As the success of last November’s Dragon Quest Slime Manju showed us, steamed meat buns shaped like videogame characters are so hot right now.

Now, Sega has teamed up with Japanese confectioner Imuraya Co. to bring us frumpy pink Puyo Puyo steamed meat buns.

The buns are being sold as a part of the Puyo Puyo series’ 20th anniversary and can be purchased at select convenience store chains such as Coco!, Family Mart (Hokkaido, Minami Kyushu and Okinawa only) and Odakyu Mart.

At 160 yen (US $2.10), these Puyo Puyo nikuman (steamed meat buns) are 10 yen cheaper than their Slime counterparts.

We travelled to our nearest convenience store to purchase 4 angry red Puyo buns so we could try stacking them on top of each other. While we were well aware that doing so would likely cause the Puyos to create a chain and disappear, leaving us out 640 yen and an afternoon snack, we knew it was a risk we had to take—for journalism.

We stacked Puyo upon Puyo until finally it came time to crown the 4th Puyo upon the tower of his brethren and doing so, to both our relief and dismay, nothing happened.

As for the taste, well, it’s really just your typical convenience store nikuman: a mixture of bamboo shoot, pork and onion inside a chewy steamed flour bun. If anything, it felt like they skimped out on the filling, but I suppose it’s a small tradeoff for the joy these little Puyo buns bring fans like myself who have been playing Puyo Puyo since the first arcade game.

Like the Slime steamed buns, quantities are limited by store and some stores are already selling out. If you’re really set on getting your hands on one, you may want to call the store in advance—that’s what we did and it ensured we were able to secure 4 Puyo buns just for ourselves.

Source：puyo.sega.jp

▼ Like the Slime buns, the eyes are made by sticking extra layers of dough on the bun

▼ One more to make a chain!

▼ I stared in bewilderment and Puyo stared back.

▼ Each Puyo’s face is slightly different

▼ Could use a little more filling

▼ Take off the eyes and it’s like one of those optical illusions!

▼ Puyo Puyo wrapping

▼ The Puyos are sold in the same giant glass case as other buns

[ Read in Japanese ]