How Sweet It Is

The Pikmin games require players to gather various resources, and Pikmin 3 puts a strong emphasis on the cultivation of fruit. Throughout the game, you’ll find all kinds of fruit scattered around the planet – ranging from cherries to watermelons and everything in between. You have to collect fruit in order to complete the game, and this means that you can expect to find food in every level. The Fortress of Festivity is no different in this regard, but the food theme extends beyond the basic resource-gathering mechanics. This level takes place on a large table that’s covered in Christmas decorations and delicious food. You’ll find a strawberry shortcake on one end of the table, and the diminutive size of the characters makes the dessert look even more amazing. On the other end of the table, you’ll find a cardboard box with a pepperoni pizza inside. This pizza looks photo-realistic and it’s enough to make a person salivate. The presence of a bug-eyed crustacean monster makes the pizza somewhat less appetizing, but I’d probably still try a slice if it was sitting in front of me. I’m sure I’ve had worse.

Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension is a stylish platformer with colorful visuals that was originally poised as the Amiga’s answer to Sonic the Hedgehog.. The entire game has a surreal setting, and this is especially true of the opening world. The backgrounds are adorned with candy canes and Jell-O molds, and everything you encounter looks delicious. Whether he’s running through chocolate waterfalls or climbing candy mountains capped with icing sugar, Zool is guaranteed to satisfy his sweet tooth. The level relies heavily on product placement, and Chupa Chups lollipops are prominently featured throughout the opening act. (All of the other candy is generic, so I can only assume that ninjas from the Nth Dimension have particular tastes when it comes to lollipops.) The game’s third level was based around a fruit theme, but I’m partial to the confectionery world. Apples and oranges are way too healthy for my tastes, but the first level makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.

Candy Chateau is the final stage in the original Rayman, and its whimsical nature stands in stark contrast to the dark wizard who resides there. When the level begins, Rayman finds himself skidding down waffle cone mountains while riding on a frying pan. As it turns out, ice cream is an excellent substitute for snow. The background is filled with tasty desserts and serving dishes, and the explosion of color is a feast for the eyes. After the initial skiing section, Rayman finds himself surrounded by chocolate squares, blocks of nougat, and piles of candied cherries. The skiing section is missing from the Atari Jaguar version, but Rayman is given other obstacles to contend with – including floating candy platforms, sentient Swiss army knives, and killer corkscrews. There were food-based levels in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends as well, but Candy Chateau offers a more cohesive experience and it doesn’t stray away from its food motif.

The aptly-named Level Ate is the eighth level in Earthworm Jim 2. The set pieces are made out of cheeseburgers, sizzling bacon, juicy steaks, runny eggs, stacks of luncheon meat, and various kitchen utensils. Jim will find opposition from sandwich toothpicks and bendy straws, but it’s the floating salt shakers that pose the greatest threat. Fortunately, meat canopies and oversized cocktail umbrellas can provide shelter from the relentless aerial bombardments. Jim will have to turn off grills and use cracked eggs as makeshift platforms in order to traverse the world of food, and he will be totally forked if he lets his guard down. At the end of the level, Jim encounters an anthropomorphic T-bone steak named Flamin’ Yawn who uses a giant pizza as the battleground. During this battle, Jim will have to stand on pepperoni to avoid sinking into the cheese. The Earthworm Jim games are well-known for their unique level themes, so it’s easy to overlook how bizarre Level Ate truly is. The stage has everything this list is looking for, and I’m glad we were given a chance to add a little protein to this countdown.

Sweet Mountain Zone is a world set high above the clouds and surrounded by tasty treats. This seems like a pretty sweet deal at first, but you soon discover that the zone is a munitions factory that’s merely disguised as a theme park. As you move from one act to the next, you’ll encounter robotic guards that arm themselves with whisks, gigantic missiles that are filled with jellybeans, and a lollipop-wielding pirate who attacks from the bow of a candied ship. If nothing else, Sweet Mountain Zone is a sight to behold. The levels are filled with cake and gelatin, and the giant hamburger tower in Act 2 was especially impressive. The level looked so appetizing that Eggman felt the need to go on the PA system and remind visitors not to lick the attractions. He also took the opportunity to shill insulin to his patrons, so I’m guessing the visitors didn’t heed his advice. Sonic Colors is one of the best games in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog series, and Sweet Mountain Zone is one of its most memorable stages.

There were a number of levels from the Mario universe that could have been mentioned on this list, but Sweet Sweet Canyon from Mario Kart 8 is an especially delightful example. The landscape is made up of various pastry confections and desserts, and you’ll be surrounded by donuts, ice cream, macarons, and chocolate as you race around the course. The track is comprised of cookies and ribbon candy, and the ramps are made out of graham crackers. You’ll see cake towers and wafer windmills in the background, and the soda waterfall is a thing of beauty. All in all, Sweet Sweet Canyon is the kind of course that you’ll really want to sink your teeth into. Even the audience looks good enough to eat. For reasons that are not fully explained, the usual assortment of Toads, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Shy Guys are all made out of gingerbread in this level! A revamped version of the course was added to the updated battle mode in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it looked as tasty as ever.

Baten Kaitos is set on an archipelago of continents high above the clouds. These floating islands are the last livable remnants of a poisoned Earth that was destroyed in a massive war. Mira was just a regular floating island until it was consumed by a whirlpool and pulled into a dimensional rift. From that point, the island has been in a constant state of flux between one dimension and another. This allows for all kinds of unusual scenarios. You’ll visit a mystical garden with 2D scenery and pass through an elaborate maze of mirrors, but the confectionery village of Parnasse catches you off guard since it’s the first location you visit on Mira. Almost everything in the town looks edible. The houses are gingerbread, the snow is whipped cream, and there’s candy everywhere. It looks like the board from Candy Land. At one point, the heroes are wrongfully detained in the village, so they simply eat their way out of the jail cell in order to escape. It’s one of the most outrageous prison break scenes in gaming history, and you have to appreciate the ingenuity.

The dining table scene from Mickey and the Beanstalk left a lasting impression on me when I was younger. The animated short marked the first time I had seen food used as a set piece, and most of the entries on this list remind me of Mickey’s visit to the giant kingdom in the clouds. The fourth level in Castle of Illusion places Mickey in familiar territory, as our favorite mouse once again finds himself surrounded by food. After entering an oversized milk bottle, Mickey finds himself jumping on gigantic cookie platforms suspended in a sea of cream. Sugary confections can be seen in the background, and the aquatic enemies in the stage look like they’re made out of candy. This concept was expanded when the game was remade in 2013, and new concepts (like lollipop platforms and bouncing Jell-O cubes) were thrown into the mix. The level looked even better in 3D than it did in 2D, and the cookies-and-cream waterfall was awfully picturesque. During Mickey’s second trip into the milk bottle, he comes face to face with a massive red licorice dragon!

Cuphead has received universal praise for its art style, and the entire game looks like a 1930s Max Fleischer cartoon. Each stage has its own theme, and “Sugarland Shimmy” is set in a fantastical world filled with delicious treats. Baroness von Bon Bon resides over the stage, and she has many dessert-based minions at her command. After battling lethal jawbreakers, sword-wielding jelly beans, killer candy corn, exploding waffles, angry cupcake men, and sentient gumball machines, you’ll find yourself on the run from a living candy castle that spews confections from its gaping maw. The entire scenario seems inviting at first, but the Baroness and her lackeys aren’t nearly as sweet as they look. To put it another way, the level plays out like a deadlier version of the Let’s All Go to the Lobby musical snipe that used to play at theatres. Even if you manage to defeat all of your enemies, you’ll probably get diabetes if you spend too much time in Sugarland.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has many amazing levels, but the Juicy Jungle was my favorite world in the game by far. The jungle is comprised of several smaller stages, but I’m including them together as one entry because they flow so well together. As you progress through the levels, you’ll be given insight into how fruit is harvested and ultimately processed for mass consumption. The first stage is a jungle area where oversized pieces of fruit act as veritable platforms. In the next stage, the Kongs face onslaughts of rolling berries and deadly knives. From there, we are taken into a factory where the fruit is forced into cutting machines. The remaining stages see the Kongs swimming through lakes of fruit juice, bouncing on gelatinous fruit blocks, and venturing onto a frigid assembly line where giant popsicles are being made. Most of the levels on this list defy explanation, but Juicy Jungle gives us a fascinating look into the means of production on Donkey Kong Island.