the same day he completed working on it. It's not anything markedly different from the other specials of the mid-70s, but to me it feels notably sad in an unintentional way? I'm guessing it's probably just human tendency to look for things that aren't there, and maybe under different circumstances I wouldn't think that at all. Who knows.
Overall, this sure exists. Like I said, it's not like it's outright unenjoyable, and it has plenty of good moments, but it leans more dull than the most beloved specials. Worth seeing at least once if you're a Peanuts fan and/or a big Arbor Day fanatic, but there's a reason it never cemented itself as one of the franchise's most iconic works. I would put it somewhere in the mid-tier of Peanuts specials, because there's plenty of them that are pretty mediocre and some that are outright terrible!
Completion Centre
Written by: Sentient freedom (talk)
Hello, my lovely 'Shroom readers! Old and new, this is my first contribution to The 'Shroom, and I'm utterly excited to be able to, and in the new year too! like seriously I can't thank you all enough and-
(clears throat) Oh, sorry about that, everybody. Got a little bit carried away anyway, with the introduction of the Nintendo Switch 2. Many more games are bound to be released on it as a result, so 100%ing various games will be imminent. So, with the Completion Centre all built up and ready to go, this feature will go into the pain, rewards, and just outright satisfaction of getting 100% in these video games.
Before we begin, let me briefly explain each section. The Personal Pathway is where we walk along my journey of getting 100%. Following that, we walk through the Annoying Atrium, showcasing all the aspects that bugged me, then we explore The Decision Dessert Place, which shows why 100%ing a game is more worth it than just merely beating the main story, before we make our way to the Conclusion Centre. With that out of the way, let's start with Kirby Mass Attack!
Note: I used an emulator to play this game because I didn't own a DS.
Personal Pathway
When I first started playing Kirby Mass Attack, it was twice back in 2021 and 2024, respectively using different emulators, one with Gallery9 and Drastic. I enjoyed this game and just felt like exploring everything. It was really cool discovering the Sub-Games. One of the more interesting Checklist tasks is the one where I had to complete Volcano Valley Stage 2 without taking damage. Some people prefer easier checklist tasks like the ones where they have to complete a stage whilst collecting all the fruit, but I was glad to figure it out my way just to have it done. Kirby Mass Attack is my favorite Kirby game, and while the 100% was by no means a cakewalk, it was very thrilling and fun to do.
Annoying Atrium
Even though I was having fun with Kirby Mass Attack, not all of it was fun to go through. I got so frustrated during Volcano Valley - Stage 9, mainly due to the Gold Star, which are collectibles you can obtain by clearing a stage without damaging any of the Kirbies. It was also really tedious trying to complete Pinball Dominator because it requires pure luck to complete the objective in question, which is to get a Kirby into each of the pockets in Dedede Resort - Stage 2. Another thing I didn't like was Volcano Valley - Stage 10. Because of the last three medals, these medals, in particular, can only be obtained in the spaceship section in the form of comets, and if you miss one, you will have to start the stage all over again, and I seriously cannot stress enough how tedious and dull that is. The most dreadful part of getting 100% in Kirby Mass Attack was the Fruit block in Sandy Canyon - Stage 7 because a checklist task requires you to do so. It's located in a sandstorm, and in case you don't remember, sandstorms take and give you things. However, once an item is taken by a sandstorm, it won't come back on the next one. I spent so long on this that I had to look it up on YouTube just to find the thing.
Decision Dessert Place
100%ing Kirby Mass Attack is a must for Kirby veterans. Unlike most other Kirby games, you get rewarded for not taking damage in the form of a Gold Star. This makes Kirby Mass Attack a great challenge for completionists, and while the main story is endearing enough for any Kirby fan to scream "WHAT?! OKAY, WHY IS IT THAT THE SPIN-OFF VILLAINS DO BETTER AT TAKING DOWN KIRBY THAN THE MAIN SERIES VILLAINS?!" the 100% is very rewarding and just overall worth the frustration and also you get a Boss Endurance mode for getting all medals so who doesn't love that?
Conclusion Centre
After getting everything in Kirby Mass Attack, you are rewarded with a star next to the save file. This is an okay reward because while the star being there is a great signifier for 100%, the overall reward could've been better, like changing the color of the save file. Overall, Kirby Mass Attack is a great game that was fun to beat, and getting 100% was fun too. All in all, Kirby Mass Attack is a fantastic Kirby game and, honestly, the most underrated of the bunch. It has great levels, loads of mechanics, and is just an extremely intriguing game overall.
That wraps up our tour of this month's Completion Centre. Thanks for taking a look around, and check in next time to see another thrilling set of displays.
Yoshi18 Reviews
Eyes On The Prizes
Hey everyone! This is my first time writing for The 'Shroom! Welcome to a new series where I will review games (bi-)monthly (or this time a console) simply called Yoshi18 Reviews. Now let's get onto the subject.
As you all probably know, the long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 will finally be here in just a bit less time than 2 months! Even though the console has much good points, it also caused its (necessary) controversy (mainly the price). So today I will share my review about the Switch 2.
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I highly praise the Switch 2, mainly graphical. 4K and 120fps? That's a dream! There's no consoles who have had both 4K and 120fps yet. The PS5 and Xbox Series X, while having 4K, could only go up to 60fps. So when we're talking about graphical competition, Nintendo is doing a really good job! Even though 4K isn't the case for tabletop mode. It's still 1080p and 120fps on a 7.9 inch screen, while the Switch couldn't even support 60fps on both tabletop and docked. The Switch 2 also has a LCD HDR screen, 3D audio and the ability to cancel out background noise and only detect the player's voice, even from a distance. So you probably also see that for a Ninth Generation console you can safely say that graphically it isn't getting any better than this.
Now about GameChat. I'm a little skeptical about this. I mean, it seems fun to finally be able to talk to and see your friends while gaming but it's once again locked behind a paywall (after March 2026) and then we have the Switch 2 Camera which also isn't free. While you can easily find free alternatives for GameChat, like WhatsApp or Discord, it doesn't feel the exact same, like you can't see your face over your game and you don't have the ability to cancel out background noise, but for some people it's still better than having to pay every month.
I also like GameShare, which is basically the throwback to Download Play (though I never really understood how that worked on the DS). Me and my friend really wanted to share our games sometimes without sharing our game cards, cause it could easily be the other would lose them and we were just worried about that. I'm glad we have this solution now!
For the games though, I think it might be a bit too early to review them. We've seen so little of them. I'm pretty sure there is still hiding much from these games that we don't know about. I'll do a review for Mario Kart World and Super Mario Party Jamboree - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV in the June and August edition of The 'Shroom, respectively.
Now to continue, I already expected GameCube games to Switch 2, but it's once again locked behind an even bigger paywall. I have Dolphin Emulator on my PC (and it's free) so I'm fine, but this just once again proves Nintendo's greediness.
Speaking of greediness, now let's go over to the moment you all been waiting for. The prizes. Yeah…the prizes. What could I say? Inflation, isn't it? The prices are just absurd. Mainly the game prices. If I'm being honest, 470 bucks for the Switch 2 is still justified for what you get, but 80 bucks (digital) and 90 bucks (physical) for Mario Kart?! That's really absurd. Smaller games seem to cost 70 bucks (digital), which is still bearable. And 80 bucks (physical). But nonetheless, it seems like the major installments will cost 80 bucks (digital) and 90 bucks (physical), which is just sad. Because the thing with game prices is; we've had games for 60 bucks in like 1985-2022, then we had games for 70 bucks in 2023-2024. As you can see what I mean, we've only got introduced to 70 bucks for about 3 years and now we're already at 80 bucks. Like we had time to understand why the prices went up from 60 to 70 bucks but this time, we've barely had the time to understand it. Seeing these prices, I have a smart tip for you guys; buy the Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart World. It saves you 40 bucks (digital) and 50 bucks (physical). Because if you buy them separately, it costs you 550 bucks (physical) and 560 bucks (digital). The bundle costs 510 bucks. There's only a limited amount of these bundles, so you really can't miss this chance to come out cheaper. If you forget about this, don't worry! I'll remind you guys about this one last time in next month's edition of The 'Shroom!
I hope you guys enjoyed my first article on The 'Shroom and the first episode of Yoshi18 Reviews! Thanks for reading and stay safe!
A Golden Sun Gameplay Review
Written by: Paper Plumm (talk)
Hello yello! Polls, am I right? This has been a really exciting process to get involved with and I've met a whole new cast of characters and friends. Unfortunately, that means my schedule is even more crammed than ever, yay! Well, things are at somewhat of a standstill, how about we do this review huh? Today we will be covering Golden Sun gameplay, this will include its combat proper, overworld gameplay, as well any miscellaneous minigames. Hope you enjoy it!
Golden Sun uses a relatively basic turn-based combat system, each turn you can do some attacks, run, use magic or items, and defend. However, Golden Sun isn't really about battles, it's about spectacle. With every attack you get dynamic camera angles, dramatic attacks, and screen covering spells, on GBA. And I don't mean this in a sense of this would be good if it wasn't stuck on the hardware it is, I mean this in the sense that they craft some of the most impressive visuals possible and they do it all on a GBA. Of course, visuals can't seriously be all that carries its battle system, can it? It can and it does, both fortunately and unfortunately. That is, if it weren't for the Djinn.
Djinn are essentially the only wholly unique concept for the gameplay, showing a level of complexity that elevates the game concept. Each Djinn allows for class customisation and stat changes, summons, and their own special individual ability. In this way, Djinns become a master of the risk vs. reward system. Do you take a risk and weaken your class in return for better attacks, or keep a simple yet safe set up the whole way through? By having Djinns here, the game is drastically enhanced by giving each battle more customisability.
So while Golden Sun's battle system is a bit basic, it keeps itself alive through theatrics and its Djinn system. While I have nothing negative to say about this itself, it is a shame that this is largely the only new thing Golden Sun adds to the typical RPG battle. It's a fun time but it never truly blows you away.
Golden Sun also features a vast overworld. In order to navigate around the many areas you have to solve varying puzzles, many of which use psynergy to progress. I really like the idea of psynergy as it's often used in really clever ways that constantly push the limits of their puzzle methodology. My big complaint with this system is that it is mostly tied to the Djinn. This means there'll be many a times where you need a specific Djinn to access the psynergy and you have to shift around a bunch of the Djinn solely to do one or two short puzzles, switch back for a battle, then find something that uses the same psynergy and go through the whole process again. Needless to say, it can be incredibly frustrating and time consuming. Other than that however, I have no real complaints.
As for its minigames, Golden Sun certainly has them. Lucky Fountain is Golden Sun's most iconic minigame. In it you have an empty fountain with a bunch of turtles that act like moving pinball pegs. You toss a coin in and depending on its interactions with the fountain it can end up in various rings, each with better prizes the further in you go, with the centre having some of the best gear their respective game can offer. While this provides many rewards, it, like nearly every other minigame, is luck-based which makes any of its enjoyment based on your luck. I am not a lucky person in gaming.
These other two games in question I am referring to are Lucky Dice and Wheels. These two are literally just slots and dice games so yay, more luck-based games! Minigames of this type are hard to critique because there is virtually no strategy or complexities to speak of, it's all luck, so hey, if gambling in a kids game is your sorta thing then Golden Sun is for you! If you're not, then well, boy do these minigames suck.
Luckily if you are like me, there is one really good minigame, the two trials of the games. These have you going on an obstacle course against an enemy opponent. Colosso has you slightly alter one element to each segment that can be used to your advantage when you actually race, these can be used for shortcuts or for valuable materials that'll help in the coming fight. These materials are especially invaluable as you start off each match with no materials on hand. This brings a great level of challenge and complexity that makes this incredibly engaging.
Trial Road does its opposite, where instead each round you must sacrifice more and more of your equipment for the final battle. I really like the inversion as it works just as well but prevents the trial system from becoming stale.
Minigames in Golden Sun are definitely some of its weakest elements, luck minigames just aren't really games anymore than a coin flip is one, and as such are very boring. Thankfully, trials prevent this whole segment from being completely negative and offer a much needed and refreshing change of pace.
Gameplay in Golden Sun often feels like it's one step above average, it's covering some new ground, but only barely, and for the most part plays itself exceptionally safe. It provides some new strategies but it never really blows me away. Golden Sun passes but does not exceed on its gameplay.
In case you can't tell dear reader, burnout is quickly settling in. While I'm not sure if it's the fact I've picked up another job as Poll Chairperson, the fact that even as I write this during my break from school I have a Physics Final looming, nine social studies assignments and a long English essay that leaves me feeling creatively bankrupt once I'm done with it all, or the fact that I wasn't really passionate about Golden Sun to make this a proper review. I promise you I will finish this, but I may be on hiatus after this series is done. After that I'll come back, but it may be a different style of review next. I hope you all will understand, and I thank you for your continued support and enjoyment of these reviews. Thank you for your continued support, hope spring is finding you well, (or if you live where I live, snow stops soon) and as always, drive safely.
A Look at Mario Enemies Lost to Time
Hello, and welcome back to A Look at Mario Enemies Lost to Time, a section where I take a look at various Mario enemies that are seemingly no longer used in the main games. Last month, we looked at the unimpressive Shy Guy-like bird Tweeter and the buff, block-throwing Buster Beetle. This month, we have our first venture into the 3D games as we look at the man-eating Sushi. Then we venture to our first spin-off enemy as we take a look at one of my all-time favorite enemies, Dudim Phreykunoutonthis (or Fuzzy if you're lame).
Sushi
Now, you might be thinking to yourself "hey, wait a minute, Sushi aren't' forgotten! They're in a bunch of the Mario Party games!". And yes, that's true. Sushi are a frequent sight in various Mario Party minigames and even a few of the boards. And they also appear in Dr. Mario World, where one is a nurse, which implies that they can learn medicine and I don't know how I feel about that. But more to the point, yes, Sushi still makes appearances in spin-offs, but this section is about enemy appearances in main games, where Sushi makes few appearances. So, while yes, Sushi isn't as forgotten series-wide as something like Hot Foot or Hogwash the Flying Pig since they have appeared in spin-offs, I think Sushi still counts for this section since they haven't been an enemy in a game since 2006!
Also, what are you going to do if you disagree? Fight me? Try me! I've watched so much WWE wrestling in the last month that you won't stand a chance!
Sushi make their first appearance in the level Dire, Dire Docks in Super Mario 64. Sushi are a rarely-seen enemy, with only two of them found at the start of Dire, Dire Docks. There's one at the top of the water, swimming in circles, and the other is under the water near the whirlpool. So, first off, in Super Mario 64, Sushi is a just a shark! That's just a regular shark in a Mario game! Which is weird, right? It feels weird. Sushi isn't even a particularly cartoony shark. It's just a regular shark hanging out in this Mario game! Second off, I don't understand why they're here, because Sushi is one of the most "nothing happening" enemies in the whole game. They don't pursue the player at all!
They just swim around in a big circle. So if you hit them, it's your own fault, 'cause what are you doing trying to touch a shark?! The one near the whirlpool is the more threatening of the two (and I use "threatening" very lightly) because if you hit that one you could get sucked into the whirlpool and die. But the one at the top of the level is completely pointless! Only a smooth-brain lunkhead would ever touch it more than once! I just don't understand why you'd have a shark enemy if it wasn't going to, you know, pursue the player like a shark would. They just seem really pointless; they don't bring anything to the level and I don't think the level would suffer if they weren't there.
The only other appearance Sushi make as enemies is in the 2D classic New Super Mario Bros.. where Sushi once again appears in a single level, this time appearing in World 1-A. Here, they're a lot more active than they were in Super Mario 64. Appearing offscreen and launching kind of like a Torpedo Ted from Super Mario World, Sushi swim towards Mario, dealing damage if he touches them. Although unlike in Super Mario 64, the Sushi in New Super Mario Bros. can be defeated by either fireballs or stars, but I think it's still better this way because they're an active obstacle in the level!
Here's the thing; I really like Sushi. I think the idea of a shark enemy is really cool. But I think the way that it was used in the games is really lame. I don't think Sushi should be a generic fish enemy like a Cheep-Cheep, where it just passively swims towards the player. I think it should be used like Snacker the Shark from Banjo-Kazooie or the absolutely terrifying Lurker Fish from the original Jax and Daxter. Sushi should be something which, as soon as it sees you in the water, you know you gotta get out of there as fast as possible or it is going to eat you! It needs to be something that strikes fear in the hearts of the players - you know, like a shark! To me, they'd be perfect as a water enemy in 3D Mario games that either forces the player to play around the water of a level or swim as fast as possible!
Now, you might be thinking that this is basically just what Bubba (or Cheep Chomp if you're lame) does in Super Mario 64 and to a lesser extent the 2D games. And yes, that's kind of the problem. The Mario series has plenty of fish-based enemies! But here's the thing. I think you can keep Cheep-Chomp in the 2D games just fine because I think they work better for the kind of slower-paced movement of the 2D games. But Sushi should be used in the 3D games because well, honestly, I just think that sharks are cooler then the dopey Cheep Chomp!
Dudim Phreykunoutonthis
One of my absolute favorite enemies in the history of the Mario (or I guess in this case Yoshi) series is Dudim Phreykunoutonthis, which I'll be referring to as Fuzzy for the rest of the section because I don't want to type out Dudim Phreykunoutonthis anymore. Found only in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, it appears in three levels in the original and four in the remake, with both versions including the iconically-named Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, which might be my favorite level name in the whole series.
Fuzzies appear to be some sort of spore that floats throughout the various levels. We never find out what kind of spore Fuzzy is, but it's probably some sort of fungus if I had to guess. When a Yoshi touches or eats a Fuzzy, they, to be quite frank, start tripping balls. The screen becomes distorted with somewhat rapid color changes and the level rapidly moving around, and with it, the level's music becomes a trippy version of the overworld theme.
And that's just what happens to the level! For Yoshi himself, his eyes get real big and dilated. Yoshi starts fumbling around; like, if he stands still, he'll just rush forward on his own or if he's running, sometimes he'll just stop. The controls become just plain weird with Yoshi resisting what you're trying to do. It's honestly one of the most creative enemy effects that has ever appeared in the series, right up there with the Scarecrow transformation from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars". Fuzzies are probably one of the most unique "messes with your controls type-enemies in the whole series.
Now, a guy like me? If I was in charge, Fuzzies would appear in every game because I love them. They're so fun and the fact that they're an obvious drug reference is just so funny. Like, guys, there's a drug enemy in a Mario game! That would never happen now a days! But that's kind of the problem. They're such an overt drug reference that I just don't see them ever making another appearance. I just don't see it in the modern, more sanitized and family friendly Mario series. I do think you could make them appear in a way that's less of a drug reference. Like, I think you could remove most of the tripping references. You could drop the screen and music distorting and instead have them be the standard "touch it and your controls get reversed" enemy. I think that could work really well. It'd be a pretty good compromise that lets them reappear in the series while dropping the… I don't want to say controversial. but the… you know… possibly problematic parts of Fuzzies' existence. But if I were in charge of the series, they'd get Yoshi super high the way Miyamoto intended!
That's all for this month. Join me again in two months as I look at two more obscure and forgotten foes of Mario.
The Peanuts Sessions
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
Last time I wrote this section, I covered a Valentine's album the day after Valentine's Day, now I'm covering an Easter album the day before Easter! Thank you calendar for lining up in a way that these sections could be somewhat topical. Anyway, it's time for The Peanuts Sessions! During my absence, another one of these soundtracks came out, so it's time to get down to business with It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. If you'd like to listen along, you can find a full playlist on the Vince Guaraldi YouTube channel as usual.
| # | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peppermint Patty | 1:03 |
| 2 | Easter Theme / Easter Theme (Reprise) | 0:41 |
| 3 | Piano Sonata No. 3 In C Major, Op. 2 No. 3 - I. Allegro Con Brio | 0:14 |
| 4 | Snoopy And Woodstock | 2:09 |
| 5 | Linus And Lucy | 0:30 |
| 6 | Woodstock's Dream | 3:04 |
| 7 | Snoopy's Gumballs / Sally And Linus | 1:07 |
| 8 | Woodstock's Dream (Reprise) | 0:31 |
| 9 | Marcie's Song (Kitchen Music) | 1:00 |
| 10 | Linus And Lucy (Reprise) | 0:58 |
| 11 | Woodstock's Pad | 0:43 |
| 12 | Woodstock's Dream (2nd Reprise) | 0:32 |
| 13 | Music Box Dance (Minuet In G Major, BWV Anh. 116) | 0:49 |
| 14 | Woodstock's Dream (3rd Reprise) | 0:34 |
| 15 | Easter Egg Soup (Kitchen Music 2) | 1:35 |
| 16 | Linus And Lucy (2nd Reprise) / Linus And Lucy (3rd Reprise) | 1:27 |
| 17 | Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92 - II. Allegreto | 1:35 |
| 18 | Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92 - I. Poco Sostenuto - Vivace | 1:25 |
| 19 | Salting Eggs / Linus And Lucy (4th Reprise) | 1:20 |
| 20 | Woodstock's Medley (Woodstock's Wake-Up / Little Birdie / Woodstock's Dream / Thanksgiving Theme / Little Birdie (Reprise)) | 1:24 |
I'm going to sound like a broken record, but once again the audio quality here is much better than the TV special. For some reason, the specials from the 70s keep having this huge jump in quality on the soundtrack release, and not the ones from the 60s. That's not to say the quality on those albums are bad, rather, the 70s soundtracks seemed to have a rougher transition from recording to screen. You'd think it would be the other way around, wouldn't it? Anyway, it's a very nice soundtrack! It's mostly that jazziness and funkiness that you'd expect from Peanuts soundtracks of the era, so I'm kind of running out of new things to say as a casual music enjoyer who's written six of these reviews already. There's also a few tracks on here that lean more classical, which is pretty interesting for a Peanuts soundtrack. "Easter Theme" falls into this, plus "Music Box Dance" which comes from Bach, and two excerpts of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7" are used towards the end. The whole album feels light and airy (are you allowed to describe music like that?), with a springtime vibe that I may be entirely hallucinating because I already associate this soundtrack with Easter. It's probably there for real though, I trust the workmanship that went into this. "Snoopy And Woodstock", any arrangement of "Woodstock's Dream", and "Poco Sostenuto - Vivace" (not writing the full title, classical composers please come up with shorter names for your works) are my favorites for reasons I can't particularly articulate beyond just liking them a lot. Please understand.
There's only one bonus track this time around, "Woodstock's Medley", and unlike the previous albums, no alternate takes (I sincerely hope that's because the producers felt they weren't worth including and not because they're going to try to squeeze more money by releasing a deluxe edition with them later). It's not even from the original recording sessions! It was recorded in 2021 by David Benoit (who composed the soundtracks for the 90s and 2000s Peanuts specials, with heavy use of Guaraldi arrangements) alongside Seward McCain and Mike Clark, who played on several of the original Peanuts soundtracks. I don't know about you guys, but even just for the novelty, that's really cool! It's a very solid track in its own right though (dare I say it's a highlight of the album), consisting of four mostly Woodstock-themed tracks - "Woodstock's Wake-Up", "Little Birdie", "Woodstock's Dream", and "Thanksgiving Theme". "Woodstock's Dream" is the only one that otherwise appears here, the other three being from You're Not Elected and Thanksgiving. It does beg the question of why this was left to sit in the vault for over three years, but I guess this is the first time that all of the included tracks are available and Easter Beagle is the most Woodstock-centric special to get a soundtrack release so far, so its inclusion here feels appropriate enough.
For casual listeners, the biggest snag here is yet again good old Schroeder with "Piano Sonata No. 3" (I'm still not writing the full thing out). Much like Be My Valentine, it's solo piano with a distinct toy sound that sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the soundtrack. It's also extremely short at only 14 seconds! The rest of the album is very solid, though. My only other complaint, and it's a minor one all things considered, is that track 9, "Marcie's Song (Kitchen Music)", has a brief intro of Guaraldi cuing up the rest of the band, which pops up in these albums from time to time. "Peppermint Patty" also has this, but since it's the first track of the album it's not really bothersome there.
That concludes this review, and for now, this section, because I don't have anything left to review! But considering that they've pumped out four of these in the last nine months, I assume these print money and there will be more, so maybe I'll bring this back from time to time. We'll see. If you enjoyed this section and would like to potentially see more of it in the future, please let me know!
Written by: Hypnotoad (talk)
Art by: Toadbert101 (talk)
Easter Candy
Easter has become a candy behemoth, to no shock to anyone at all, and has come to encompass a secular springtime push. This is all absolutely a way for companies to keep sales momentum throughout the year as Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas come to an abrupt stop, and helps drive innovation and continued customer interest. Easter itself has been rivaling Halloween for candy dominance, being the religiously-coded pastel merriment to Halloween's spooky secular parties, with its own iconic candy presence: eggs, bunnies, chocolate, marshmallows. Customers, like myself, who don't care for much of the religious displays still feed into this category as people want to treat themselves more and more, and seasonal variety always makes things fun. As the world continues to contort itself around what's new, what's next, what's now, how will a holiday based in so much tradition keep up?
Promised Land x Peeps Sweet Marshmallow Milk
It seems to have become an annual Easter tradition that Peeps will collab with something to make a horrid amalgamation to farm social media virality. This year, because I’m not exactly willing to personally try their Milkbone Peeps-flavored Dog Biscuits, it’s with Promised Land Dairy.
The ingredients are actually quite simple, being just milk, sugar, molasses, nonfat milk, artificial flavor, guar gum, and carrageenan. It tastes like melted vanilla ice cream, complete with the thickness and perceived stickiness, so much that I’m convinced it’s literally just that. Promised Land’s FAQ quite literally says that: “Many of our milks are actually our original ice cream recipes, just in liquid form!” I’m also still just unsure what marshmallow flavor is meant to be, exactly, if not just overly sweet vanilla, but I’m not sure where Peeps is coming into play here–aside from being a name brand marshmallow that picks up in sales heavily around Easter–as the extreme smoothness of this is a far cry from the sugary grittiness that Peeps are actually more known for. It doesn’t taste bad, just a bizarre texture if you’re not expecting it, and intensely sweet.
This isn’t nearly as atrocious as the Pepsi Peeps flavor in 2023, which isn’t exactly a high bar to jump over, but is still rather jarring. This drink is promised to be classic Peeps flavor with the “richer, creamer [sic]” milk Promised Land is known for, and it’s that precise typo on their website that speaks toward how this actually is. The particular thickness this has reminds me more of a liquid coffee creamer, leaning more towards a syrup and meant to be stirred and dissolved into another drink, rather than consumed directly. To put this another way, I accidentally spilled a glass of it and, you know how when liquids spill they tend to spread out and go all over? Not this! Just kinda plopped there and held its form. I already wasn’t feeling too great about trying this and was more doing it for the novelty, and seeing this nearly removed all will from my body to take a sip, though already committed. Other reviews said this could be the ‘eggnog of Easter’ in terms of its placement as a traditional seasonal drink, but is an unwittingly accurate comment about the texture of this; it’s actually a heavy feel than many of the actual eggnogs and alt-nogs I’ve had. This does have me question, though, why eggnog can’t just be the eggnog of Easter?
Some “Pro tips” on their website suggest to heat it up or put it in coffee, so I guess I’m going to do that. The coffee tasted remarkably plain, exactly as I expected, with no noticeable marshmallow or even vanilla taste to it. I’m just really not sure what this use for the Peeps Milk actually does that a fistful of cane sugar and splash of cream couldn’t do better. Just bring back the Whole Milk, please. Heating up the Peeps Milk alone elicits a much more classic marshmallow smell, exactly the one you get when melting down marshmallows to make Rice Krispie treats, and is alarmingly good. I’m a little concerned with the chunks in it that formed after heating, but I’m assuming it’s just the gums gumming up and moving on with my day. Hiland/Prairie Farms already did Peeps Milk about a decade ago, including multiple flavors and even an explicit eggnog, so this dive into the dairy fridge isn’t new for Peeps and I’m absolutely sure they will keep jabbing their way into other collaborations, even if it’s just regionally. Maybe it’ll be a functional prebiotic soda flavor in 2026, who knows. Hedge your bets on low item movement and overly aggressive seasonal display ordering as this Promised Land Peeps Milk is apparently only available through April 20th, 2025, and with this review posting on April 19th, 2025, your time is now severely limited if for some reason my review inspired you to try this.
Rice Krispies Candy Eggs Mix
Snagged from Target’s seasonal Easter aisles, these fell into my basket to help satisfy a (shockingly bad) sale of buy one get one 25% off along with some other potential Easter review fluff. These are made by Frankford Candy, a wildly prolific and successful chocolate and candy manufacturer that plays in the shadows. While gaining fame since their inception with chocolate bunnies, their bread & butter now is licensed brand collaborations for seasonal candy. Curiously, these Rice Krispies Candy Eggs are currently not on their website, despite having a category and link. Luckily, the pages are available on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine as recently as December 25th, 2024 for the category page and November 9th, 2024 for the direct candy egg page. There’s really not much useful information to be gleaned from these, other than the tingling feeling of catching licenses actively being ended.
This bag comes with three flavors: Marshmallow, Strawberry, and Milk Chocolate. I’d say these are fair and basic flavors, especially given what Rice Krispie Treats even are. The Marshmallow and Strawberry are primarily palm kernel oil and cocoa butter in what I’d firmly consider as white chocolate, and each are rather sweet and almost candy-like. The Marshmallow is just a sugar flavor, and is probably one of the only instances in which I’m personally okay with marshmallow being a flavor. The Strawberry is surprisingly not an overly-strong chemical taste; still very much fake, but is a bit more mellow and easy to get through. The Milk Chocolate is exactly as it says, and its placement here with two white chocolates really highlights the relatively lower sweetness milk chocolate has, to an extent it was a bit jarring at first as I completely expected a horrifying fake concoction. Don’t get me wrong, these are far from being any alleged healthy food, but it’s just nice to have my candy not taste completely fake, but don’t take this praise too far because ultimately these are just cheap chocolates to give to kids who absolutely don’t care and taste about as much–competent. What’s disappointing, though, is they lack a decent amount of crunchiness. I know that Rice Krispie Treats are gooey and soft, but there’s still an element of crunch with the puffed rice, and when most of these have maybe one rice kernel, and sometimes none at all, I fail to see how this branding collab is upheld. It’s not like puffed rice is an expensive ingredient, and given that the Rice Krispies collection is already removed from their website it feels like there was little commitment here in the first place to create something more exciting than basket filler. That’s what I bought it for, and that’s what I got.
Dunkin’ Chocolates Eggs
Made by the same company as the Rice Krispies Eggs, Frankford, they join the myriad of other treats in this collaboration. This partnership is further supported with Dunkin’ offering extra reward points, which is a small gesture that’s neat to see, but further gives their stamp of approval on what these ended up being.
These are “Donut-Flavored Filled Eggs”, and what they consider the donut flavors to be are: Jelly Donut, Brownie Batter, and Coconut. Jelly Donut is obvious with its connection, and Coconut is technically one of their dozens of flavors that range from traditional to wacky, but Brownie Batter seems to just be a huge corporate push in 2024. I get that some flavors are hard to replicate in a chocolate egg, like Powdered or Chocolate Frosted, but they couldn’t swing a Boston Creme? Blueberry? Chocolate Glazed? Apple Fritter? These also don’t really look like eggs once you open them, with kind of a strange woody walnut texture (or more nsfw-appearing as I immediately thought). The amount of filling inside of these things is incredible, bringing these close to a true eggshell thickness with the chocolate layer. There were 11 Coconut, 9 Jelly, and 3 Brownie Batter, which was an absolute tragedy in multiple ways, particularly that I just really don’t like coconut, and that if Brownie Batter is supposed to be their big push then why is it not even close to being even 20% of the bag? Jelly Donut is a ‘white chocolate shell with layers of raspberry-flavored creme and jelly filling’, and tasted exactly like every other raspberry creme you get from an assorted box. It wasn’t bad, but was very striking in the intensity and sharpness of its flavor, very obviously an excess of alcohol-based raspberry extract, and not what I’d consider jelly-like. The Coconut is a ‘dark chocolate shell with coconut-flavored creme filling and coconut flake’, which again sounds exactly like a boxed chocolate truffle, and tasted exactly as much. Very strong coconut taste, which I can personally let pass, but the inclusion of the coconut flakes just hit my specific level of ick preference that I could not continue with which made their abundance even more of a travesty. Finally, the Brownie Batter is a ‘milk chocolate shell with brownie batter-flavored creme filling’, and tastes like basic chocolate and nothing more. With brownie batter I expect a little more push towards brownie replication than just being a fancier name to give a basic chocolate, perhaps leaning on the fudgy side with a buttery backing, maybe some brown sugar sweetness, but this was just chocolate with chocolate creme filling. Despite being basic, it’s the best of the bunch, likely by virtue of being basic, cementing my disappointment with the flavor proportions.
I think I like these conceptually, and appreciate the effort they put in, but the flavors and textures just weren’t for me. Absolutely not the 10/10 this lady thinks it is, but definitely a surprisingly indulgent candy that I just wish went in some other directions.
KitKat Milk Chocolate Snack Size Bunnies
New (to the US) as of Spring 2025 are KitKat Milk Chocolate Snack Size Bunnies. A bit different from the Nestlé version, which has a milk chocolate truffle-adjacent center, whereas this is the same anatomy as a standard KitKat but just in the shape of a bunny.
A lot of these melted to the point that the fine details were no longer visible, but they all at least retained some kind of partially-digested bunny shape. Overall I think special shaped candy should be crafted in a way to withstand common natural forces, but I do understand that I can’t expect a product that starts softening at 80F to survive well at any point of the year in Florida without using complicated tempering processes that alter the final product away from intended cost and texture; ho-hum and sigh. The wafer is not quite at the BigKat size, but rather the standard wafer height and about 1.5x the width, and there’s considerably more chocolate making up this snack-size bar than a traditional KitKat. The KitKat taste was there, from the particular sweet flavor of the milk chocolate, to the crisp airiness of the wafer, but it still felt like something was off. Despite having more chocolate, even with a wider wafer inside, it lacked that firm edge that brings that gratifying snap with standard KitKats and Reese’s Cups, and without that it just felt weaker. It’s possible that this is actually BECAUSE of there being more chocolate, as with it being an incredibly sweet milk chocolate it likely lacks the crystal structure that gives darker bars their firm snap, and just lends for a softer bite before getting to any wafer.
I don’t want to say I did not like this, because I guess I truly didn’t, but it did subvert some of my expectations in a way that goes against my personal preferences. I think these would be a parallel of what goes on between regular Reese’s Cups and the various Reese’s Shapes like eggs, ghosts, pumpkins, etc., in that the proportions of the components are altered to create a new texture, which I accept as a variable to play with as I’m a bit sick of flavored crème bastardizations. As the Bunnies follows the also-recent introduction of Santas and Bears, you can likely assume that other seasonal shapes will follow with basically the same effect.
Reese’s Spring Sprinkles
Crumbs of innovation aplenty this Spring, with Hershey’s also revealing Reese’s Spring Sprinkles, available in Big Cups and Miniatures, complete with a “We went there (...) You’re welcome” bit of press that honestly made me grimace and want to throw these away before I even tried them. It wouldn’t be fair to these insentient lumps of sugar and rice flour to judge them on the boardroom fun of some freelance writers, or even to them as stuffing Reese’s Cups with colorful shaped sprinkles stirs a bit of skepticism.
I will give credit where credit is due that this is a chewing experience I have never had before, and this is truly an innovation in the field of what else could possibly be shoved into a Reese’s Cup, but that’s about it for laudatory statements. Unless you enjoy the rush of blood pressure you get when you think you might be chewing on chipped tooth fragments, I would suggest avoiding these. The sprinkles in these are so hard that it’s genuinely jarring. The exact type of sprinkles that’s in these are quins or confetti sprinkles, and are typically softer and melt into baked goods easier, but feel like they have more of the nonpareil crunch to them, and that’s where I’m conflicted; I LOVE nonpareil sprinkles, and often eschew cookies and treats that use jimmies or anything else as I enjoy the texture of them, but these being so stiff alongside their relative larger size just comes off as awkward. I’m sure this recipe called for the shapes to retain their form at all costs, as they’re meant to look like eggs and chicks for your appropriate secular fertility celebrations, but I don’t imagine many people will be biting partially into these to observe the designs, nevertheless carefully dissecting their Reese’s Cups to ogle the sprinkles.
No separate section will be written for both Miniatures and Big Cups as they’re effectively the same with one caveat: Big Cups have more peanut butter, and thus more space between the sprinkles. You’d think this would make it a bit more tolerable, which, yeah, a little bit, but absolutely not enough for me to feel any different about how much of an obstacle the sprinkles are. I do appreciate how these do not lend any other taste, avoiding the vile mistake that was the Reese’s Sugar Cookie Cups, but despite having no palatable presence the extreme crunch is incredibly distracting from the chocolate and peanut butter that draws me to wanting a Reese’s in the first place. I think if these were instead little candy-coated chocolates like what you can find on Cosmic Brownies, you could get a much more pleasurable chewing experience while still getting your daily dose of Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1.
Nestlé Toll House Springtime Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough with Egg Sprinkles
I really don’t have much to say about these other than this is how the Reese’s Spring Sprinkles cups should’ve handled the sprinkles. Massive, not even sprinkles at all and instead vegetable oil white crème wax, smooth and sweet texture to very gently counter the buttery and crispy cookie, made a 4 year old girl happy to see the colors and eat half of one before getting bored while her uncle proceeded to eat the entire batch. It’s the same Toll House Cookie Dough cookies you get from every other iteration they have available where you can have hot and fresh chocolate chip cookies ready in 10 minutes so long as you’re ok with a heavy oil and greasy feel after; the faster you eat them the more you can fit inside of you before you start feeling bad.
What more can you want?
Bissinger’s Milk Chocolate Carrot Cake Truffle
While wandering around local co-ops, as I tend to do, I saw a chocolate bar with a cute bunny on it. I knew I had to get it as it’s a carrot cake flavored chocolate bar, a unique approach to the Easter season that I just could not leave the store without. Bissinger’s is a handcrafted confection company started in 17th century Paris, establishing a foothold in America’s midwest, and finding a place on the gourmet shelves of many high end retailers.
I’m always a bit skeptical of truffle bars because in my experience they tend to be the poor man’s idea of upscale, tourist trap expenses, offering nothing but standard chocolate with a ganache filling flavored with a syrup I can buy a barrel of online for the same price. I try to be fair because they are also a more indulgent treat, not quite the cerebral exercise of single origin bars, and people should be allowed to feel hedonistic for a little bit, and I let that side of me win over as carrot cake just isn’t ever a flavor I see (until now). Along with being milk chocolate with the carrot cake flavored truffle, the bar also has pecan pieces on the back to bring more of a carrot cake vibe. Biting into it, the flavor leans more towards sweet potato, and that’s not due to association with the similar warm autumnal spices (i.e. cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, cardamom, ginger) used in carrot cake and sweet potato casseroles, but rather a genuine starchy and direct sweet potato taste. The entirety of the carrot cake flavor is within the truffle filling, and supplied entirely by the ‘natural carrot cake flavor’ in the ingredients, never actually entering the milk chocolate surrounding this. As a result, I was able to carefully bite around where the truffle centers were and just enjoy the milk chocolate, which told me that Bissinger’s does a good job with that and encourages me to try more if I ever see them elsewhere.
I didn’t hate the flavor, and it was actually pretty ok, it was just not something I needed an entire bar of and I just kinda didn’t like it enough to want to continue eating it. It’s a fun idea, definitely not something I've seen ever which is why I snagged it in the first place, but I just think it could’ve been a more fully realized concept. I think if it were a little more subtle, or done in a different way–like maybe have the pecans have more presence by being physical pieces within the chocolate bar to give it more depth, crunch, texture, something to offset the awkward truffle goo, rather than just being a pathetic dusting on one side–this could be a much more successful concept.
| The 'Shroom: Issue 217 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • 'Shroomfest • Credits |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
