Find out if these new Pokémon are worth capturing.

As the year draws to a close, sweet-toothed Pokémon fans are celebrating with the annual release of Japan’s Mister Donut x Pokémon collaboration. Last year, the star of the show was Diglett, so fans were keen to find out which pocket monster would be making its sweet debut this time around.

When the company announced it would be Foongus, a mushroom-inspired character with a head shaped like a Poké Ball, we immediately hot-footed it down to Mister Donut on the 5 November release day to check it out.

This is the eighth year of the Mister Donut and Pokémon collaboration, and although it’s always popular, we were surprised to see there was no sign of any Pokémon doughnuts on display when we arrived at noon. That’s okay, though, as seasoned fans like us know that the best way to secure the Pokémon donuts is to pre-order them via mobile.

This year’s “Goods Set” (2,100 yen [US$13.68] for takeout) includes a choice of two Pokémon doughnuts, one Pon de Wreath, and a blanket. The contents are almost the same as last year, but the price seems to have increased by about 100 yen.

As has been the case in previous releases, the ever-popular Pikachu doughnut is making a return, but this year it’s a special “fluffy” version. The fluffy face has been created with custard-flavoured flakes and chocolate crunch pieces, and the cute pink cheeks are another new feature we don’t usually see.

Although Pikachu is an annual staple, this year’s star doughnut is dedicated to Foongus who, from above, looks just like a Poké Ball.

From the side, though, you can clearly see Foongus’ round, endearing eyes peering out from underneath. The Foongus we captured was a bit droopy, but we chose to see this as a lovable quirk that gives it personality.

While the face looked cute, we couldn’t help but notice that the character’s hands were missing. Sure, it might be hard to add little hands to the doughnut version, but as they play a key role during the evolution into Amoonguss, making it seem even more Poké Ball-like, it would’ve been nice to have seen some semblance of them.

Picking it up for a closer inspection, we found there really were no hands to be seen.

In fact, seeing it in this state gave us a strange sense of déjà vu, because when we turned it upside down…

▼ …it looked like Diglett! 

No matter which way we looked at it, we could only see Diglett, or seeing as it’s white, perhaps Wiglett. Having previously eaten a Diglett doughnut from Mister Donut last year, we couldn’t help but think this was a copy of that model, although we had to give them credit for the Poké Ball addition, which added extra colour and texture to this year’s star sweet.

▼ Like Diglett, Foongus’ body contains smooth, rich cream.

We didn’t expect to be seeing Diglett again this year, but hey — we’re certainly not complaining. When it’s been remodelled to look like Foongus, and comes with a matching red-and-white lap blanket, all is forgiven.

At Mister Donut, the annual end-of-year “Lucky Bags” also feature a tie-up with Pokémon, but according to what we’ve heard, the 2026 lucky bag campaign may not be entirely Pokémon-centric. That news hasn’t been officially announced yet, so if you want to get your hands on Mister Donut’s Pokémon goods, this current collection is your safest bet. More details about the lucky bags will be released late November, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

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