30 Discontinued Breakfast Cereals We Wish They'd Bring Back

Cereal is one of those iconic American breakfast foods that brings back all kinds of memories. The commercial jingles replayed in your head for hours. The cereal box might have even had a game or two to occupy you through breakfast. If you were lucky, your parents bought a box with a surprise toy inside.

Yes, breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but what felt more important than fiber or whole grains were the whimsical shapes you poured into your bowl each morning. Your breakfast table saw it all, and for the sake of feeling nostalgic, we wish they'd bring these cereals back.

Lucky Charms, that magically delicious General Mills cereal, has been sold in many forms, but one beloved Lucky Charms product is no longer on shelves. Berry Lucky Charms, which vanished after debuting in 2006, contained berry-flavored cereal pieces mixed with eight marshmallow charm shapes. Lucky the Leprechaun remained the spokeself for the cereal, as he's one of the most iconic mascots of all time.

Post's Honeycomb cereal has always been shaped like little honeycombs and contained honey. However, the brand took things to another level in 2006 when they debuted the offshoot Chocolate Honeycomb (made with even bigger pieces). Unfortunately, this spinoff didn't last.

The marshmallows in Circus Fun were shaped like lions, tigers, bears, elephants, and horses. These delightful little animals were intermixed with colorful spheres and loops of crunchy cereal. The mascot was a clown who showed up in some very '80s commercials. At one point, the boxes came with Life Savers candy inside!

Crazy Cow was a 1970s breakfast cereal that was immediately a hit. It came in both strawberry and chocolate flavors. The powder would dissolve in milk, turning the liquid brown or pink depending on the flavor.

The Flintstones still have their faces on some cereals today, but perhaps none as great as Dino Pebbles, which debuted in 1990. They were made of tiny rice cereals mixed with multicolored dinosaur-shaped marshmallows — modeled after the cartoon dinosaur Dino — and had the nonsensical slogan "Marshmallow Dino-licious!"

What did breakfast look like the year you were born? For 1993 babies, it was Hidden Treasures. This cereal featured little pillow-shaped squares stuffed with a filling that resembled cherry, orange, or grape jelly in taste and texture. Only some of the cereal squares had any filling at all, so eating one felt like a real-life treasure hunt.

Ice Cream Cones Cereal was made from a mix of vanilla- or chocolate chip-flavored puffs and conical Chex-like pieces. This now-retired cereal debuted in 1986, letting '80s kids have as much fun eating cereal as they did eating ice cream at America's best shops.

Mr. Wonderfull's Surprize, which came in both vanilla and chocolate varieties, was a cereal from the 1970s made from balls of filled crisp cereal. The boxes came with surprise gifts inside such as puzzle cards and rulers. But the real "surprize" of this cereal was that many of the puffs burst, leaving bowls of milk filled with hollow, broken puff exterior alongside hardened balls of filling.

"The taste you can see" got an upgrade with Peanut Butter Toast Crunch, a sugar-dusted cereal that the box claimed had "real peanut butter in every bite." It was introduced in 2004, removed from shelves, and brought back in 2013 before disappearing again. People loved this cereal so much that there was an online petition demanding that General Mills resurrect the fan favorite.

There was a time when rocky road was so much more than just one of America's favorite ice cream flavors. In the '80s, it was a cereal too. Chocolatey and nutty coated marshmallows were mixed in among vanilla and chocolate puff pieces. Rocky Road Cereal had three mascots: a friendly guitar-playing chocolate corn puff named Choco, a vanilla guitar-playing corn puff named Van, and a chocolate-covered marshmallow singer named Marsha. The three made up a band that played in the cereal's commercial.

Sir Grapefellow was a cereal from the '70s whose mascot was a World War I-era British pilot with a hankering for grapes and a German archnemesis called Baron von Redberry, who also had his own cereal. The history of conflict between the two fighters had little to do with international conflict and much to do with who had the better cereal. Who won the battle? Since both cereals disappeared from flight shortly after their debuts, no one will ever know, but this retro snack is certainly primed for a comeback.

During the '80s when the animated television show aired, the Smurfs had their own cereal called Smurf-Berry Crunch. The fruit-flavored cereal was colored bright red and purple, and the box featured Papa Smurf about to eat a spoonful. In 1987, this cereal was replaced by the also discontinued Smurf Magic Berries, which was similar but included marshmallows.

Sprinkle Spangles debuted in the early '90s, when the average cost of breakfast was less than $10. They were inspired by sugar cookies with pieces reminiscent of sweetened corn puffs covered in rainbow sprinkles. "Sprinkle Spangles taste so sweet... taste so crunchy. Cause we spangle every angle with sprinkles," boasted the commercial. The mascot of Sprinkle Spangles was a genie who granted children bowls of the crispy cereal. "You wish it, I dish it!" he promised. However, those wishes soon ran out.

S'mores for breakfast? Sure, why not? Introduced in 1982, General Mills only sold this super-sweet cereal until 1988. It involved chocolate-coated graham cracker pieces mixed with marshmallows. The idea has since been resurrected by Kellogg in their newer Smorz cereal, but perhaps will never live up to the first downright delicious and nostalgic food.

There were a few wacky things about this 1960s cereal. First, the marshmallows and pieces in Wackies were banana-flavored and looked like monochromatic beige Lucky Charms. Second, the marshmallow pieces had all kinds of wacky shapes, which is why this cereal got its name. General Mills gave the shapes appropriately wacky names such as banana bingles, banana jangles, oat gloops, oat glots, and more.

For 15 years, Kellogg's stayed out of the pre-sweetened cereal business, but had a change of sugary heart when they introduced the brown-sugar-and-cinnamon-dusted Bigg Mixx in 1990. A year later, they doubled down on cinnamon, releasing Cinnamon Mini Buns. As a Kellogg spokesman told The Chicago Tribune, "It's the flavor becoming more popular with youngsters." The company sold the crispy, flavorful cereal in ads that claimed, "Eating 70 Cinnamon Buns Can Be Nutritious," but weren't really fooling anybody about how much of a guilty pleasure this cereal was, which was essentially Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a different shape.

Cinnamon Mini Buns hung around U.S. shelves until at least 1995 (and Canada for two more years) but were already a punchline a year later. Kellogg's circled back with a similar product in Mini Swirlz, and currently with the branded Cinnabon cereal, but you never forget your first spiraled love.

When Betty Crocker is a part of your corporate kitchen, parent company General Mills opted to put her to work, releasing two flavors of cereal under her good name in the fall of 1996: Dutch Apple and Cinnamon Streusel. A spokesman for the company, Joe Rutledge, told the AP, "Our strategy is to introduce high-quality competitively priced cereals with extraordinary brand appeal."

General Mills spent months developing the technology to ice the Cinnamon Streusel flakes at a rapid pace, and the work seemed to pay off, at least with critics. Al Sicherman, also known as "Mr. Tidbit" of The Star Tribune, likened the cereal to be as good as the real baked goods it was trying to emulate, while The Sun Sentinel's Judith Stocks deemed them worthy enough to top them on an old family recipe. High praise alone couldn't keep Crocker's cereals on shelves, as they lasted only a year, but Betty would later turn General Mills cereals into baked goods, including Lucky Charms cookie dough and Cinnamon Toast Crunch frosting.

General Mills first released their Bugles horned-shaped corn snack in limited markets in 1964, with a national rollout two years later. That same year they tested it as a cereal under the name Cornados, which according to the box, was "Goodness in a toasty tasting cereal." 

If the idea of Bugles for breakfast sounds genius, how about their sugar-capped second option that dropped in 1967 — Sugar Cones?  Advertised with the tagline "only one thing sweetens a wild sourpuss," where "each cone holds its own!" (via YouTube), these two cereals pushed the boundaries of what breakfast could be, but quickly would become forgotten corny General Mills products.

Bugles are almost entering their sixth decade of life, and one can relive their short glory days of cerealdom by pouring milk over them. Or skip the milk and try the cinnadusted Cinnamon Toast Crunch collaboration snack.

Prizes buried in boxes were a specialty for the classic snack Cracker Jack, since 1912, but it would take until 1984 for Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo to hit the high seas of cereal aisles. Ralston licensed the name from Borden Inc., and created "golden puffs of crackling' crunch."

Ralston-Purina's PR rep Jim Reed told Gannett News Services that the new cereal "doesn't resemble the Cracker Jack you're thinking of," and tasted more like malted milk balls. The company saw the potential for longevity after the cereal was placed in the film "Real Genius," and counted eccentric entertainer Tiny Tim as a fan, allowing the cereal to stay afloat at least until 1987.

Yet, time hasn't been kind to Cracker Jack Cereal, which has since been lumped together with wild ideas of yesteryear like Frito-Lay Lemonade and Crystal Pepsi. Perhaps if they bring it back again, they'll consider including peanuts.

Out of all the creatures created by Jim Henson, according to head writer Jerry Juhl, "The Swedish Chef was Jim at his most supremely goofy," and he naturally made for the perfect choice to be the face for a Muppets cereal (via Jim Henson's Red Book). While names like Oople-Sauceys, Croonchy Poofs, Moopettes, and even Stoopid Flakes were tossed around, they ultimately went with Cröønchy Stars, promoting it with an insane test kitchen commercial playing up the cinnamon toast "scroonch-us" taste (watch at YouTube).

The real star of Cröønchy Stars wasn't the cereal, but the irreverent packaging. That included "Repeat repeatedly" eating instructions, and games by artist Daryl Cagle that ran the gamut from an advice column to finding the word "rutabaga," or even how to turn the box into diamonds. Cröønchy's Stars dimmed in 1991, but the time is right for a return, to make cereal eating fün and fünny again.

Steven Spileberg's "E.T." was a mammoth phenomenon upon its release in 1982, and lent itself to plenty of branded merchandising opportunities thereafter, from books, toys, and even ice cream. Late to the game was a cereal released in 1984, with the film's rerelease on the horizon. Spielberg himself was very involved with the advertising of the cereal, which was shaped in the two letters of the alien's initials and featured E.T.'s favorite flavors — peanut butter and chocolate.

A Toys Я Us spokesman told the Chicago Tribune that by the summer of 1995, "E.T." was "no longer a craze, but people are still buying." Apparently, that didn't apply to the cereal, which left our planet sometime that same year (but escaping the fate of being buried in the sand like his failed Atari game). E.T. never returned as a cereal, but his face did phone home for Honey Bunches of Oats for his 20th anniversary.

Out of all the cereals doomed to failure, but in most need of a return for the greater good of society, Daily Meal fully endorses the return of Kellogg's Kream Krunch. The company agrees, naming it one of six classics that they themselves miss (via Kellogg).

Kellogg's first attempt at incorporating freeze-dried elements into a cereal was Corn Flakes with Instant Bananas, but they thought they'd have better luck enticing customers and especially kiddos with ice cream. Kream Krunch came in three flavors: Vanilla, strawberry, and orange, and was test marketed in 1965. They debuted alongside Apple Jacks, which have stood the test of time, but sadly Kream Krunch didn't catch on, perhaps due to the fact the cereal would get soggy by the time the milk had softened the ice cream. Now just a curio, Kream Krunch has become a collector's item, with a box fetching $1,200 back in 2005.

Quaker Oats took a chance on the beloved bodyguard turned actor and Saturday morning cartoon star, Mr. T, to not only be their first shot at a licensed cereal but also the first cereal to be based on a real person. Released in 1984, Mr. T's went up against the extra initialed E.T. cereal, but Pee Wee Herman sided with Mr. T and pitied any fool who didn't eat his cereal.  A box even made a cameo in the movie "Manhunter."

Quaker Oats did acknowledge that Mr. T's cereal was essentially Cap'n Crunch in letter form (via The Palm Beach Post), and while they hoped they had a keeper, company spokesman Ron Bottrell told News America Syndicate, "Mr. T is going to have a shorter product life cycle than we originally envisioned." The cereal was last advertised for sale in Canada in 1987, the same year Mr. T's hit show "The A-Team" disbanded.

Nerds candy was released by Willy Wonka/ Sunmark Inc. in 1983, and part of its novel appeal was that two flavors came in a box, each separated by dual chambers, and could be enjoyed one by one, or all at once. Ralston-Purina attempted to translate this to the cereal set in 1986, offering up two bags of flavors per box, with grape n' strawberry, and orange n' cherry as the pairings.

To further push the duality of Nerds cereal, the buyer was not presented with one, but two mail-in offers per box, with the pièce de résistance being a split cereal bowl that captures the essence of the candy. The bowl had a divider wall that could be opened so both flavors could be enjoyed at once. The fun only lasted until 1988, which may or may not have precipitated from a child passing a red stool after eating a box of Nerds cereal.

If at first you don't succeed with a two-in-one cereal, try, try again. Apparently, this was the mantra of Ralston, who brilliantly failed to make this a thing with Nerds cereal in 1986, and again three years later, partnering with Nintendo to turn gamers into gorgers. Their Nintendo Cereal System, a play on the Entertainment System's actual name, featured iconic characters and symbols from hit games Super Mario and Legend of Zelda and luckily were not mushroom (it was fruity and berry).

The box doubled as a salivating advertisement for the Nintendo, which worked wonders on those who didn't own one, like future video game writer Walt Williams, who wrote in his book "Significant Zero," "without a doubt, the Nintendo Cereal System was the best console I have ever owned." Memories run deep with this cereal that only lasted a year, as it made a guest appearance on "The Goldbergs" in 2019.

The battle for quarters spilled out of the video arcade and onto supermarket shelves when Ralston's Donkey Kong cereal and General Mills' Pac-Man cereal duked it out in 1983. For the Pac-Man cereal, which was just one of over 600 products Bally Midway licensed, eaters could play the game right in the bowl. Circular corn Pac-dots, as well as Pac-Man himself and his ghost enemies as marshmallows, were all there, ripe for the chomping.

Pac-mania hung around long enough for the cereal to also feature Ms. Pacman bites, enlarged Super Pac-Mans, and possibly Christian Bale-starring commercials, but as PR manager for General Mills, Kathryn Powell told The Desert Sun, "As the fad went away, so did the following." It was game over for Pac-Man's cereal by 1989, but it was loved enough for safekeeping at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a throwback by Funko in 2018, and for consumption on an episode of "This Is Us."

While Post's Pebbles is regarded as the first cereal based on a licensed character when released in 1971, it was Strawberry Shortcake's debut in 1981 and success thereafter that ushered in a decade of familiar faces on cereal boxes. Strawberry Shortcake was an American Greetings character whose adorable face was emblazoned on over 1,000 products and everywhere including a doll, a cartoon, and mall appearances with free breakfast courtesy of General Mills.

While the cereal was aimed at girls, and even became a favorite to those who never even tried it, it also somehow appealed to boys. Pop culture aficionado Matt Caracappa (aka Dinosaur Dracula) described their magic as "Kellogg's Corn Pops swimming in a pool of Strawberry Quik," adding "The cereal was so good, most people didn't even miss the marshmallows." (via The News Journal). As competition crept in, the "Cake" cereal was cut "Short" and discontinued in 1985.

In the fall of 1988, released a family-oriented cereal with a serious name — S.W. Graham. The shredded biscuits were named in honor of the Graham cracker's founder, 19th-century preacher Sylvester Graham, and came in two varieties, plain and brown sugar cinnamon, and each box was respectively decorated with a wholesome-looking boy and girl.

For a cereal taking both its name and likeness from Graham crackers, it was noted by The Supermarket Sampler duo that S.W. Graham "neither [has] the taste nor the texture of graham crackers" (via The Tennessean). After a year on shelves it only notched .4% of the cold cereal market share, a step below sister brand Cocoa Crispies, and was discontinued by 1990 due to those poor sales. In today's fraught times, we need a ye olde cereal like S.W. Graham in our lives, to remind us with affirmations, like the back of the box says, "All the good things you remember are still true today."

In 1991, Jaleel White's Steve Urkel character from the hit show "Family Matters" edged out Bill Cosby to claim the top spot of popularity in Marketing Evaluations/TVQ's ratings (via Battle Creek Enquirer). Ralston seized upon this fact and launched a banana and strawberry cereal a year later called Urkel-Os, marking one of the most unique and bizarre branded food products of the 20th century.

White was heavily involved with the effervescent cereal, appearing on the box, free "Urkel For President" buttons and autograph books, and dancing up a storm on the commercials that dared you to be "urkel-ized" by Urkel-o's (via YouTube). By 1993, Ralston quit licensed cereal making, leaving Urkel-Os to become an artifact of a colorful bygone era. Don't expect a comeback, as White once told TV Guide, "If you ever see me doing that character again, put a bullet In my head and take me out of my misery." (via The Dispatch)

Playing with your food is not what parents want for their children, but General Mills gave it a shot to kick off March Madness in 1994 with their Wheaties' Dunk-A-Balls. Wheaties' new cereal marked the first time they had a product in a non-flake form. The little balls were striped like a basketball and had a taste that landed somewhere between Kix and Cap'n Crunch.

The real draw in this limited edition cereal was the action on the back of the box. The box could be converted into a cut-out basket, with the idea that kids would dunk hoops with their cereal, and have them land in their bowls below. The idea was fun enough that football-shaped Wheaties Quarterback Crunch got a release that fall, and perhaps inspired future playful cereals like Kellogg's "3 Point Pops", and more recently, their Shaq-endorsed Frosted Flakes with Crispy Cinnamon Basketballs.