So one day when I was roaming about in Daiso looking for goods to distribute to the Nin Tendo Empire, I encountered a treat so legendary that it needed to be talked about.
This right here is Charapaki, a classic Japanese candy that combines the wonderful taste of crispy chocolate with the puzzle-style gameplay of a Mario spin-off.
Charapaki's history actually goes back to the Japanese tradition of katanuki, a festival game involving using a toothpick to carve out a shape or design on a piece of candy without breaking either the pick or the candy. Similarly, the Korean equivalent dalgona has a very similar premise, with it most famously appearing as a challenge in Squid Game.
Now officially, Charapaki was a relatively recent development all things considered, seeing as it was first invented by Yuta Katano in 2017. The design of the candy was heavily inspired by the katanuki games of old, and so he decided to adapt it to a modern lens by making it a concept for a chocolate bar where you have to try to carve out the outer layers to reveal the character in the center.
And what came along the way during the development of this concept? Mario did! That's right! When the candy first entered the conbini in 2017, the very first edition featured Super Mario, quickly becoming a wild success and spawning its own empire since the late 2010s. Nowadays, you can find plenty of different Charapaki variants, including ones reminiscent of Pokémon cards and ones featuring Hello Kitty (because she's just awesome). Do you think we could see a Celeste variant come out soon? I hope so!
So how do these Charapaki bars affect Shingyaru Mintmobile? Well, it should be noted that it is actually one of his favorite candies of all time. He enjoys the combination of gameplay and eating any source of food, making it a perfect option for him when he's feeling like a snack!
Now I beg ALL of you to buy a few to support our starving indie dev team who made this happen.
