Yoshi Island Gummy Egg - J-Box

Yoshi Island Gummy Egg - J-Box

I posted a little teaser of this over on my Instagram a few days ago. I said it once and I'll say it again, I freaking love Yoshi's Island. I grew up with the original NES, which my mother and grandmother played while I was a baby (That's right, they're that cool.), and when I was older, I had my own SNES with a handful of games. I had Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, and Super Mario World 2, also known as Yoshi's Island. That's it. I would play these games over and over trying to get everything on each level, I'm a total completionist, and I couldn't of been happier.

Eventually my SNES stopped working, which was really upsetting, but I had moved on to the N64 and other gaming systems. Still, my love for this game never died. I own the DS version, which is pretty different since there are other babies than Mario, but the game mechanics are still the same, and this even newer version came out last year. (Which is the specific game this candy is referencing.) 

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If you're in the area, come check it out this Saturday!

Since I'll be selling geekyprints and designs this Saturday at the Rutgers Camden Comic Con  (which is totally FREE event!) I thought there was no better time to review this item and indulge in my inner geekiness.

Okay enough rambling about how awesome Yoshi's Island is, time to get on with the review!

The packaging is made with foiled plastic and it's pretty small. There's only one gummy inside, and a collectable card, so the small size makes sense. (It costs less than $2.00) As for the design and artwork, it's a total nostalgia bomb! The original game featured similar watercolor and sketchy crayon backgrounds as the ones featured on this package, but don't let all those pastel colors and fluffy clouds fool you. This game's more challenging than it looks. Right off the bat, this is obviously a novelty product meant to target suckers consumers like me who have a soft spot for this line of games, plus they are using this to build up hype for the newer Yoshi games they have on the way, but I don't care. I love this game and I want this gummy. (Consumerism at it's finest. 'Merica!)

As usual, I still can't read any of these characters, one day I'll learn, but for now it's easy to see that grid is showing off the possible collectible card options. (Although there seem to be more options listed online.)  Each card is related to something from the 2014 game, which included a lot more nightmare-inducing morphed Yoshi. (What is the plural of Yoshi? Yoshi? Yoshis?) Let's open it up and see which one I got!

All of you on Instagram already knew, but I got the yellow winged Yoshi! I'm very happy with the outcome, I honestly did not want a helicopter or pick up truck shaped dinosaur, and the card quality is really nice. The paper is thick and coated, maybe 12pt with a matte UV (can you tell I'm a printer and designer by day?) and the printing is very colorful and crisp. I love it!

There are faux textures, which is very reminiscent of the images and textures used in-game, and everything about this little card, from it's colors to it's layout, makes me a very happy graphic design. (I'm totally not biased by nostalgia factor. Nope. Not me.) So this is obviously a novelty Nintendo product, but it's also a candy, so let's see if this little egg tastes any good.

The gummy egg comes in a plastic tray, similar to the Anpanman gummies I've reviewed in the past, and it smells like artificial green apple.

As expected, the gummy is really thin, so you can see right through it. For a novelty, it's kind of pretty. The little air bubbles trapped inside almost look like glitter, and the mold gave the egg it's trademark spots. It might be a marketing ploy, but it looks like they put a decent amount of effort into the product itself.

I took a bite, and I was surprised that the flavoring was as good as it was, I had originally expected this to be a dud, but it's pretty darn tasty. The flavoring isn't overly intense, but it's definitely apple. I'd say it's a mixture of the tangy green apple Jolly Ranchers mixed with a bit of apple juice concentrate. It's sweet, and tangy, but it tastes a lot more artificial than any other apple related gummies I have had from Japanese and Asian companies.

The bite is also a lot stiffer than I was expecting. Although this is nowhere near as stiff as the Anpanman gummies, which I am pretty sure were stale, this is more like a stiff gumdrop or a fruit leather than a bouncy soft gummy candy.

I bought this because I loved Yoshi's Island, and I knew this was a novelty item, but the candy quality was actually pretty good! I wouldn't say this is the best apple gummy in the world, I've had better, but for something that was packaged with a collectable card, this is a lot better than I thought it'd be. If you love Yoshi and you enjoy green apple Jolly Ranchers, this is the perfect item for you. If any of you aren't big fans of the games, then this is obviously a candy you can skip over. If you want a really yummy apple gummi try these instead.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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