The 'Shroom:Issue 233/Critic Corner
Director's Notes
It's August and I'm busy and on vacation bye!!!! Despite having so much on my plate I always find time to read up on reviews so I know what's going on around me, and you should too! Everyone loves critical thinking and exercising subjective thoughts!!
Thank you for voting Half-Baked Reviews as July's Critic Corner Section 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 MightyMario 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 | 11 | 47.83% | Hypnotoad (talk) |
| 2nd | Completion Centre (Part 2) | 3 | 13.04% | Primative (talk) |
'Shroom FM
Welcome back to my monthly album review section. That's right - it might feel like it's been three times as long, but it's actually just been one month since the last edition of 'Shroom FM. Glad that's been cleared up.
Boards of Canada - Inferno ⭐
This has been out for three months now and there are still parts of it I'm not completely on board with, but Boards of Canada are one of my all-time favourite bands and after more than a decade, it's great to see them back. Inferno is dark and sinister, ominous in a kind of similar vein to their previous album Tomorrow's Harvest although definitely not as bleak. A lot of the album's themes of the occult and religion are explicitly presented through vocal samples - which, while not uncommon in their previous work, their use is very heavy here. Sometimes these are hard to decode and mysterious, though at other times they're a bit too heavy-handed, especially in some early tracks where they're timed beat-by-beat with the rest of the music in a slightly awkward way - "Father and Son", for instance, samples an entire conversation, even pitch-shifting some of its vocalisations in way that does feel a bit daft. Still, it's all effectively surreal and does help give the album a bit of a timeless feel. It's not too radical a shift in sound, though there are some new-ish elements - those live drums and electric guitars on "Prophecy at 1420 MHz", for instance, which are intense and foreboding, and work really well as an opening. On the other hand, there's classic-feeling tracks like "Introit" which evoke the standard 70s educational film vibe, or very soothing, bright ambient songs like "Deep Time". Tracks like "Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan" and "Naraka" bridge the gap and push this forward in a really satisfying way, in parts lush with that heavy, sinister feel building up underneath. I think this does peter out a little bit by the end, where there's a couple of tracks that didn't add much for me, but "You Retreat in Time and Space" is an absolutely gorgeous track to (almost) close on. There's certainly a lot here to delve into on further listens, but I'm still very happy with this.
Giant Claw & galen tipton - Mobile Suit Gym Rat
Remember You Like Music? You should because it was very good, but you also shouldn't because you don't like music anymore. You like basketball. I hadn't heard the term "jock jams" before but with minimal research I can confidently say that's the sound here; the scuffed trainers, orchestra hits straight out of the early 90s, team chants... and the way these elements are implemented alongside the chopped up vocal samples and maximalist atmosphere is very creative and unique. While there's maybe not as many tracks here that individually stand out as You Like Music for me, this is still another really fun collab from these two.
Kelela - new avatar
Sorry, found this one very frustrating. This album leans into that bland alt-rock sound that seems to be big now, this overly smooth and "vibey" feel, like with Nilüfer Yanya's My Method Actor or at worst, that Mk.gee album. This just means that, as lush and smooth as Kelela's vocals are, a lot of the instrumentals feel really empty and muted, especially the percussion, and it all just blends together into this faceless mass of nothing - which is especially a shame given how slick and full-of-life everything else I've heard from her is! Even the feature from PinkPantheress towards the end is devoid of any real energy. There are a few songs that do bring out the best in the style - "linknb" is very catchy, while "cystalize" has a nice, lush, encompassing soundscape. I don't think it's a bad album, I just don’t get really anything from this sound.
leroy - status update music
Remember leroy? Back in 2022 I was very enthusiastic about Dariacore 3... At Least I Think That's What It's Called? describing it as "like being accused of a crime you didn't commit and being forced to clean Isle Delfino". Leroy is one of many side projects of Jane Remover, which leans more into this heavily mashup-influenced, chopped-up, chaotic "Dariacore" sound than their regular output. Having not listened to any other Dariacore projects since 2022, not enjoying the previous album and this being half an hour longer, I was naturally a bit wary going in, but this is a huge improvement on the previous one. It's still very OTT and busy, but there's so much more variation in the sound here which stops it from becoming too repetitive. A lot of this is crafted using recognisable pop culture samples - pop songs, memes, video games, and so on; on Dariacore 3 the way they were used rarely felt novel or interesting, but Jane's production here is a lot more creative and everything lands so much better, especially the bangers. All that said, I'm still not fully on board with the style here, and things start to wear thin at points in the second half - but then you also get both "Right Nowww (Tear Me Apart)" and "LOVE.ANGEL.MUSIC.BABY." in the second half, which really focus on the club-dance elements at play and are all the better for it.
Jack White - Frozen Charlotte
It did take me a few listens to fully click with Jack White's last album NO NAME but that then went on to be one of my favourite albums of 2024 - real 'Shroom FM lore experts might even remember that I bought it for my dad. So maybe I just need to give this new one a bit more time, though I've listened twice now and sadly there's nothing here that's jumping out at me. Even on my first listen to the previous album, there were a few tracks that I really clicked with, or stood out enough that they were interesting, but I'm just getting nothing. There's certainly nothing bad here, it's a heavy rock album with some cool riffs as you might expect from Mr. White, but ultimately a lot of this has just passed me by. I could be wrong though, so we'll see in January. Stay tuned!
⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ - ʅ():: ● o ● o ● ҈҈҈҈҈ :()(
Fairly self-explanatory, but I like it! I don't know if I'd call any of it groundbreaking, but there's some very cool, sparkly electronic sounds here, and it's consistently bright and catchy.
Yoshi18 Reviews
Hi everyone! Welcome back to Yoshi18 Reviews! Welp, this week was the first week of school for me and yesterday was my first official day (before that it was just activities). Really gotta get used to that again. For the seasonal report: you can really notice how it gets darker sooner now. For it getting lighter is still noticeable, though. Let's get into reviewing this month's game: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe!
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
I don't really get the hate for this game to be honest. It's really not that bad. Even more so, it is not bad. The game plays basically the same as New Super Mario Bros. Wii (a game everyone loved), which is not surprising as this game reused the latter's engine. I mean, the only good argument for the hate of this game is that it's already the fourth game in a franchise where nothing changes. Not to mention that it was already the 2nd New Super Mario Bros. game to release in 2012 after New Super Mario Bros. 2; skipping the usual 3-year gap. I'm pretty sure the hate would be less if the game either didn't release on a failed console or if it released in 2015 (keeping the 3-year gap between it and New Super Mario Bros. 2). But except for that, this game is pretty good. The level design is the best the series had to offer for me (although it's not even close compared to these fanmade levels. Also, you can finally play as someone other than Mario (and playing as Luigi is no longer a secret like in the handheld games)! So I could finally play a game with my boy Blue Toad (without being forced to play with a friend who then plays as Player 1 (who was forced to be Mario in New Super Mario Bros. Wii). Except for the Nabbit chases (which are a nice addition as well) and the boss fight changes (nice to see that Boom Boom got brought back), this game largely resembles New Super Mario Bros. Wii (which to me is a good thing, but I can see why people found it repetitive and wanted something new, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder definitely delivered with that).
Now about New Super Luigi U, I may not have so much to say about this game, but it's very nice to see Luigi get his first own 2D platformer! One that brings up quite the challenge as well! I love the shorter, faster-paced levels that this DLC offers and I really wish Nintendo would make something like this again. At least a fan managed to visualize how it would look if it was made for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but I still wanna see Nintendo officially giving this concept another chance.
That's it again for this edition. I hope y'all enjoyed it! Next time I'm reviewing the game that was my favorite for years: Fall Guys! Thank y'all for reading! Stay safe and cya all next time!
Completion Centre (Part 1)
Written by: Sentient freedom (talk)
Hey everyone, so my next review is about a very surrealistic and very hilarious one, it's Chuchel!
Personal Pathway
It's yet another game I found on the app store, but in all honesty I played this game twice, once on an APK and another on Google Play, but I enjoyed both of those playthroughs. The story here is that you play as Chuchel, a dust creature who has to constantly try to get his cherry back from an evil hand who stole it from him. There are 30 levels in total, each of which are puzzles that have to be solved in very elaborate ways, and there are two other characters of note that appear in this game:
- Kekel - This pink hedgehog is Chuchel's pet/rival/friend. She (yes it's female) is basically that one character in any video game that gets on the main character's (and the player's) nerves but then redeems themselves by the end of the game, think Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
- Chrchel - He is the main antagonist of the game and is the one responsible for stealing Chuchel's cherry. He is basically Chuchel but larger and dustier.
Also, fun fact about Chuchel, prior to December 20, 2018, Chuchel's body was black with an orange hat, this was changed to orange and a black hat by the developers on that day due to players interpreting that as the blackface stereotype.
Do note that I will only go over levels where it is possible to get achievements, since honestly, I don't think it's worth analyzing every level in the game, especially since this is about getting 100%.
Level 1
This level has Chuchel in his house with his neighbors which are two birds, a gnome, a large green elephant, a blue slime and a creature with a bottle next to it called Drinking Sir. This is the level where you can get the Good Morning achievement, and that is to simply interact with everything within his house, this also includes the four pictures, plugging in the speakers and turning on the TV.
Level 4
In this level, Chuchel is chasing Kekel who has his cherry, but it gets swiped and stored inside the Pool Monster, and now the two much work together to pry him open to retrieve it. The Blabber achievement can be achieved here by talking to the Pool Monster three times by clicking on him and choosing the option to talk. Upon doing this he'll retrieve an item from his head. The first time is a pinwheel, the second is a spring and the third and final time is a ball.
Level 10
In this level, Chrchel places the cherry behind a sloth who doesn't allow Chuchel to pass because of a warning sign that says that he isn't allowed to. The Blue Bean achievement is here and you get it by having Chuchel eat the olive-coloured bean in all of his forms.
In his normal form, the bean causes Chuchel to sneeze out a clone of himself and the clones to do the same thing. They all laugh until a blue monster eats them all, only leaving the real Chuchel left.
His duck form, which can be achieved by eating the pink pear, has the same effect, having him sneeze out a clone of himself, but it's also short-lived as a black bird comes and eats them all, again only leaving the real one.
In his bubble form, which can be achieved by eating the green spiral-like fruit, the bean causes him to enlarge, so basically a Mega Mushroom. Then Chrchel pops Chuchel with a needle returning him to his normal size.
And finally, in his spider form, which can be achieved by eating the golden apple, nothing seems to happen at first, but then a bean-shaped dancer appears from his hat and starts to dance, Chrcel then flicks it away a few seconds later.
It should be noted that feeding the bean to Kekel doesn't count towards the achievement, but for the record, if you do feed it her, she turns into a monster and tries to eat Chuchel, but he pulls the bean out of her before she can, returning her to normal.
Level 18
In this level, the cherry is in a cage, and Chuchel has to find a way to free it. There are three hats: Chuchel's default hat, a Stocking Cap and a Jester Hat. All you need to do to get the Three Caps achievement here is to interact with the thing on the right in each respective area.
Chuchel's Hat: Interact with the shower. The first option will have Chuchel drink the shower water, and the second will have him take a shower.
Jester Hat: Interact with the button. The first time will have Chuchel be squished by a weight, pressing it a second time will have Chuchel avoid the first weight only to be squished by a second one, and pressing it a third time will have Chuchel avoid multiple weights and them one of them will kick him and then Chuchel will yell at them and get squished.
Stocking Cap: On the right is an icicle. The first option will have Chuchel touch it which causes him to get frozen solid, and the second option will have Chuchel lick it.
Level 21
This level starts right where level 20 left off and sees Chuchel trying to shoot down Kekel with a blowgun that shoots ink. Eventually, Kekel makes it into the sky and hides in the clouds. This is where the Cloudbuster achievement is, and for it you need to shoot all the clouds which makes Kekel move to a different one. However, it's not that simple because all the clouds also means ones that are merged. There are five starting clouds to begin with. Shooting them will reveal a creature. By shooting the top two first and then the bottom three in this order, they will reveal:
- Gey dog and cats
- A cyclops creature in a window
- White winged creatures
- A bathing frog
- And an Angry Storm Cloud
After shooting all of them, combining clouds three and four where the white winged creatures and the bathing frog were by shooting an empty space to create a shockwave is the recommended course of action, and then by shooting that cloud you'll reveal an orange cloud creature.
Then combine clouds five and one, and then shooting it will reveal a yellow bird chick.
Finally, all that is left is to combine cloud two with the top combined cloud, and then shooting that will reveal a cloud band, and after revealing them you will get the achievement.
Level 27
In this level, Chrchel will put Chuchel and Kekel in experimenting jars, and will give them pills and bottles. To get the Creature Maker achievement you need to make every creature that is displayed on the second vial. The mood vials are not necessary for unlocking the achievement.
The red capsule combinations with the dark blue bottle will result in Chuchel turning into a worm and Kekel into a fish, and the light blue bottle will result in Chuchel turning into a snail and Kekel into a mushroom.
The blue capsule combinations with the dark blue bottle will result in Chuchel turning into a ladybug and Kekel into four slimes, and the light blue bottle will result in Chuchel turning into a dog and Kekel into a cat. After making all of the creatures you will get the achievement.
Level 29
There are a series of events in this level, but we will only focus on the second to last part of it. Here, Chuchel reunites with his cherry, but Kekel accidentally lands on him, causing him to daydream about him and a living cherry making love to each other, but then an evil doppelgänger called LehcuhC interrupts their moment and traps the cherry in a cage. From there, a bunch of options appear, but in order to get the Snail Racing Champion achievement, you need to chose the option with the snail. This causes a race to begin. There are various buttons that show up during the race, those being a forward and back button, a rocket, a turbine and a leg. All you need to do is just win the race, that's it. The cinematic that plays after doesn't matter, as long as Chuchel's snail reaches the finish line first you'll get the achievement.
Annoying Atrium
In my honest opinion, this game isn't as much of a puzzle game as BROK the InvestiGator was. What I'm saying is it isn't as hard or long as it, and while you could make an argument for Dadish being short, that is a platforming game so it makes sense. I wish the levels were just a bit harder, after all surrealism is a concept which states that illogical things can exist, like a sign being a man-eating monster (I'm serious, that's in the game).
Decision Dessert Place
In spite of that issue, Chuchel is a great game and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes surrealism, because how could anyone say no to a cherry-loving furball. I surely won't!
Conclusion Center
So, what is your reward for getting all the achievements? A bunch of Chuchels singing, dancing and performing acts, just the reward we want for such a surreal game.
Completion Centre (Part 2)
This month's Part Deux of Completion Centre features coverage of not a game, but a time-limited challenge event exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 owners with an active Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) membership: The DK Challenge! If that's not exclusive enough for you, just wait until we get into the details of actually finishing it!
This would ideally be discussed after full 'Shroom coverage of all the Donkey Kong games featured in the Challenge (see the current coverage list!) but time has forced my hand. The Challenge ends in about one week, and it was just announced that U.S. players can get physical cards for completing the Challenge!
Here is the list of all games featured, in order of original release date:
- Donkey Kong (NES)
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Donkey Kong 3
- Donkey Kong Jr. Math
- Donkey Kong (Game Boy)
- Donkey Kong Country
- Donkey Kong Land
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
- Donkey Kong Land 2
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Kong Double Trouble!
- Donkey Kong Land III
And most notably:
The premise here is that under the NSO app of the Switch 2, there is a tab named "DK Challenge" which lists 39 tasks for the player to finish before the end of the event. 15 of these challenges are for the Nintendo Classics games listed above, and the remaining 24 are for Donkey Kong Bananza. The Classics challenges consist of simply finishing specific levels across several games. The Bananza challenges cover progressing through the story, collecting specific Banandium Gems, and completing all-new tasks within various bonus stages. This means that the player must also own Donkey Kong Bananza, and ideally start and finish the base game during the Challenge. For each challenge finished, a unique card is earned as a sort of achievement. For finishing an entire set of challenges, specific Nintendo profile icons are unlocked at the end of the event. And as mentioned, for finishing the entire Challenge, players in the U.S. can redeem a physical card set of the challenges.
With all those clarifiers in place to understand the Challenge, let's get into the experience of completing it!
Personal Pathway
Honestly, I think this is a pretty cool initiative for Nintendo! This brings added value to playing through some of the old and new of the Donkey Kong franchise. We have the vast majority of the NSO library of DK games covered here, as well as a full spread of challenges across Bananza's base game. Conveniently, I had recently blasted through the classic Country and Land games this year, and had experience with the older games as well. Also, this Challenge solidified my decision to stop procrastinating and finally get Bananza. Suffice it to say that I was a target audience member for this event!
Now for actually going through the Challenge, let's go through each set:
Nintendo Classics
Each challenge here requires finishing an iconic level from a bunch of old DK games. A very nice feature is that the NSO app will automatically load each specific stage for the player through the DK Challenge menu. If the player is familiar with platformers, this set generally wont take very long. As someone who has already completed all these games, the Classics challenges took less than an hour. Most of the time was spent in the final challenge, fighting the true chaotic evil of the franchise, King K. Rool. Despite how short this set is, it was fun to revisit some memorable levels like Bramble Blast and 8-bit Pirate Panic. This set will also definitely boost the total playtime of Donkey Kong Jr. Math on NSO by a huge margin, just for you monkey math maniacs.
The purpose of these challenges are obvious, in that they offer an accessible smorgasbord of retro DK levels for new and old players to blast through. Aside from the multiple paywalls to participate, not much stands in the way for folks to dive into the Kong Kraziness. Whether it be the nasty save system of the first Donkey Kong Country, the weirdness of Donkey Kong 3, or the broken sprites of Donkey Kong Land, this set abridges those hurdles to offer a good rundown of DK's yesteryears. If you can participate, I highly recommend this challenge set!
Donkey Kong Bananza
These challenges differ quite a lot compared to the Classics ones. They basically serve as a more traditional achievement system for the entirety of base Bananza. While the game already has a few progression trackers by default, these challenges are a nice supplement for a playthrough. Thankfully for returning players, some story and progression-based challenges are automatically unlocked for the Challenge by simply launching Bananza. But the majority of challenges require additional effort during the event. The most interesting challenges here are the "Against the Clock" and "Developer Challenges" subsets.
For my run-through, I happened to play Bananza for the first time while also completing the DK Challenge. This meant that the time-based "Against the Clock" challenges were fun to look forward to for my playthrough of the campaign. Spread out across various layers, these challenges feel rather organic to the design of those specific levels. They were of a good difficulty and definitely helped me get better with speed and maneuvering in the game itself. The "Developer Challenges" are the most interesting subset of DK Challenge, as they also feel very authentic to Bananza's design and serve as great post-game content. The Rambi Rumble challenge basically requires breaking the level itself, which is rather cathartic. The "zero skills unlocked" challenges here are awesome, and could have been incorporated into the actual game. The Final Rehearsal run can be pretty difficult, especially when not using Assist mode, as it requires some speedrunning tech to navigate easily (AFATs all day!)
Overall, the Bananza challenge set is awesome and can enhance a playthrough of the base game. The speed-oriented challenges can also help players find tips that will help them be more effective in Emerald Rush, if they choose to get the DLC at some point. This set is recommended to any new or returning fan of Bananza.
Since I happened to meet all the requirements to receive the physical reward, I'm very stoked to get a set of cards for finishing the Challenge! Nintendo clarified that they wont charge Platinum Points to get the cards, so I'm assuming that they will only charge for shipping like with other My Nintendo rewards. If that's the case, then sign me up! (Sponsored: Get free shipping on any Nintendo.com order by buying a physical game there!) It's also nice that they confirmed that we can view the digital cards after the Challenge ends on the NSO app.
Annoying Atrium
The most glaring issue with the DK Challenge is the paywall to participate. To make this review even more potentially dated, I'm going to obsess over some of the current financial state of Nintendo gaming, at least as it relates to the Challenge.
Here is the total cost in U.S. Dollars to have full access to the Challenge within its duration, when not considering trials or deals:
- Nintendo Switch Online (Base, three months): $7.99
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Physical or digital): $79.99
- Nintendo Switch 2 (Base, no discounts): $449.99
- Total: $537.97
Even with the current system + game combo discount, plus the one-time 7-day NSO free trial, the minimum to fully participate in the DK Challenge will exceed $500 USD. While we can debate the economics of game and console prices literally forever, I need to comment that I don't love that the DK Challenge is entirely exclusive to Switch 2 owners. Heck, I really like my Switch 2, Bananza, and even my NSO subscription! But I know I'm pretty lucky to even have any of those right now.
It would have been a nice gesture for the Nintendo Classics challenges to be available for Switch 1 owners, since it is entirely possible for those users to perform the same tasks across those games with a base NSO subscription. I would know, since I previously completed those retro games on my Switch 1! Allowing past-gen players to play the Classics challenges would lower the price for partial participation to be well below $300, or even as low as $170 when considering official refurbished Switch Lite consoles.
Along with money, let's briefly consider the factor of time here. The Challenge itself only runs from June 9th to September 1st, 2026. The Classics challenges shouldn't take most people longer than 2 hours maximum, thankfully. But the Bananza challenges demand at least one playthrough with several post-game tasks, which I estimate taking 20 hours at a minimum. Not everyone can or wants to be time-constrained to finish the tasks of this event. I would also be very anxious about trying to enjoy Bananza for the first time while also beelining to complete the Challenge. Since I finished the Challenge a month ago, I'm glad that I didn't feel this anxiety. But it seems plausible that someone may experience this at some point, especially since we are nearing the event's end.
Since we covered money and time here, I couldn't resist producing a low-quality meme:
In all seriousness, the financial and temporal constraints are the biggest issues with DK Challenge. Also, the region-lock for folks to redeem the physical cards is not ideal, but somewhat understandable. There are smaller issues like certain level choices for challenges (why did they choose 3-1 from Donkey Kong '94?), how the Classics challenges could have been diversified to include tasks other than just finishing a level, or how Bananza's challenges arguably should have just been part of the game itself. They could have gone even further to include Donkey Kong 64, Country Returns, or Tropical Freeze in the Challenge (albeit making the paywall worse). But all those issues pale in comparison to the price tag, time limitations, and region exclusivity.
Since they are offering a set of 39 cards for the physical set, they could have designed a few more challenges and had the cards serve as part of a standard 52-card deck. This would have been extremely cool, but substantially more work, so maybe next time!
And for the record, the prices listed in this section were taken from Nintendo.com/US/.
Decision Dessert Place
To bring back the positivity here, the DK Challenge is fun! For any current or prospective Donkey Kong fan, I highly recommend trying out the Challenge if you haven't already. Or even consider rushing to finish it before September 1st! The barrier of entry is quite substantial, but the collectible cards as digital (and potentially physical) rewards are certainly interesting. These can definitely feel more rewarding than a colored-in icon on an arbitrary checklist. The fact that they are date-stamped and name the player right on the card is cool. It would also be interesting if the cards had or will have any relation to the cards on Nintendo Today. And the profile icons to be handed out after the event will be a nice permanent reward for completion.
From a completion standpoint, absolutely try the DK Challenge if you are able! But for anyone holding off on buying a Switch 2, this shouldn't sway your decision very much.
Conclusion Centre
This is definitely an experiment for Nintendo to try implementing achievement systems on their platform. As part of the target demographic for these projects, I find their approach here quite interesting! We basically have two different methods here for implementing achievements: The Classics set functions like the fan made tasks of RetroAchievements, offering the ease of emulation features to complete specific goals in older games. Being able to jump to the specific part of the game related to the challenge is a great feature, which likely took some engineering to implement across the applications. The Bananza set would work verbatim as the base game's achievement system in a modern sense, like those commonly found in games on other platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The physical card set is also a super cool bonus! I commend Nintendo for offering new achievement-like challenges for existing games, while also integrating them with their services in a unique way.
It would be very interesting if Nintendo continued to offer similar events in the future. A new Mario, Zelda, or Kirby Challenge could be pretty fun! They may use a different word than "challenge" later on, especially if its use here was an obscure callback to the DK TV show. But this event does set a precedent: For any future events like this, they will likely remain exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 owners with a current NSO subscription, as well as require ownership of any modern games covered in the Challenge. They may also place a bias towards U.S. players for handing out physical rewards. Let's just hope that they remain fun, and that they consider making them more accessible for everyone in the future!
Written by: Hypnotoad (talk)
Art by: TPG (talk)
S'mores Summer Special - Part 2
Despite the onslaught of pumpkin spice and even peppermint flavors finding their way into stores through endcaps, shippers, and special displays, summer is not over!!! It's not over, please!!! I have so many more s'mores things to review!!!
Chobani Flip S’more S’mores
Presented with the pizzazz of being part of their regular lineup, added in 2017 following success of the Flip line, Chobani Flip S’more S’mores is a lowfat vanilla Greek yogurt with honey graham crackers, milk chocolate, and toasted sugar bits. The main draw of Chobani Flips are keeping dry ingredients separate from the relatively wet yogurt, coupled with unique flavors and combinations in a container that makes it easy to just ‘flip’ them together. Personally, I don’t like having a useless floppy half of the container that’s emptied of its contents, but it’s a nice alternative to extra lids and pieces you gotta hold onto until you get them to a trash can.
There looks to be a pathetic amount of topping to mix in, but after thoroughly moving it around it becomes apparent that it’s more than adequate as the pieces are small and crumbly enough to really spread. The whole flipping gimmick feels a little clunky and potentially disastrous, but I appreciate that this can now include toppings that would otherwise get soggy or fail if left in the yogurt itself for the duration of its shelf-life. The graham cracker and chocolate sure do taste like what they are, and provide a nice crunch and accurate flavor, though–expectedly–the yogurt is very yogurt-forward and so the marshmallow replacement takes taste and texture precedence. The yogurt looks, moves, and tastes like marshmallow fluff, if just a bit less actively sticky; the yogurty tang is present but not in a way that brings you out of the illusion that you’re just glorpin’ down spoonfuls of melty marshmallow. This concerns and confuses me a bit because other reviews deny any marshmallow taste at all, and no one else from reviewers to their website state that the yogurt is meant to be like marshmallow fluff because that’s really the texture I experienced myself. Maybe their yogurt is just that goopy and I’m not a Chobani fanatic enough to know that? Either way the toasted sugar bits gave enough marshmallow flavor to convince me, and as skeptical as I am about marshmallow flavor overall I consider this a win for Chobani. A very bold decision to not include marshmallow in here when it’s by far the cheapest thing, and I support their perhaps unintended decision to make clear that marshmallow is extremely easy to claim as a flavor or inclusion without actually doing anything.
A Peanut Butter S’mores Chobani Flip flavor dropped as a limited batch in mid-April 2026 as part of their campfire flavor campaign, and despite me looking in all of the usual spots to find it I just never did, and now it’s not listed on their website’s product finder. I’m really gonna need these food companies to not do a single batch of limited run items that are never listed for where to find and don’t even survive the first week or even make it close to their intended holiday. As much as I love Halloween there’s no reason for pumpkin spice and friends to be filling up valuable shelf and secondary display space in mid-July and August when we’re still very much in the summer season and–absit omen–the increasing popularity of Christmas in July.
Fortunately their celebrated S’mores Coffee Creamer is still available to purchase so I can get at least one limited time item out of this, and though it’s yet another limited edition seasonal coffee creamer when I hardly ever drink coffee, I just gotta do this or I’ll combust.
Chobani S’mores Coffee Creamer
Definitely smells s’mores-esque, with a toasty sweetness and nutty chocolate, and certainly tastes that way when drank straight from the bottle, which is a similar experience I’ve had with other creamers, but that’s just not how you’re meant to use them. Despite having a coffee maker I went to Wawa and got a mild roast to try this with because that’s an incredibly neutral nothing coffee taste that would give the creamer its best chance at being noticeable, and despite further me having about 8oz out of the 24oz of coffee being the creamer it just never tasted like anything beyond sugar and vanilla. After drinking about half I went and refilled it with more s’mores creamer and it just never got to the level of s’mores in any iota of recognizability.
With how hyped this particular flavor was I feel like I was lied to, and I feel fooled and deceived. With how much of the bottle of creamer I need to use just to get ANY flavor at all and it still not resembling what it’s advertised as just tells me that this is a complete failure of a genuine product and exists merely as seasonal snake oil that makes me want to avoid any of their other flavors lest they disappoint me in the same way. Sure, it tastes like real cream, sure it tastes fresh and unhindered by loads of additives and fillers as their only ingredients are milk, cream, cane sugar, natural flavors, and cocoa, but it’s just not strong enough and I don’t think I should have to use half of the bottle of creamer to achieve anything. All of these creamers that taste alright straight and then like nothing when used for their actual purpose just need to pivot to making just dessert milk flavors, and I know that’s not what the market will buy and I know that everyone trips over themselves for new and returning and seasonal creamer flavors, but why do we gotta keep lying to ourselves? Why do we have to keep lying to each other? Why do we have to keep living in a series of lies after lies to cosplay some kind of mature lifestyle when what we actually want is fun? Give me more flavored milks!! I can make the executive decision myself with using this to stir into coffee, or make a smoothie, or drink straight, use in a recipe, who cares because we just need to get over this and stop making so many coffee creamers that don’t do what they claim to.
Starbucks S’mores
I can’t just fire a shot at Starbucks drinks last month without giving a fair chance to their own s’mores seasonal drinks, especially because my favorite thing to do while writing reviews is just keep getting more and more things that qualify for what I’m already writing and inundating myself with things to write more about. The S’mores Frappuccino was first launched in 2015 and last available in the summer of 2020, with this being a return alongside two new additions: S’mores Cold Brew, and Iced S’mores Chai. Lisa Beckman–leader of the team who created the flavor–says all the right words for what I want to hear:
This is exactly what I’m looking for with these reviews; not just a flavor, but a feeling, an Aristotelian ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’, and surely I am safe to assume that no press release would ever lie or aberrate the truth in any way or set lofty visions that can’t be met, right?? I’m not sure how long these links are even going to be available for, but still providing them for contemporary use and to just plug into the Wayback Machine later if you really need it: S’mores Frappuccino (2 Vanilla Syrup pumps, 2 Milk Chocolate Sauce pumps, Graham Cracker Topping, Marshmallow Whipped Cream, Whole Milk, 3 Frappuccino Roast pumps), S’mores Cold Brew (2 Marshmallow Syrup pumps, Graham Cracker Topping, Milk Chocolate Drizzle, Marshmallow Cream Cold Foam, Ice), and Iced S’mores Chai (4 Marshmallow Syrup pumps, Graham Cracker Topping, Milk Chocolate Drizzle, Marshmallow Cream Cold Foam, 2% Milk, Ice, 4 Chai pumps). Each one of these were ordered as-is, with no changes made to the standard recipe.“This beverage is not just about recreating the flavor of a favorite treat, it’s about recreating a feeling — the joy of summer connection with friends. (...) Then we brought that idea to life through a delicious Frappuccino, layering flavors and textures to create a multi-sensory and emotional experience.”
It’s hard to really write anything about these separately because the review for all three is exactly the same: they taste like very little beyond what their base is–chai, cold brew, and frappuccino. I appreciate that they added a graham cracker topping to bring s’mores visuals into it and at least acknowledge that s’mores is a trio and not a duo, but it just didn’t add anything. I have no clue how anyone else is consuming this as nearly every other review I’m finding online praises the graham cracker adding nice crunchiness, unless you’re eating the topping or whipped cream separately with a spoon or taking an obnoxiously huge bite out of the top the graham cracker topping just never enters a straw or a sip naturally or effortlessly, succumbing to softening and dissolving as they sit there. Like, “(...) the graham cracker crumble brings just enough texture to sell the illusion of biting into an actual s’more” is a wild lie that we need to not accept. The chai was the most noticeably different, entirely because it’s chai, and was just simply a strong cinnamon taste with no other bit of nuance. The frappuccino is by far the best one out of this, and I think because it’s such a sweet and accessible option, but tastes more like a frozen hot chocolate as the marshmallow syrup doesn’t give a telltale toasty marshmallow taste and instead just vanilla and sugar, elements that easily flex into many things that aren’t indicative of just s’mores. Thoroughly mixing each of these to incorporate their respective toppings into one homogenous didn’t elevate it much besides making each sip a little sweeter, as the chocolate drizzle didn’t taste like much and the graham crackers either fully dissolved or sank to the bottom. The marshmallow whipped cream and cold foam is highly praised as being campfire nostalgia, but I’m just not getting anything deeper than maybe a kinda vanilla topping. I believe it’s evidence for banning all social media that there’s people glazing stuff so hard with outright lies and absurd reactions because none of these really wowed me in any way, but sometimes a real review appears and just has me hoping that one day critical thinking skills will enter common thought. Not bad, not good, not s’mores.
My favorite part of those press releases that heave great praise onto internal corporate makers is that they provide and direct name to point blame at for expectations failed to be met. I’m not sure how Yi Wang-Delizo thinks people drink liquids through a straw, but if the goal is to create something that looks great in a picture with no intention to actually drink with sane conclusions–i.e. expecting the graham cracker topping to actually mean anything–then I think we’ve got a winner. I think that with how much marshmallow really tastes like nothing (sugar, vanilla if anything) that physical marshmallows should’ve been the central decoration instead of the graham cracker, instead utilizing a graham flavoring to increase the overall toastiness of each drink.
Kodiak S’mores Chewy Granola Bar
I’ve tried stuff from Kodiak Cakes before, and have seen Kodiak all over the place as it’s one of the original and most ubiquitous high protein breakfast food companies. Apparently they were on an episode of Shark Tank in 2014 where they declined the terrible offers despite already being available in Target, and got a huge boost just from the publicity. I’m thankful they didn’t get it because I always get a grimy feeling from anything I see with a Shark Tank logo or sticker on it because it just makes me feel like I’m throwing my money at a gimmick, and Kodiak skillfully avoids all of those gross feelings of scamming and slamming a trend; they feel like a genuine product that was a bit ahead of its time and just keeps on chugging with the help of being bought up by private equity. Originally known for whole grain cake mixes full of “fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals essential to fueling an active life”, they moved into high protein right after their Shark Tank episode, making a strong name for themselves and putting them right in position for the incoming protein craze.
Available since 2021, very soon after their largest injection of investment, Kodiak Cakes release chewy granola bars available in three flavors including S’mores which is why we’re here today. Featuring 100% whole grain oats, 7 grams of protein, non-GMO ingredients (at least during their debut because there sure isn’t any indication of that now), the S’mores bars also include 100% whole grain rice, chocolate chips, marshmallows, cane sugar, almond butter, and some other stuff to keep it somewhat together. For my experience, visible chocolate chips and marshmallows in what appears to be a pretty standard granola bar akin to Quaker Chewy Granola Bars. Similar to those chewy granola bars and others, but so much worse, with absolutely no ability to hold itself up, sagging and falling apart if you do not support the entire bar or keep it mostly within the package. Very frustrating to eat, and I can’t imagine how this would be on a nature walk as the marketing seems to intend for these, where I’d feel more comfortable with a little baggie of loose granola shaken into my hands, or for kids as flavor text seems to be angling towards as if kids need help making a mess of their food. I will give some credit in that I’m not seeing them fall apart like this in other review videos so it’s possible I got a weird batch, but that level of inconsistency is not something I really want when I’m buying something so expensive.
It’s not bad, but it doesn’t give me s’mores at all, just a pretty standard big name store bought granola bar. The chocolate chips are certainly there, but in no better or different way than any other granola bar using chocolate to entire an unwilling customer base to eat marginally healthier. No graham cracker or marshmallow taste or texture, maybe just a touch of sweetness that really could be from anything else, and I’m hoping they didn’t think chewy granola would be a good swap for the crunch I expect from graham crackers. I can imagine that they neglected to include actual graham cracker pieces so they could keep this fully chewy, but then my suggestion is just not even have this as a flavor at all, and use it for one of their crunchy bars. Even maybe including cinnamon in here would give the idea of graham crackers, but these really are just another chocolate chip granola bar with some sweetness to hide weird protein flavor.
Toto S’mores Cookie
A short and sweet review of Toto’s S’mores cookie as it does not deviate much from their other cookies or offer much of note.
As of March 2026 Toto has started a ‘new chapter’, defined by updated recipes to prioritize ‘ooey-gooey’ comfort and marketed as nostalgia, indulgence, and comfort with a weird tradcore farmcore cottagecore prairie girl spin. I genuinely do appreciate seeing a multi-part look into what goes into a rebrand as that kind of deeper look is always so interesting to see, and does a lot more to convince me of intent and story than some words on a package, as it more thoroughly explains the rebrand’s genuine connection to nostalgia as the core genesis of the brand rather than it just being yet another country girl pivot to satisfy increased conservative social values.
“Gooey marshmallows, thick chunks of chocolate, and a soft, melty center” are what’s promised but not what’s delivered. It’s definitely soft, sure, but crumbly almost like kinetic sand rather than ooey-gooey. It tastes like a soft-baked protein cookie and nothing else, in that the pea protein and the flaxseed meal comprise all of what’s tasted despite a valiant effort from very large chocolate chips and visible marshmallow gunk, leaving it just tasting earthy, beany, almost fishy and oily with a touch of moldy basement. Getting absolutely no smores from this, just chocolate being present and an overwhelming protein taste, and I honestly don’t know how influencer reviews that are so intensely fake and full of either lies or delusion can be allowed to exist or what their baseline for good taste even is if they’re doubling back in ecstasy over something that tastes rotten. I get it, I get it, I really do, I get it, it’s hard to find good tasty treats that abide by a host of allergen-friendly labeling and diet needs as Toto genuinely does, but that’s no reason to pretend it’s euphoric. I feel almost like I could take the entirety of the previous Toto review two years ago and say the exact same things here, so just please take the time to go re-read that while keeping in mind that their S’mores cookie is an outlier in that heating it up made it exponentially worse by exacerbating the flavors that are just gross. I get that their goal is to be ooey-gooey but s’mores do have some crunch to them, so I would’ve liked to at least have some graham cracker bits, but I don’t know, maybe that’s antithetical to their design and they should’ve instead not made this flavor at all.
This video is honestly the most real review, I’m so fascinated by how it starts off hitting so many influencer notes and then once he gets a whiff of it he’s just like ok damn I gotta tell the truth. The fly is a paid actor.
Pillsbury S’mores Big Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Ezpz baking instructions as you’d expect from Pillsbury ready-to-bake products across the board, with these having marshmallow pieces, chocolate, and graham-flavored pieces (named as such because it’s not technically a standard graham cracker when it’s made mostly from various forms of corn).
Their official name–Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Big Cookies S'mores Cookie Dough–is quite a mouthful, and unfortunately they’re not something I’d want another mouthful of. Huge oblong chunks of dough that you’re supposed to personally squish into a circle if you want them round, and I’m just not sure what the point of marketing them as “6 Big Cookies” is when pretty much every similarly packaged cookie dough is 14oz (or even larger for a lower price!) as well and–as any real and true cookie dough fan knows–you can mash even the smaller cuts together to make larger cookies if you want. In fact, the size of the cookies is the major selling point of this line through its marketing material to achieve some ‘bakery-style cookie’ food trend, rather than their particular flavors. What I did to create a nice sample selection was I left a few dough chunks as their original oblong shape, broke a few in half to make smaller pieces, and smushed some into rounder shapes. They look nothing like the picture on the package, instead looking to be several shades darker. I followed the instructions exactly, even taking them out at their minimum recommended time, and they’re still dark and pretty crunchy, which concerns me because other reviews had to go for longer and they were still undercooked. I’m not sure where things went wrong because the steps are very simple and standard, and the inconsistency presented is not something I believe my oven is capable of and is not something I want to have. Honestly, I don’t mind the bit of crunch because it’s the only thing that’s really giving s’mores, as the marshmallow only exists as a weak visual and the chocolate chips are scarce; I kinda want from my s’mores a bit of a mess from an overwhelming amount of chocolate and marshmallow. The unbaked cookie dough is edible, as explained on the package, but unfortunately it doesn’t taste good, heaving the fake marshmallow flavor to the forefront for me to grimace about and think about what else I could’ve spent $6 on.
It kinda tickles me that Pillsbury is pushing a ‘viral’ trend of adding cookie dough to classic s’mores because what do you mean you’re using the S’mores Big Cookie cookie dough and not just standard chocolate chip, is it because you know your S’mores cookies are nothing of the sort? What they really should’ve done is just bring back S’mores Sensation Melts filled cookies as those sound like they’d actually achieve a pretty close s’mores connection with texture and visuals and not just “there’s marshmallows in there!”
| The 'Shroom: Issue 233 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • Credits |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
