April Fools' Day seems to be loved and disliked in almost equal measure nowadays, but when done well it can at least make us think "huh, it would be cool if that was real" or even raise a smile.
We've been looking around at some Nintendo and gaming-themed pranks from this year and there's a decent range of both. Plenty to make you roll your eyes into infinity, but some good ones, too!
All of the ones below have some link to Nintendo gaming, so let's get to it.
We'll be updating this list with more as the day goes on...
The Best April Fools' Day 2022 Video Game Gags
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter's Pass Vol. 3 (our video chaps)
This is one from our lovely video team, imagining a world where the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster expands to an even crazier degree.
The Switch 'Stacker' - Vooks
This was one of the first to emerge this year courtesy of Vooks, which gets away with being 'early' by virtue of time zones and being based in Australia. It definitely qualifies as a good one, with a decent mock-up and a concept that would actually be pretty nifty if it existed. The idea is that a new dock would allow you to insert up to 12 game cartridges at once, then swapping between them with ease on the Switch. It's rather like an old-school CD swapper, but better.
It's not an entirely practical idea, but it's one that we wish was on the cards.
SEGA's Sonic Frontiers Limited Edition - Sonic.Sega.jp
This came to our attention thanks to @Nibellion on Twitter, with the actual 'product page' showing an impressive amount of effort. The joke is probably that it's not inconceivable for the meme-obsessed Sonic marketing team to actually have an edition like this for Sonic Frontiers - it has a 'high-quality' bath tub, a silk towel, a waterproof Mega Drive, a Game Gear (can't be used in water) and a duck.
Hey, we'd consider buying it.
The Nintendo 'Flex' - @Retro_Dodo
This is another product that, actually, would be kind of cool. The pitch is that Nintendo is unveiling the 'Flex' to tackle the challenge of the popular Analogue Pocket. It would play Game Boy / Game Boy Color / Game Boy Advance cartridges, connect online for trading and downloads, have a fingerprint reader (for some reason) and wireless charging. It's a fun one, and kudos on the design.
Yeah, we'd consider buying this too.
The Bearitron Convertible Monitor - LaserBear.net
This is a website that actually sells cases to make modern monitors look like old-school CRTs, just because some of us are old and can't let go. This April Fools' goes beyond being a mere 'case' to having some magical (fake) technology of a 'flexible' screen. It has a fanciful "mechanism that allows the monitor to transition from a completely flat panel to the iconic barrel shape of the Trinitron", called the 'Bearitron'.
New Blood Game Development 'Delayed' Until 2023
New Blood Games brought us the rather fantastic Dusk on Switch last year, and is definitely a publisher and developer to watch. Its gag was that it was having to delay all of its development work to next year due to its team all being too busy playing Elden Ring. While it's a decent joke, we suspect some people in the real world have let actual work slide while playing the hugely hyped title from FromSoftware.
We like the 'announcement posted on Twitter' format as well — CD Projekt Red have a lot to answer for.
Bulbapedia Became Duckpedia
Popular Pokémon Wiki Bulbapedia has become 'Duckpedia', which must be in honour of the rather awesome Quaxly, one of the starters in upcoming release Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
'Just Dirt' By Yacht Club Games
Accompanied by the image above, Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games said the following: "Developing delightfully delectable dishes always starts from the ground up! Which is why we took that literally when we created Just Dirt™, our proprietary blend of high-quality Terra Firma!". There's even a mock store page, so it's a high effort prank!
Those are some of the larks from this year's 1st April festivities; be sure to share some of your favourites in the comments — we'll be adding to the ones above throughout the day. If any more really good ones appear, that is.
Comments 61
The New Blood one is fantastic, fair play.
Oh how I wish the "Stacker" was real...
Sorry but none of these are funny, and the people who sign off on them are just wrong
I like the idea of being able to insert game cards into the dock to play the games that way, but that carries the obvious problem of undocking the console.
Gamer April Fools sucks. Its just a parade of images showing really cool things that you want, but don't exist.
@Bunkerneath it's just a bit of fun, lighten up.
Don’t forget about the one about botw 2 being delayed till next year 😀 oh, wait… 🤪
@Nephestinus @RupeeClock Third one here for the "Stacker" being cool. I agree, you can't have 12 carts in handheld mode, but it seems like a dream for those of us who play mostly docked.
Among Us has an aprils fools where everyone is a horse
the The Nintendo 'Flex' its like a ps5 we never had :')
@clianvXAi :')
Did you see the Sega Saturn Mini one? Genuinely thought it was legit at first 😅
Imagine BotW2 delay being a April fool's joke from Nintendo and that it releases next month.
Can’t forget the BOTW guardian key April fools where if you took a giant ancient core and dragon pieces and cooked them, it would make a guardian key and you could control a guardian with it. 😆
Duckpedia... finally, an encyclopedia for the unappreciated Duck Connoisseur!
I’d have the flex for sure!
That first mockup should be real 😫
Removed - off-topic
@Hackermon I hope this is your attempt at an April Fool joke.
r/smashbros has rededicated itself to pro Smasher and Olimar main Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby. Honestly, though, that should be a permanent thing.
Ah, April Fool's Day. Where most information on the internet should be taken with a load of salt. XD
...But dang do I want both the Flex and Stacker to be real.
Gonna watch the Everything coming to Switch April Fools video... was a good one!
Now I've watched it, quite a few are now on Switch!
none of these is funny...
worst April's fools ever...
Git hub, the code repository added some janky retro filters and one of them was Mario Bros.
Trashè at its finest. I got an April fools day joke that lasts all year, not giving me the ability to buy VC games on switch 😒🙃
I hate the ones that seem real and actually cool, like the product mock-ups. The New Blood one is funny and only poking fun at themselves, which is cool.
I want a waterproof Mega drive pouts
I work in healthcare and woke up to EPIC patient and pharmacy information systems (www.epic.com) is merging with EPIC games. "Merger to complete in the next...fortnite". That was a great one.
Honestly the only good one was the blood games one.
@Nephestinus where is your avatar from? Just curious.
Also I didn’t know how much people hate gaming April fools jokes.
You will have to update this in two hours because apex legends always has an April fools event that takes over the battle Royale mode for the day. They're pretty fun last years was golden (overpowered) shotguns spawned alot, so even was running the same two guns.
Modern day society, on a monday, April first,
Groundhog day, infinite loop, traffic jam, unquenchable thirst.
Cold and gray and told to stay safe within your home next week or three,
I may no longer know those feelings but imagine that's what hell would be.
Wow nice stuff I'll never get to own... Ever! Thanks Nintendo.
Add the Minecraft: One Block At A Time update to the list, please.
one good one that fooled a bunch of people but was poorly executed cause half the world wasn't on April yet was that the Wii got system update 4.4
@Lordplops It's really not though. April Fools has become a day where you have to be on edge about everything you read because too many people don't make obvious jokes. Our world is ridiculous right now that anything you read can actually be easily thought of as truth. It's basically a day that encourages lying and promotes bullying.
If only it was a joke that BOTW2 was delayed...
@Bunkerneath Agreed. Corporate/Company April Fools is really dumb.
That stacker mockup would solve a long-running issue I have with Ring Fit Adventure, as it is not possible to purchase a digital copy of the game so I'm forever having to switch out whatever other game I'm playing so I can excercise in the mornings (I'd even pay another £70 for the game to own a digital copy, if that was an option). Would be so happy if someone made this a reality.
@ThomasBW84 That Switch Stacker.... someone actually had that idea in the 16-bit era. It was an add-on called The Video Jukebox that was designed to allow players to connect 6 carts at once, claiming to support linking up to 6 of them.
It was advertised in magazines as having SNES, Genesis and Jaguar versions, but if it ever actually made it out to retail, the suggested price of $50 a pop seems rather pricey.
Actually, somewhat famously, Sega did made a cart-switcher. I think it was called the DS-6, but it was a console add-on (utilizing what is effectively "the Sega CD port") made only for store demo kiosk usage (with the console itself placed inside a plexiglass display and a button on the outside of the display to let the user select the game to play).
For anyone not Danish, watching the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter's Pass Vol. 3 trailer. That guy Navn Mand (Name Man) is talking about how he needs to pass time to make it seem like he is talking about the game. Then he continues on about how he took a picture of grass as he wasn't sure if that normally is green, then talks about farting and then a visit to his doctor. Smooth 😅
That Switch 'Stacker' is more practical than you give credit to. I'd buy it.
@Tyranexx fortunately on most other days everything you read on the internet is completely reliable and can be taken on face value as verifiable fact!
I saw a pretty funny Elden Ring one about Lord Will, Smith of Bel-Air or something like that becoming a DLC boss.😄
Best April fools troll article, top result is NLs own. Someone include the Obama medal meme.
Wait what I know some people don't like it but E3 getting cancelled wasn't a April fools. I want my June direct dammit.
Super Dungeon Maker turned the game into Super Doom-Gen Maker for April fools, playable in classic Doom style!
@StuTwo Yes! If I read your statement tomorrow, it MUST be true! Why would the internet lie to me?
Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna put on my anti-sickness tinfoil hat and wave canes at random people in hopes to cure their hidden astrological imbalances.
The Smash video gave itself away when the "translator" pronounced "Bros." as "Bros".
https://twitter.com/Shinesparkers/status/1509944677453254662?t=zuBAnmzKX48zqC4WgtjOgA&s=19
This was my highlight for April Fools. Someone renaming their Twitter to "Retro Studios" and coming up for a pretty-legitimate looking announcement of an upcoming livestream for Metroid Prime 4.
@Greatluigi It's Nao Tomori from Charlotte
You missed the monster hunter classics collection.
In the same vein as duckpedia, Zelda Wiki became Tingle Wiki.
But back to bulbapedia, there was a "duck (pokemon)" page that was hilarious
@Nephestinus thanks
EGM had the best April Fools Joke for me . They had a news update where if you preorder zelda you get a new Windwaker with realistic graphics. I cant believe I went to so many stores asking about that pre order bonus. This was in 2005 not recently.
Microsoft bought Nintendo for 98 bilions dolars, a classic april fool prank.
The purpose of the finger print reader is for security. Great idea, the Switch should have one. I would definitely get the stacker and flex.
The funny thing about the flexible screen thing is that they actually make flexible screens (not just small ones for phones, but full size monitor ones as well. If somebody wanted to they could actually recreate that product with some ease. Just a chassis, a bendable screen, and a mechanic in the center that retracts and extends. There would need to be some tinkering to make sure the extending mechanic doesn't create a crease, but it wouldn't be too hard to trial and error it.
Hmm, not that much this year...and not even that good sadly.
*eyes roll into infinity...
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