Fooled ya!
We select our favourite Nintendo-related pranks from the big day
April 1st is a day feared by regular inhabitants of the internet. It’s the one day of the year when you can practically ignore all amazing and outlandish news stories as rival sites attempt to out-do each other with their attempts at humour. However, putting aside the more pathetic jokes for one moment (anyone here still think the Nintendo Life merger is an April Fool?) it’s also one of the most amusing days of the year and some of these pranks are genuinely funny.
Possibly the most cruel Nintendo-related joke came from Japan. Japanese website Akiba Blog ran a story stating that the eagerly-awaited Square Enix RPG Dragon Quest IX – which has been subject to some annoying delays and is due for release in July – had been released and even showed a photo of keen Otaku queuing up to receive their copy.
The end result was that people logging onto the site believed they had legitimately missed the biggest DS launch of the year. We wonder if any of them dashed out to their local video game store and argued with the staff about the release?
Elsewhere, UK site Pocket Gamer scored a significant victory with a Zelda-related jape. The news stated that the forthcoming DS release Zelda: Spirit Tracks would possess a DSi-only option where you could take a photo of a train in real life using the DSi’s camera and the game would automatically ‘skin’ it around a 3D locomotive:
A source close to Nintendo has revealed exclusively to Pocket Gamer that yes, there will be DSi functionality, in the shape of a unique train-snapping element.
As we reported, this Zelda will feature Link in full-on train-driving mode, but if you own a DSi you'll be able to take snaps of real-life trains and import them into the game. The skin will then be wrapped around Link's locomotive, and hey presto - you'll have a custom set of wheels to chug around Hyrule in.
The story was so successful that it even made the front page of popular news site N4G.
Finally, we have this Wii Fit fool, which looks like a fake but is actually real! If you happened to boot up your copy of Wii Fit on April 1st (ours is stuck at the back of the cupboard gathering dust, sadly) then you will have been greeted with this message:
While we're at it, check out this classic April Fool from UK magazine Computer & Video Games. It was run in the early '90s and had quite a few people tricked!
Personally we can’t wait till next year!
1. Dazza
02 Apr 2009, 14:08 BST
The funniest April Fools joke was WWW and VCR merging into this site of course!
2. pHaT-aNt_
02 Apr 2009, 14:15 BST
@Dazza, who'd ever believe something like that?!
3. Cryo
02 Apr 2009, 14:18 BST
My favorite was the Dragon Quest IX one.
4. WiiGuy
02 Apr 2009, 14:25 BST
i was meaninig to play wii fit to see that, but kept forgeting to do it...
5. Chipmunk777
02 Apr 2009, 14:36 BST
lol @ the virtual reality one
6. Kawaiipikachu
02 Apr 2009, 14:58 BST
Well the Virtually Reallity one um is nice but this year I been fooled by an article about street fighter if coming to Wii.
but at the end of the article it had the very same court jester image as above.
It really had my hopes up
7. Digiki
02 Apr 2009, 15:32 BST
I can't see why anyone would get worked up by putting train skins on Spirit Tracks.
8. Quimby
02 Apr 2009, 15:45 BST
Im still waiting for my VirtualBoy channel on Wiiware...
I have been saving 2000 points for a year now so I can grab me some sweet sweet Wario flavoured candy in my own personal red light district.
Wario was sweet before he started with his gay little minigame BS...
"Drink the water!" How bout no, arseh*le - Blow me.
I personally blame him for the abomination that is Wii Music.... If there was a god, he/she would be so pissed! He'd be all " HEY, IWATA... WHAT THE HELL? I MEAN THE DRUM THING WAS PRETTY SWEET, BUT DUDE... NOT COOL." in a suitably deep and booming voice.
What was I talking about? Ah, who cares. Im going to bed. Only 2 hours more sleep till I get to go to work. Yay!
9. Terranigma
02 Apr 2009, 16:09 BST
The best one i've ever seen would have been that Zelda movie trailer from IGN, but that was last year. This year, that Spirit Tracks one was pretty well done. Could've fooled me easily.
10. Wiiloveit
02 Apr 2009, 16:41 BST
This year, I made this one which went down quite well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYiPagjPKx4
11. Ricardo91
02 Apr 2009, 16:50 BST
@Terranigma. Yeah, I was disappointed to see that it was an April Fool's joke. I was actually looking forward to a Zelda movie...
Then I saw the trailer and was glad it wasn't real. 
The Tetris movie trailer was also a riot!
My favorite's the Dragon Quest IX one. It was cruel, but hilarious!
12. Objection_Blaster
02 Apr 2009, 20:26 BST
I actually think you all missed this year's best: IGN claiming that SSBB DLC was coming out: http://wii.ign.com/articles/969/969183p1.html I would've thought it was real if I didn't knwo better from last year's Zelda Movie. They pull off convincing pranks...
13. Crazynoodle
02 Apr 2009, 21:52 BST
Ya, that was funny, with marios head coming of
i would have so bought that just for laughs it was real
14. Zenman
02 Apr 2009, 21:56 BST
i 'm not sure how many of you saw this but blizzards "terratron" and WoW dance battle system made me laugh my head off..
15. Outrunner
02 Apr 2009, 23:10 BST
I like to play Christmas NiGHTS and play as Reala on April 1st. Woo I'm ebil... :
16. Ian Daemon
08 Apr 2009, 18:41 BST
@Dazza: Yeah, except you guys aren't doing anything about it. Enough already.
17. lz2009
08 Aug 2009, 06:12 BST
I will always think that the "Wii Want More" joke last year was one of the best, and worst, April Fool's Joke there was
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