Last week, PlatinumGames revealed that it would be sharing news on the fourth and final announcement in its Platinum4 saga and that the announcement would arrive on 1st April. We were sceptical right from the off, but we never quite believed that it really would turn out to be an April Fools' prank.
As it happens, it actually was a prank all along. Today, PlatinumGames has updated its website, revealing the fourth announcement to be "a s̶h̶o̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ docking new collaboration with a legendary developer". Clicking the page takes you to the YouTube video above, revealing the true identity of this elaborate fake.
The prank announces an arcade machine for a new game called 'Sol Cresta', which appears to be based on the '80s side-scrolling shoot em ups Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta (thanks, Push Square). The joke's a little lost on us to be honest, but there we are.
So will PlatinumGames have another serious fourth reveal at a later date? We'll have to wait and see.
[source four.platinumgames.com, via pushsquare.com]
Comments 102
i dont get the joke either
Yeah, didn't see the humour here.
Is it likely that this whole site was set up to build up to a joke that isn't even funny? I really hope not...
Nothing more fun and endearing than receiving a turd wrapped up to look like a Christmas present.
Stupid idea.
I don’t think most people who pull these stunts understand the difference between an actual joke and a straight lie.
I really dont get companies that do this. What on earth are they thinking?
You either didnt care they were releasing a new game and therefore the joke is lost on you, or you REALLY did care and then the joke just upsets you.
Such a bad idea.
Oh dear, this will backfire!
As a fan of Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta (I had an epic high score duel with a Japanese player on Switch), this...hurts.
And now I live in eternal hope this happens. Not what April Fool's is about lol.
Yeah this was terrible.
Could be that this turns out to be one of those pranks that ends up being a real title, tho.
On another note, I wish Platinum Games were more concerned about fixing the Kickstarter survey than wasting time on unfunny pranks. They still didn't ask which version/platform we want for our copy of the Wonderful 101.
Let’s be real, we put too much faith in Platinum when we should have known better.
They spent months building up 4 announcements only for the last one to be literally useless? The person who came up with that “prank”, shame on you massively
@gloom After announcing a remaster, a new studio, and a new game, we had every reason to. Not our fault
When Platinum announced they were self publishing, I wondered if they were capable of good PR due to several surly personalities.
Well that answered that....
Why are people trying so hard to be hated because of april fool's day.
NL, do the best joke and ignore april's fool. It'll make everyone wonder which news is a joke and we'll love you for that
I think NLife should just ban everyone who complains about April Fools as the best prank of all. Might as well be shaking your fist at a cloud.
I don't get how this is a joke...
This isn’t an April Fools joke within an April Fools joke, is it?
PainsChamp. Why Platinum Games, why?
@Hagemaru On Platinum's website, the link that takes you through to this YouTube video says 'Happy April Fools' Day' so it almost definitely is a joke.
Just not a particularly well thought out one it seems! 😔
So... Out of their 4 announcements, one's a port of a marmite game, one's a new development engine (Oooh the excitement) and one is this ****. Can't remember the other one.
That's how badly Platinum have ****ed up here. Gone down in my estimation. Sega announcements-level of wtf.
@HappyMaskedGuy yeh I agree. This is all an elaborate multilayered prank and tomorrow they’ll reveal the proper title!! Viewiful Joe 3
@gcunit The site’s there you know if you don’t know what the last one is.
Also marmite isn’t an adjective
Yeah that’s a doozy Platinum.
I seriously hope thats not the real announcement.
@Entrr_username if you say so *******.
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/marmite.html
@gcunit the other one was announced a new game with virtually zero detail.
Also, #3 wasn’t just a new game engine, it was a new office too. So twice as exciting?
Yeah I’m not buying it either.
Also, I feel like the W101 news was virtually announced before/separately to the initial “Platinum 4” tease, and they then went and said “oh yeah, this was #1. A Kickstarter for a game we’ve already largely finished and plan on releasing soon anyway”.
This whole Platinum 4 thing has been hugely underwhelming for me and has severely undermined my enthusiasm for the whole company.
@gaga64 Wow, you're sensitive.
@gcunit Ok I stand corrected. Still, I don’t know any person who would bother to use this word.
And for the “*******” part, rude.
Not really a nice move from Platinum, especially considering the period of crisis...
🙄
They need help in their humor department.
This whole thing from them was rubbish, all these teases for virtually nothing. All we learned was the Wonderful 101 remaster, they are going to a bigger studio, they are making a game that looks a bit like Godzilla and that's it. Weeks of teasing, why?
this studio is going downhill fast in terms of respectability! really liked them but this constant media hype that is fizzling into nothing is extremely disappointing.
How to create bad feelings and bad PR. Killing their own hype. Ha. Honestly companies that do “sales and deals” or announce new games as “jokes”
Yeah No.
I agree this isn't a very good joke, but why are people taking it so seriously? There's no way this is the actual 4th announcement; I'm sure they've got an actual announcement still to come.
@Dogorilla Totally agree. And it even was slightly funnier than most April fool's jokes. The people taking it seriously and being upset also makes it slightly funnier.
I hate april fools, it feels so forced and unnecessary, not to mention never being funny in the first place.
I mean, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time... talk about backfiring though 🤭
So about bayonetta 3 . . . . X x x x
About as funny as when they scammed everyone into giving them millions of dollars to fund a game that was already done.
This company is getting annoying.
Hahaha.... good one. All those people expecting a new game... lol.
I'm having a good laugh at all the sore fweelings in the comment section here, so it worked. Good one, Platinum!
Oh dear, what's happened to platinum? That's a hell of a lot of time and effort wasted just to disappoint loads of people, in particular their fans. Strange.
Well IS it a joke?
They still have arcades in Japan, and this kind of game is right up the alley of Kamiya & Co.
I mean, I'd want this game.
This is very odd first they make people fund a game which was already finished and now they are giving us jokes nobody understands well done platinum are you trying to emulate Sega
This is so obscure it makes no sense. Is it a joke or is it not. We have to guess it is and shake our head at the lack of ingenuity.
LMAO Mountains of SALT in this thread.
Don't take yourselves so damn seriously. (especially over VIDEO GAMES)
Trust me, you'll have more fun.
Considering the news drought we’ve been having makes it hurt worse. But 04/01 used to be cool. The internet ruined it.
@smashboy2000 not really. I think I just let myself get overhyped, thinking the Platinum 4 might be like the old Capcom 5. But it’s really not - but that’s more my fault for making assumptions and over investing in a bit of fun.
Yeah, there's no way Platinum could come up with something that I'd actually like.
I see most of you are not getting the joke. Both Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta are two of Kamiya's personal favourite games of all time. In fact Terra Cresta also makes it to the top 10 favourite shmups of all time from yours truly. I would very much like that announcement to be real. So don't be mad at a company that keeps on pumping quality on the Switch for this April's fool. Instead be mad that Sol Cresta isn't a real thing. In fact, kickstart it and I will 100% finance it.
@RazumikhinPG I filled mine out yesterday and it asked me what platform I wanted it on.
The whole platinum reveals have been disappointing, this is the cherry on the cake. Such s stupid thing to do
@gcunit the only good things of they will come in nintendo directs. All the rest will be just stupid tries of get attention.
@Shiryu thank you for explaining the joke. Still didn't make me laugh.
@Ogbert The last e-mail I got from them was this:
"Hey Wonderful backers,
On the reward information survey we recently sent out, the platform preference question was absent for backers who chose the Physical reward tier. That was a mistake on our part, and we’ll be following up to fix that as soon as possible. An update with further details will follow soon.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you all for your support!"
Not gonna lie, this whole Platinum 4 thing was super disappointing. As someone who already played Wonderful 101 on Wii U, there wasn't anything here that appealed to me.
Is there a joke? I thought it was real?
@RazumikhinPG And the "docking" bit is a reference to the game's ship docking formation.
@Shiryu ok now I'm laughing! Initially I thought it was this kind of docking:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=docking
@RazumikhinPG Ah, I very much doubt Platinum knows about that... or do they?
April Fool's Day is a stupid holiday.
I sincerely doubt this is the real 4th announcement. But wow, people here are super salty over a joke
Wow. This one's about as tasteful as someone proposing to their partner in february and then revealing it was a joke on April 1st. Cheese is needed for these sour grapes.
This company is so sad.
I get the joke.
It's PlatinumGames.
Side scrolling??? No. I wish there were Cresta game.
@TheDanslator It isn't one.
This isn’t even a joke. Saying they needed crowd funding for a completed game was more of a joke. Lame and shame.
...To the surprise of almost no one. XD It's hard to take anything seriously on April Fool's Day. I simultaneously both love and hate this day.
This only becomes a joke when we get confirmation of whether there is a real 4th part of Platinum 4. Until then it's just a failed PR stunt.
@TuxDC - Didn't Platinum explain why the kickstarter was done?
@AJWolfTill - Why?
Honestly, I'm not even mad; I mean sure it's a bit disappointing that it's not announcing a new game or anything, but given the 3rd item was the announcement of a new studio being opened, I can't say it's that surprising that the fourth item turned out to be a joke.
That said, I'm gonna guess they're gonna backtrack from this after the backlash and announce something else at a later date.
That is pretty pathetic
I hate this day. And this year that is up by 10. Mostly because of what is going on in the world.
The entire "platinum 4" was actually 1 new game announcement they could have saved for E3 and a remaster that never should have been kickstarted at all.
Ok platinum.
No way the entire website was all a lead up to this joke so chill😂
4th announcement will happen.
@RazumikhinPG Oh weird! Now I need to double check my copy was physical...it came with the keyring...
Edit - yup I ordered a physical copy with the keyring and had to select my platform.
Jesus, to many people are taking videogames and fun waaaayyy to seriously. 😂
Wow... Not even amusing.... Weird, just weird
How dare they mess with people for fun
@Shiryu Absolutely agree. I am all for folk carrying on with April Fool's Day and not lose their spirit. I am however gutted this awesome news was fake lol. I am happily an April fool this year ^^
Oof, Platinum games.
How disappointing. Not a good look from a PR perspective. Shouldn’t play with the public’s emotions in that way.
The video seems 109% not a joke I don’t get why it’s being reported as such? Very confused. The game looks neat and is actually play that if it was in an arcade but 39.99 for eshop, well if any of it seemed like a joke that price did...
April Fools is the worst.
If this is/was real I'm buying a platinum developed shmup in a heartbeat. That's like...heaven, man.
Called it on it being a prank.
@outsider83 we need some good jokes/laughs these days instead of being in fear over the virus.
@RiasGremory Understandable. But, it didn’t seem to go over well with people. A surprise drop on April Fools Day would been better than teasing people days before.
So is the joke that this isn't the real 4th announcement, or was the whole 4th announcement a joke and there are really only 3?
@Shiryu Well, thanks for explaining, but that also immediately makes it clear that it was very much an in-crowd joke, so no wonder that almost no one got it, myself included. So, the humor of it is lost on us, and as such, majority rules and this was simply a very bad, and unfunny joke.
I do agree with you on the Cresta series, so I'd definitely love to see them on Switch, or any other platform, for that matter, but I highly doubt that Platinum Games has the rights to them, so if they'd be able to pull it off, that definitely remains to be seen...
Hadn't realized the third announcement had been made, but thinking that Platinum could bite off any more than it already has on its plate is a little bit ridiculous. Known projects in development:
Bayonetta 3
W101: Remastered
Babylon's Fall
Project G.G.
All while six months off the development of Astral Chain. And that's not even considering if they might be partially involved or consulting on NieR: Replicant ver 1.2247 or more NieR/Taro work (although Babylon's Fall could be their exclusive focus with Square-Enix). I thought maybe the 4 might be expansions on what's known about what Platinum is doing, but they're doing more than enough. Not going to deny its an odd choice, but I'm honestly relieved that they're not taking on any more projects.
Seeing the sheer amount of butthurt in this thread is nothing short of hilarious. Talk about a bunch of entitled whiners... pathetic.
That... actually looked interesting. I'd be up for a fun, retro-inspired shooter like this. And I don't know why, but something about machines combining to make a cooler and bigger machine just really clicks with me.
@ThanosReXXX AFAIK all of Nichibutsu's IPs are now owned by Hamster.
The worst April's Fools joke ever.
Guys, relax. Bayonetta 3 reveal trailer tomorrow.
@Rpg-lover No. we will not do that.
The joke of this video appears to be entirely buried in the static 2-second or so screen at the end, just before the W101 ad: the gist of it is that this was being announced as an actual arcade game, not a home console game. "Only $17,000; just 25 cents per play;" that sort of deal.
In theory it's a decent meta-joke on how alien the game development environment of the past would seem if transplanted into the modern era, but they botched the punchline by cramming it into a freeze-frame nobody's going to see, on top of obviously breaking the rules of the day by hyping this up beforehand.
@Ogbert there's a bunch of comments on the Kickstarter page complaining they didn't receive the new survey. Hopefully they will fix this...
@mesome713 stop with your dull and listless commentary. Your constant trolling is incredibly tiresome and completely unnecessary.
Not again, this year is ought to be treasured.
Okay, so I watched it, and...
I thought it was pretty funny. Also, I'd play that.
But yeah, Bayonetta 3 reveal trailer tomorrow. Don't worry.
Seriously? How did you NOT see that coming?
They said they'll make an announcement on April 1st, it was obvious from the start.
I didn't think anyone took that announcement seriously to be honest.
Well at least the other 4 is real, can't wait to get into The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV for Switch later this year.
I would totally get that!
But it's not real!
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