Nintendo Direct 09.02.2022 | My Reaction

Hey lovelies! Happy March!! As you can tell from the title of today's post, I'm going to be sharing some of my thoughts on the most recent Nintendo Direct... almost a month after it aired. Better late than never, right?.... right?? I am so happy that getting a Nintendo Switch has revived my love for gaming after so many years. I mean, the nostalgic love hadn't disappeared, and I would often re-play some of PlayStation classics from my childhood, but some things that happened in my life put a dampener on gaming for a while, and I focused on my other hobbies much more. However, Animal Crossing: New Horizons ignited the spark again, and it's an awesome feeling to find myself getting hyped for new releases and updates like I used to as a teenager! So, even though I'm a few weeks behind, I still wanted to express my excitement with my fabulous readers, many of whom are likely to be game-enthusiasts themselves, and relive all that excitement again as I write :) I hope the same happens for you guys as you read along! 

First, I'm going to be discussing the games I'm most looking forward to, the ones I audibly squeee'd in reaction to when they came up during the direct. Then I'll talk about some others that peaked my interest and I feel deserve honourable mentions. I'd love to hear all about which games you're most excited about, so please let me know in the comments. 

I was absolutely over the moon when around twenty minutes into the Direct, a familiar pink round boi came running onto our screens! I had been keeping my fingers crossed for a Kirby game for a while, and oh my goodness, this trailer did not let me down! How brilliant does Kirby and the Forgotten Land look though!? 

If you've been following my blog for a while and read the posts featuring the Kirby Ichiban Kuji lottery games I've played, then you will know how much I adore this Nintendo character. Although, I had a Nintendo DS in my early teens, I wasn't introduced to this cute little puffball until one of my friends in high school let me have a play of his Kirby game on the computers in the IT room at lunchtime, and I immediately fell in love with the character. I would get encouraged by my friends to imitate Kirby's moves in the game all the time because apparently I was hilarious, haha! And there's just lots of fun memories for me surrounding the franchise :) 

The new game, which is scheduled to be released on March 25th, is so colourful and bright, and very much encapsulates the kawaii aesthetic, whilst presenting an action-packed and entertaining storyline. Aside from the overall appearance of the game, my absolute favourite feature has to be the 'Mouthful Mode' move and all its variations. I am particularly obsessed with Light-bulb Kirby, with Vending Machine Kirby coming in at a very close second. All of the artwork that I've seen around on twitter and instagram of Kirby-shaped random household objects and such has been fabulous! Which is your favourite of the Mouthful Modes? I cannot wait to play this beautiful and awesome-looking game! 

If you watched the Nintendo Direct and weren't ecstatic about announcements involving the character in the above photo, we can't be friends...

I'm kidding :D BUT eeeeeeeeee!! Even though I went into the direct already knowing that there would be a Klonoa mention, I still couldn't contain my giddiness about it! You see, I couldn't watch the direct until the day after it was aired, and my friends who had watched it couldn't not immediately message me about Klonoa, because they know how much I adore the character/games. And then I noticed all of the artwork filling up my timeline on twitter and I pretty much almost cried. I am not even embarrassed by my reaction. 

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil is one of my all-time favourite games, and it forever will be! I have adored this bunny-esque character since I was around 8 years old after playing the first game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on my PS1. During my childhood, I would experience a lot of games via demos, the kind that you could get in gaming magazines, as my parents couldn't afford to buy me new games all the time. I would play these demo versions of certain games again and again, and very much treasured every full-length game that I did have. The first Klonoa game blew little Sarah away with its cuteness, and also its theme music. Years later, I pestered my mom so much for the sequel, the exact game I still own now, and was overjoyed when she bought it for me! 

Hearing the iconic 'WAHOO' sound not long after the Kirby announcement was almost too much to handle, I was just so happy, not only about the idea of a game but also the fanart that I know will come along with it as all the artists of the gaming community plays too. For the longest time, I have been sad about the lack of Klonoa merch available, and that will (hopefully) no longer be the case, especially after seeing all of the illustrations that popped up after the announcement! I now find it much more convenient to play games on a handheld console and barely ever play my Switch on the TV (living with chronic health conditions affects literally everything I can do nowadays!). This means that I have not played my PS2 version of the game for quite a while, so I am super thankful that the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series will bring Lunatea's Veil back into my life, as well as allow me to play the first game all the way through. Finally! Bring on July 8th!!

So, those two (technically three) game announcements are the ones that stole the show for me, but there were some others that I am tempted to check out. Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival looks so adorable that I am drawn to the game even though I don't think I'll be very good at playing it at all. I've never been particularly good at dancing games and anything similar that involves quick moves to the rhythm of music. Not gonna lie, I feel like the look of the game might mean that I spend my money on it but then don't actually play it, haha. Can any of you relate? 

I am yet to watch the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (It's on my watchlist, with a million other shows, so I'll get around to it eventually!) but the game looked SO GOOD! The Hinokami Chronicles is due out on June 10th and I am feeling the urge to binge watch the show in the days leading up to the release and then have a play once I've completed it. We will see! Are you a fan of the anime and/or manga? 

Another game that was memorable for me was the final announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The music and story in the trailer was beautiful, as well as that icy landscape featured, and what can I say? I'm a sucker for a humanoid character with animal ears! The creatures in this game also look epic, wouldn't you agree? This game is expected to launch some time in September this year. 

The last game, only because of the order I've decided to write about them in, that caught my attention was the Kingdom Hearts collection, Integrum Masterpiece series. As someone who never got the chance to play these games when I was younger apart from one time at a friends house, and who only knows about the characters because of tumblr, I think it's wonderful that the option will be there for me to experience all three games on my Switch whenever I decide to. They are available now from the Nintendo e-shop, if you didn't already know :) 

So, that's enough of my rambling for one day! I'm never sure if my game-related posts are interesting, so I'd really appreciate if you guys could let me know if you enjoyed reading :) I hope that I was able to bring some upcoming games to the attention of anyone who missed the Direct, or maybe someone who is new to the world of the Nintendo Switch and happens to stumble upon my post in their google search. Or that I was able to get everyone else excited all over again for these games! Either way, it looks like it's going to be an eventful year for gamers, even more so after the Pokemon Direct and the trailer for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. You'd have to be living under a rock to not have spotted the new starters on social media yet :D Do you have a favourite? They're all adorable, but I'm all about Sprigatito! Anyhow, this post is already super long, so I'll end it here. 

Thank you for reading!

♥

What game are you most hyped about? 

Is there anything that you were hoping to see announcements about, but were left disappointed? 

If you enjoyed today's post, check out these previous posts: 

| ACNH: My First Impressions | My Favourite Video Games as a Kid | 

| Kirby Gem Pusher Arcade Game | My First Ever Kuji! | 

Playing Ichiban Kuji with Japan Award: Plushies Galore!

Hello & Happy Sunday, guys! Apologies that my post is super late and that I randomly took a week off, but last week was filled with hard work in the garden, mostly lots of clearing and loading old junk into a skip. I was too exhausted to function afterwards and it took me a good few days to recover, but most of the pesky garden stuff is out of the way for now. I also had more clearing of stuff inside to do, since we finally had the opportunity to throw things out with hiring the skip. Woo! Adulting sucks... :D I have also come down with a cold, which isn't helping! Currently, my concentration levels are almost non-existent. Oh well, nevermind. At least a post is here now! 

It's been too long since I last blogged about one of my favourite YouTube channels, Japan Award. This fantastic channel is dedicated to Japanese nerd life: ichiban kuji, arcade games & toys! Some of the things that make my kawaii little heart super happy :) 

I've shared all about playing kuji through Japan Award before; click here if you'd like to read my previous posts ♥ However, it's been quite a while since then and I've played lots! A few of my friends have told me they'd be interested in reading all about the adorable plushies I have gathered, and so being the ever-eager-to-please person I am... I'm delivering, haha. Enjoy!

I usually start off my Japan Award posts by giving an introduction to the fabulous game that is ichiban kuji, so I guess that's what I should do now! Ichiban kuji, mostly referred to as simply kuji, is Japanese for 'number one lottery'. It's an activity that involves buying tickets to win prizes :) Something that I absolutely adore about kuji is that you always win, so it's not like those ticketed fairground games you guys might remember playing during your childhood, where most of the time, you walk away after spending far too much money trying to pull a ticket ending in a 0 or a 5, with no prize to show for it! 

As I said, each and every ichiban kuji ticket coincides with a prize, all of which are usually brilliant because they are themed, and you wouldn't be playing that particular lottery if you weren't interested in the fandom/theme itself anyway!  The aim of the game is to pull one of the top prizes, which are typically A, B & C. There are fewer of these tickets up for grabs, and obviously more of the lower letters, i.e. F prize. Most people I know actually want to win some of the lower prizes, and so you can play the game however it suits you. For example, I am a huge fan of charms/keychains. These are usually in E, F or G categories and often come in blind box form. If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll know that I LOVE blind boxes!! 

Anyway, most of the time, A prizes, and even sometimes B & C, are big plushies that are exclusive to the kuji and thus are highly sought after. I see a lot of them ending up on eBay being sold for ridiculously high prizes >.< ugh. It's really not fair when you are normally looking at only £7-£15 per ticket. It really does feel epic to win a massive limited edition plush for like £8, one that would easily cost you £30+ from kawaii supplies in the UK!

I hope I explained that well enough :) I tend to go off on a tangent when I'm excited! I still can't believe I won these plushies though!! Despite having pretty much ran out of space to store and/or display them, I couldn't be happier to have them in my collection! The quality is always superb, as well. But, it's about time you guys saw them for yourselves.... 

LOOK! It's everyone's favourite round pink boy, Kirby! This is the first A prize I ever won, so I had to show him off first. He was a part of the Banpresto KIRBY STYLE Relax ichiban kuji. Almost all kujis are hosted by the company Banpresto, which you might of heard of already if you're a fan of anime figures. I won him back in November 2018, but didn't receive him until early 2019 as Japan Award always lets me start a box that I can fill with kawaii goodies over time, until it's full and ready to be shipped. It's amazing :) 

I was over the moon when I won this adorable guy! Because throughout my life, I'd never seemed to have much luck when it came to winning prizes and whatnot. Since then, the magic of Kirby seems to have unlocked my winning streak! And thus, I've got a bunch of top prizes to show you all. 

I love the texture of this huge Kirby plushie; it makes him so fuzzy to snuggle! The design is so sweet. I mean, look at those rosy cheeks!! I've always loved Kirby's big feet/shoes, so naturally that's one of the best features for me. They are usually bright red, but I really like the more muted salmon shade that they've chosen for the design of this plush. I like the overall colour scheme in general, as I'm used to Kirby being super bright pink. It's a nice change to see him in pastel. 

His vibrant blue eyes are precious. They are very 'puppy eyes', wouldn't you agree? And his hat is lovely, especially with the pom-pom on top. Are you a fan of round pink boy? What do you think of this plush? 

It's Tokage!!! My favourite Sumikko Gurashi character ever! Oh my gosh, I am soooo delighted that I have a plushie of him now. And how amazing that it's so big and squishy and special!! *imagine squealing here*. Tokage is the word for lizard in Japanese and if you didn't know already, lizards (and reptiles in general) are my favourite - herpetology is my jam :)

The story behind this character is too cute: 'Tokage is actually the last of the dinosaurs. It pretends to be a lizard to avoid being caught'. Awww! I can't help but love him the most out of all the other Sumikko Gurashi characters. I very much love the sky blue colour of this character, and it matches so well with the green 'clover' crown. Green is my all-time favourite colour, and blue sky follows that, so the colour scheme is perfect for me! 

This particular kuji was called 'I Met Brother Neko'. Neko is another character in the franchise by San-x. The A Prize was a plush of Neko himself and as you can see, B prize was the lovely Tokage. I played this kuji back in February 2019. Japan Award actually bought out an entire set of ichiban kuji because it was in very popular demand with viewers. He did a live stream on YouTube, pulling our names at random and getting his adorable daughter, Vivi-chan, to open tickets for us ♥ It was super fun to watch! 

My name was pulled last in the draw, which is fantastic!! This is because all ichiban kujis have a 'last prize', meaning there's a special prize just for the person who purchases the last remaining ticket available. You get two prizes for the price of one! It's such a lovely gesture for Banpresto and the other companies involved to offer this, because kuji is amazing so people would play regardless of this, which makes the last prize like a huge thankyou for your patronage gift, and I won it! Eeeee!!

And so, I got another massive, huggable plushie, this time of Shirokuma, a polar bear who dislikes the cold weather, haha! Isn't she the sweetest? I absolutely adore the flower crown she's holding. It's so bright and eye-catching, since it stands out against Shirokuma's white 'fur'. Her little pastel pink ears are super cute, too! Do you prefer this plush or the Tokage one? 

Now it's Eevee's turn :) I won the adorable plushie, that you can see in the first photo on today's post, playing the kuji 'Eievui & Melodies'. Eievui is the Japanese name for the Pokemon Eevee. This was such a gorgeous kuji for a Pokemon fan like me! Vaporeon happens to be my favourite Pokemon so I couldn't have been more thrilled when I saw that the kuji was themed on Eevee and all of its eeveelutions. I was delighted at the prospect of winning some Vaporeon goodies! 

And I did just that! I got a blind box charm of Vaporeon, plus a towel featuring it, along with lots of other wonderful prizes! It was an spectacular kuji and I still cannot get over the fact that I actually won the B prize. Let's take a closer look at it! 

If you hadn't guessed from the name, this kuji was music-themed. All of the keychain charms, for example, featured each Eeveelution with a different instrument. Vaporeon had a harp, and I also won an Eevee & Umbreon. Umbreon was standing on a keyboard and Eevee had a background of music notes. I actually won a duplicate Vaporeon, but luckily, I had a friend who also played and she wanted to trade her duplicate Leafeon charm for my Vaporeon. Leafeon is my second favourite of the Eeveelutions, and he came alongside a violin. How pretty they are all! If you guys are interested in seeing my charms, let me know and I can share a photo over on my instagram. 

Anyway, the B prize features a sleeping Eevee on a piano. What's not to love about this design!? I've always wanted one of the sleepy Eeveelution plushies that are sold at the Pokemon Centre stores, and now I have one... and it's so much more cool because mine's also a cushion. The cushion is made of a smooth, satin-like material which isn't something I'd enjoy resting my head against, but it's lovely for displaying nonetheless. The Eevee plush itself is very soft, and I kind of wish that he was detachable. But I'm still happy with winning him. The A Prize was an Eevee plush dressed in a bow-tie, fashioned to look like a orchestral composer! Super cute :) 

I also have a couple of smaller plushies to show you all. I won them playing two of the Sanrio ichiban kujis, 'Sanrio Characters All Stars' and 'Sanrio White Winter'. When it comes to Sanrio kujis, the prizes are categorised using numbers VS letters, and instead of having various colour and style options available for specific prizes, such as E prize being a towel, where the winner will get one of four different designs, with Sanrio kujis, each individual variation will be lettered. That was tough to explain in a sentence... I hope it made sense :D This means that there ends up being 50+ prizes available and it can get confusing. 

One of the tickets that Japan Award pulled for me whilst playing the Sanrio Characters All Stars kuji was a 5, which won me a plush puppet of Pochacco. It's really sweet and I used to love these kinds of puppet plushies when I was a kid. However, Pochacco is one of my least favourite Sanrio characters and I would have preferred to win one of the other puppets available: Cinnamoroll, Hello Kitty or Keroppi. I'll probably end up giving this prize to my niece when she's a little older, so it's still an awesome win :) Who's your favourite Sanrio character, by the way? Mine are Pompompurin, Corocorokuririn and Kiki of the Little Twin Stars. 

Speaking of Kiki! This is him; the blue-haired boy twin from the Little Twin Stars franchise. He has a sister called Lala who has pink hair, and they are the loveliest pair of pastel buddies ever! I have never seen something Little Twin Stars themed that I didn't love! These cuties have a story behind them, that they were born on a star inside a dream cloud and that they travelled to Earth so that they could learn to be the shiniest, greatest stars they could be. Cannot get more adorable than that, right? I love stars and anything starry-patterned, so along with the pastel colours, I think that's what drew me to these characters as a teenager. 

You can imagine how happy I was when I discovered I had won Prize 2, of which you could get either Kiki or Lala, and thankfully I got Kiki! The quality of this plush is so fantastic. The fabric used is so smooth and the attention to detail on his outfit is marvellous. I love the ribbon bow with pom-poms under his chin. And the star on his back, of course! 

The final plushie that I'm including in today's post wasn't one that I won playing kuji. But as I mentioned before, Japan Award also shares videos featuring the wonder that is Japanese arcades. They look incredible & the prizes you can win there compare to nowhere else in the world! Before the corona virus came along, Japan Award would often visit arcades to pick up certain toys for his customers and share videos over on Instagram stories. I spotted the most adorable Amuse plush ever whilst watching Japan Award's stories and I had a mighty need!! 

I collect Amuse plushies and I have several now. Each time I go to Comic Con, I can't come home without something by Amuse, as they make the most fabulous plushies ever! I once blogged about my collection, which has grown quite a bit since then but click here if you would like to have a look at some of my other Amuse plushies :) I asked Japan Award to try to win me a super cute pink hippo plush!! I've only ever seen probably two hippopotamus plushies in my life until seeing this one, and none of them were nearly as precious as this one! It reminds me of a Moomin!! 

If you also loved the show The Moomins growing up, you will understand how much this resembles one and I couldn't not get it because it's massive and so soft and perfect and squidgy and he is now the best plush in my entire Amuse collection (sorry Alpacasso's!). I don't remember how much Japan Award won it for now because so much has happened in my life since then, but it was a fantastic price for such an amazing plush and nowhere near the price you'd be looking at for a Japanese plush of this size here. My photo doesn't really show how big it is either, but its head hangs off the top of my square unit! I am very impressed with this plush and his name is Smushy-Smush, if you guys wanted to know :D 

The labels for Japanese products are like no other! They are always so cute and colourful and enticing for a kawaii lover like myself! I am super thankful that I stumbled upon Japan Award's channel in my suggestions one day. They're so brilliant and I am very happy that I'm now able to get so much gorgeous Japanese merchandise :) Thankyou for always being so lovely to talk to and for searching for things I want; you're awesome, Japan Award!! Definitely go and give their channel a follow, and don't forget to check out their instagram, too. I can't recommend them enough! 

I really hope you guys enjoyed reading all about my ichiban kuji haul/entire collection of plushies won via Japan Award. I had a lot of fun writing all about them and showing you guys the cuteness overload! I guess that's a positive to me not blogging as often this year... you get to see a load of cute things all at once :) Please let me know if you'd like to see similar posts in the future, because they are my favourite to do. I hope you've all had a great weekend, and wishing you a fantastic week to come. It will be my birthday week!! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever played ichiban kuji? Or purchased some of the prizes online afterwards?

Do you have a favourite Japanese franchise/character? 

I post regularly over on my social media, so be sure to give me a follow over there!

| Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr |

Illustrator Jake Pins

Hello & Happy Monday! I am so excited to share this post with you all! I was super lucky to win a giveaway over on Instagram from an artist that I have been following for a while!! They create the most adorable art and sell the cutest enamel pins! And guess what? I won some of their pins back in late 2019, and I just know you guys are going to love them as much as I do. If you're a fellow collector of pin badges, love Nintendo, or just like reading me ramble on about my nerdy interests, then this is the kind of post for you! :)

The artist that hosted the giveaway I won is Illustrator Jake. If you use Instagram & browse the kawaii, geeky/nerdy or gamer hashtags, then it's very likely that you have come across some of Illustrator Jake's brilliant artwork. They create not only pin badges, but much more: clothing, stickers, backpacks, and most recently, a super gorgeous collection of dragon-themed ita bags! Head over to Illustrator Jake's website to have a look for yourself at just how cute they are!! 

Illustrator Jake is based in the UK, and makes fanart of all of our favourite characters, inspired by such franchises as Pokemon, Studio Ghibli (just look at how adorable Haku is on their business card!!), Animal Crossing, Zelda and lots of others. If you, like me, are a fan of all things kawaii, and the chibi art style in general, then you will seriously fall in love with the artwork by Illustrator Jake! I have been wanting to add some of their enamel pins into my collection for the longest time, ever since my lovely friend Natalee showed off an Aggretsuko pin by them over on her Instagram! 

I am so happy that I now have some of my own to show off, especially when I'm out and about (even though it's taken me forever to finally get this post written... 2020 has been fantastic...)! My post today is going to dedicated to a certain smol round pink cutie that we all know & adore :D Of which, Illustrator Jake creates such wonderful artwork... but you'll see that for yourself! 

TA-DA! I can't believe that not only did I win one pin, but three!! *squeee*. How lovely it is of Illustrator Jake to offer such an amazing prize in a giveaway! I can't put into words just how happy I was when I received my package from Illustrator Jake and saw just how gorgeous the pins were in person. They looked fabulous online, but wow! They are so bright and eye-catching... I LOVE THEM! 

I am in love with the expression on the face of this Kirby. He looks so excited!! I can just imagine him dancing around like 'look at me, I've got stars'! This pin just makes me smile as soon as I look at it, so it will be perfect to wear on days when I'm having a bad mental health day, to cheer me up. I also really like the idea of this pin putting a smile on other people's faces. I mean, how could you not smile at this precious happy boi? :) 

I'm very much lovin' how sparkly these two pins are! I've found with a lot of sparkly pins, the glitter can be too much but that is definitely not the case with these. The glitter is subtle but still stands out. My favourite of the glittery details are the clouds! It makes me picture sunshine shining through the clouds on a bright day!

Another thing that I adore about these pins is how colourful they are, and how much the colour pops despite being mostly in pastel shades. The rainbows on either side of the Nintendo Switch pin are super pretty!! As someone who dresses alternative, in mostly black clothing, I like to wear pins that really contrast my outfits, and so all of these Kirby pins are right up my street, as the saying goes. 

I usually opt for silver outlined pins, but the gold matches so well with the colour scheme of these pins and helps to give them an overall warm glow, which I really like. Sometimes when gold pins catch the light, they look almost magical and these pins do just that! I think the heart-shaped cheeks in the same golden colour are a marvellous touch, too. So sweet!

It was tough to choose, but my favourite of these three Kirby pin badges is the Kirby X Deku pin (the one in the green jacket). Deku is a character from the anime, My Hero Academia, which I still haven't watched... oops! However, I just love the look of the jacket that Kirby is wearing, it reminds me of the puffy coats that kids used to wear in the 90s (nostalgic much), and I also really like the colour combination of green & pink. Another detail I like about the Kirby X Deku pin is how big it is. I feel less worried wearing pins of this size when I'm going out, as I feel like I'd notice if it somehow fell off. All of these pins are very well-made and feel super sturdy though! 

I hope you all enjoyed checking out these stunning pins by Illustrator Jake. If you haven't already, be sure to give them a follow over on Instagram (they have a twitter as well), and if you can, treat yourself to some of their incredibly cute merch! It's even more important than ever now to show your support to small/independent businesses & artists, because of this silly virus. Why not surprise your loved ones with a gift? :) 

I totally forgot to take a photo of the pins without the backing cards, so here's a shot I got when I actually realised, haha! Before I finished this post, I wanted to mention how much I love the backing cards themselves... all of those sweet little illustrations on it! I really appreciate it when its clear to see how much thought and attention to detail has gone into every aspect of an artists' products :) Seriously though guys, how much do these pins stand out!? I'm over the moon with them! I've decided that I'm going to keep two and gift the Switch one to a friend of mine, because I know how much they'll love it! Not that I don't love it, but I can't afford a Nintendo Switch at the moment and I have the blues because I WANT TO PLAY AC NEW HORIZONS *cry cry*. Plus sharing is caring, right?

I just want to say a massive thankyou to Jake from Illustrator Jake for hosting such an amazing giveaway! It's so kind of you!! I adore my Kirby pins and I cannot wait to add more of your pins to my collection in the future ^.^ Let me know which is your favourite of these Kirby's, guys, and I wish you all a wonderful week! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Are you a fan of Kirby?

Do you collect pin badges?

 If so, tell me your favourite from your collection! 

Find me on social media at:

| Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Pinterest | 

Kirby Gem Pusher Arcade Game

Hey lovelies! Okay, so this post has taken me forever to share (oops)! I have been really looking forward to writing it though, and to showing you guys what I won when I played a Japanese gem pusher game for the first time! Well, the game that Japan Award played for me :D I hope you all enjoy reading about this popular arcade game and all of my super cute prizes! 

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll have likely seen me posting about the awesomeness that is Japan Award before. It's one of my absolute favourite YouTube channels, filled with a mix of Ichiban Kuji ticket openings and Japanese arcade game plays. If you love all things kawaii and otaku culture related, then you have to check their channel out. Horacio and Lin who run Japan Award are so lovely and are amazing at using their 'Kuji crusher' abilities to pull all of the best prizes! I have played kuji lotteries (You can learn more about ichiban kuji by checking out my post here!) through them many many times now... I think I might be addicted XD But after watching them play the wonderful arcade games that Japan has to offer, I could no longer resist asking them to play for me! 

Gem pusher games are really popular and it's no surprise because they are filled with colourful, aesthetically-pleasing gems that are so eye-catching and tempt you to play :D They are usually themed, featuring prizes for a specific franchise, such as the Kirby one Japan Award played for me, but some are just filled with lots of different adorable things! The aim of the game is to scoop up as many gems as you can, dropping them onto a 'shelf' that works very similar to our 2p machines here in England. The more gems you pick up, the higher chance you have to pushing off the prizes! Anyway, I don't know if I'm explaining this very well, so I'll share the video to my game below so you can see how it works and what I win! Or you can keep reading, but you should totally check out the video afterwards because gem pushers are so fun and Horacio's commentary as he plays is great!! :) 

So before I show off my absolutely adorable prizes, I just wanted to tell you guys a little more information. To play the Kirby gem pusher game, I paid $30 US Dollars, which works out according to PayPal at just a little over £25! I opted to play with only 20 coins since it was my first time playing and I just wanted to experience the game :) A lot of the gem pusher machines give you one extra turn if you put 5 coins in too, so that's fantastic! So without further ado, let's take a look at my prizes!

Ta-da! Here is the first prize that Japan Award pushed off the shelf and into our winning pile! I've decided to show you all my prizes in the order that they were won, just in case you'd prefer to read VS watching the video :) How flippin' cute is this Kirby figure with his star-wand!! He's so happy and I love that he's got such a cheeky facial expression. He is the biggest and heaviest of all of the figures I won, and could totally be used as a little paper weight or something. I love how bright the yellow of the star-wand is, it stands out so much. This Kirby just looks so round and huggable, don't you think? 

Cleaner Kirby to the rescue! I don't know why but this little Kirby's starry bandana reminds me of a super hero, haha! Cleaner Kirby is on his way to save the day and help out the world with their mess :D He's gonna sweep crime under the rug! I'm getting a little carried away with myself now... but oh my gosh, isn't he the cutest with his little broomstick!? Maybe he's a wizard Kirby, disguising himself as a cleaner. As you can see this Kirby sets off my overactive imagination, and I just love it so much! He has much a unique design, and I'm so over the moon to add him to my toy collection. It's a very light figure in contrast the winking Kirby above, and I think it's awesome that there's so much variety in the gem pusher machines. 

Yay! How amazing that I won a Kirby keychain!! I really like that it has the label too to show that it's official Nintendo merchandise. The quality of this keychain is fantastic, the rubber coating is so smooth and the keychain is just overall really well-made. I like that the chain itself is green, since that's my favourite colour. I am a little worried that these types of chains will come loose though and that my Kirby will fall off (because it is pretty heavy for such a tiny chain), if I put it onto one of my bags, so I will probably just keep it displayed in my bedroom as decoration :) I love it so much that I don't want it to get all ruined. My favourite thing about this keychain's design is that Kirby is holding his little hands up to his cheeks, and with those rosy pink cheeks, it looks to me like he's blushing and is trying to hide the fact with hands because he's embarrassed! So kawaii! It reminds me of my shy self :D I blush a lot, haha. 

Move over Little Twin Stars, there's a new starry duo in town! :D I got another of these brilliant star-wand Kirby's as my fourth prize, and that's okay! I'm more than happy to win two of these figures because they are so nice. I was also thinking about doing a giveaway so all of my lovely readers have the chance to win and bring some Kirby cuteness into their lives :) Let me know if you want me to do a giveaway! 

JUST LOOK HOW CUTE THIS KIRBY IS!! During Japan Award's video, Horacio called this little heart-holding cutie 'Romantic Kirby' and now I cannot name him anything else XD Say hello to tiny Romantic Kirby, who's on his way to steal your heart! All I can say about it is that he's the most adorable Kirby I have ever seen. His face looks so happy and excited, and the way his feet are designed make it look like he's running towards you to say 'look at my heart!'. This figure is another marvellous addition to my toy collection, as he will be perfect for Valentine's Day photography. Oh and he's very light and hollow too, like the cleaner Kirby. 

The sixth and final prize that Japan Award won for me is the sweet little Kirby keychain, who is the first thing you see at the start of today's post! His design is the classic Kirby that we all know and love. As much as I love all of Kirby's forms, there's just something special about the simplistic design of original Kirby. Just like the other keychain, he's made of the same high quality, and super soft, material, is very well-made and comes with the official Nintendo tag. The chain for this one is pink though, which matches perfectly with Kirby since he's pink. Something that I love about both the keychains is how bold and vibrant the colours are... especially Kirby's red feet, they really grab your attention, as well as the blue in his eyes. 

Before I conclude my post, I just wanted to mention the gems themselves! I think it's so cool that you also win a handful of these fabulous gems to take home with you along with any prizes you win. I have a bag full of them, and I know that lots of people wouldn't really know what to do with all of these random gems, but not only are they great to fill up a bowl with and sit your prizes in to display them, but as a toy photographer, I can also use them as props! They are shiny and I love the classic diamond cut shape that the majority of the gems are. Most of the gems in the Kirby machine that Japan Award found were pink, because Kirby himself is pink, but there are various colours themes and some machines include an array of different colours. I am kind of tempted to play lots of gem pusher games just to start a rainbow collection of gems, haha! What would you do with all these gems if you played? 

So here are some photos of my new Kirby gang all together! I just adore how bright and colourful and cheerful they all look lined up side-by-side, and I cannot wait to find somewhere in my bedroom to display them! It was very fun playing a gem pusher arcade game for the first time, and I think £25 for all of these figures (plus so many gems) is such a fantastic price. I feel like those Kirby keychains alone would cost at least £6 to buy online, so I'm really happy to get six lovely figures all the way from Japan! 

Being able to watch Japan Award playing live/on video is what makes the experience more fun as well, and is so much better than just buying prizes from Japanese arcades by-proxy online. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you all which figure is my favourite! It was very tough to decide, but I think it might have to be cleaner Kirby just because he is so unique, closely followed by the second keyring I won, with the classic Kirby design. Which prize do you like best? So this was my first gem pusher haul, but it definitely won't be my last. I hope you all enjoyed today's post!

Thankyou for reading!

♥ 

Have I made you all want to play gem pusher too? 

Who's your favourite Nintendo character?

Next to Kirby, mine are Toad & Yoshi! 

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