Hoho, Happy April Fools' Day everyone! We gathered around the imaginary tree and exchanged fake gifts, laughing at the silliness of it all. LOL! That one's great! RAGE! That one's realistic enough that I want it to be true! Punches were thrown, noses bloodied.
So let's look at some of the 'Best' April Fools' of 2015 - or 'Worst', depending on your point of view. As for ours this year, we rejected ideas that were too 'realistic' in fear of enraging everyone, so instead did a fairly silly article about a Legend of Zelda musical on Broadway, starring Adam Sandler. Some of our readers seemed to enjoy it, but a number said in rather harsh terms that it wasn't realistic enough to enrage them, therefore sucked. Such larks, glad we went to the effort!
Bitter sniping aside, there were plenty of jolly japes today around the web, so let's get them out of our system so, in the hours to come, we can focus on more important things. There's a Nintendo Direct today, after all.
Pac-Man on Google Maps - Google (obviously)
One of the first to emerge courtesy of time-zones, this is less an April Fools' and more a cool thing that Google did. When you use Google Maps there's a Pac-Man button at the bottom left that turns the map into the retro arcade game, bending to suit the roads. Neat.
The Great Ace Attorney: Animal Edition - Capcom
Another prank, this time from Capcom, the developer of a number of fun games that's still not much loved due to some weird mis-steps. Our hearts melted a little at this video in which the cast of upcoming 3DS title The Great Ace Attorney are all animals. The flying squirrel (or bat?) with a moustache is an obvious highlight.
Nintendo's Special Edition Apple Watch - Pocket Gamer / AppSpy
The Apple Watch is looming upon us, as an expensive and slightly pointless small-smartphone-that's-not-a-phone, but will nevertheless sell about 100 million units in a month because it has an Apple logo. With Nintendo's move towards smart devices with DeNA, Pocket Gamer / AppSpy decided to show off a Nintendo Edition of the upcoming tech.
Smash Store and a Whole Load of DLC - IMGUR / Gamnesia
We're 95% sure, maybe 96%, that this is indeed a fake, with April Fools' Day having been underway in some timezones when it popped up. It's a series of images on IMGUR under a new account - 'wolfodonnel' with the title 'WEAKLINGS THE BUNCH OF YOU'. The reported screengrabs - which are edits of an existing official page - show a Smash Bros. store with four DLC packs on the way, including payable characters such as Wolf and Popo. In light of how long it's taking the development team - led by Masahiro Sakurai - to bring us Mewtwo, the Miiverse stage and Tournies, it seems like a stretch that there'll be a whole load of new characters in DLC packs.
There may be more DLC in future, and possibly an eShop link (we've seen that rumour before), but we don't believe this to be legit; we'd love to be proven wrong!
The Binding of Isaac: Censored for Wii U and 3DS - Edmund McMillen
It's fairly common knowledge that The Binding of Isaac has had problems making it onto Nintendo hardware as the result of its themes; in particular, its religious subject has been an issue for it seeking approval. The game's creator, Edmund McMillen, has posted a joke article highlighting changes made to the game to get through the approval process - Isaac has a fig-leaf over his naked body, a Dog replaces God etc. Hopefully this title will eventually arrive, but we can safely say these changes won't be part of it.
Peach Mode in Super Mario Bros. - @jp_smbhack and Retro Collect
This is a neat one, as it reports of a just-discovered 'Peach Mode' in the original Super Mario Bros., in which the Princess takes over from Mario to rescue... herself. This non-code is supposedly initiated by holding Left + A + B while pressing Start to kick off a single player game. It would have been a fantastic find if true.
The Nintendo Direct 'Leak' - Anonymous
Not an April Fools' Day reveal, admittedly, but deserves a mention because people won't stop talking about it. Posted from a 'Nintendo of Europe employee' in German on Google+, it blends enough realism - some of it absolutely will be accurate - and a few aspects that seem far-fetched. As with the Smash Store above, we'd actually be pleased to be proven wrong, but are pretty sure this was just made up by an excited fan that got lucky with a guessed date (they had the time wrong, though).
The Whole of Nintendo Direct?
It's the greatest Nintendo Direct ever, with astonishing announcements. After 30 intense minutes Satoru Iwata appears for a sign-off - "Thank you for watching, we hope you enjoyed this April Fools' Nintendo Direct. Please Understand". (Bows)
Don't worry, that won't happen!
And Finally... One More Nintendo Direct Leak
A creation from Alex on our YouTube channel to wrap up the festivities.
Have we missed any so far? Fire them at us in the comments and we'll add some more if they're good 'uns.
Comments (43)
Here are a couple of good ones:
From Retrocollect: http://www.retrocollect.com/News/super-mario-bros-peach-mode-cheat-discovered-30-years-later.html
From Harmony of Heroes: https://soundcloud.com/harmony-of-heroes/sets/harmony-of-more-heroes
And the day is still young...
The Great Ace Attorney looks like Sherlock Hound. Which was my first exposure to anime when I was five years old.
Ugh. I just googled Sherlock Hound...it aired in 1985...I feel old now...going back to bed.
I still love the Halo Movie joke from a few years ago, as a Billy wood Movie.
@ThomasBW84 Hi, god I really am sorry, this isn't the first time I've pestered you about this but do you have any thoughts on stage sharing in smash? Did I just imagine that stage sharing was going to be implemented?
The German leak was fake. The leaker even admitted it. However, that Smash store leak looks interesting.
A Facebook amiibo group is pushing that Silver Mario is a Kmart exclusive.
@NESlover85
Because well, yeah. That actually was Sherlock Hound at the end of the video.
【EXTRA】Beware, 800 Slowpoke on the loose!
http://t.co/iAxv5XVP1w
@NESlover85 Sherlock Hound was one of the early Studio Ghibli projects, Hayao Miyazaki worked on it.
The Inu Ace Attorney is the best!
I really wish that "April Fool's day" would cease existing. May be the most annoying day of the year. Anything that is said or done that is remotely questionable will be considered as a possible prank: yay.
@Inkling Do you have a source for that?
Huh. If Ice Climbers were having difficulty being implemented together on the 3DS, separating them, tweaking their moves, and have the be alternate costumes could actually be a legitimate solution. I never thought of that.
I need to check in with Blizzard. They usually have the best April Fools Day stuff.
That Smash shop... that'd be a real shocker. But I still doubt Ice Climbers will return, since either 3DS as a whole will be left out, or the original 3DS will be left out.
I'm actually kinda hoping both Direct leaks are fake (or that the NoE worker leak is legit and saying it isn't is the joke.) The first one was too awesome (Paper Mario, N64 VC), and the other, while realistic, seemed a bit off on a few things (Fire Emblem if being set in Magvel, the continent of Sacred Stones, the premise of the new Star Fox).
I had a nightmare that the nintendo direct was an April Fools joke.
"The Apple Watch is looming upon us, as an expensive and slightly pointless small-smartphone-that's-not-a-phone, but will nevertheless sell about 100 million units in a month because it has an Apple logo."
Heh heh....
I'd welcome a Sherlock Hound game.
This one is amazing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVgladFcWLI
It's a trailer for a Smash Bros anime. But beyond that it is a joke, the animation is amazing! This is from the same guy who made the Attack on Titan/Smash Bros matchup, and he's amazing.
Check out the Nintendo subreddit if you want to find yourself tingling with excitement over an April Fools joke.
I'm pretty disappointed if tonight's Direct doesn't contain at least some form of an April Fools' joke.
@Poketendo OMG that NEEDS to be real!!!!!
I take it this means you guys won't pull a prank today? If so, I heartily thank you.
@ricklongo I'm pretty sure the "exclusive" news piece about Legend of Zelda: Harmony of Hyrule musical is a joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmp-R7tsqU0
@Moshugan Heh, hadn't seen that. Oh well, at least it wasn't something like a Mother 3 release confirmation or any other sort of stuff that would make me ridiculously frustrated.
www.zeldainformer.com has a bunch of Reggie articles with floating Reggie heads everywhere! Check it out.
Not Nintendo related at all, but companies are really trying to have fun tricking us now-a-days aren't they?
I got an email from Redbox introducing their new service called "petbox."
Just unveiled from GameExplain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmp-R7tsqU0
Awesome animation by the legendary Jan Neves!
@Poketendo OMIIIGOSH! I'D SO WATCH THAT.
Anyway, I received an email from Nintendo telling me that the New 3DS woill be released soon. It told me to look forward to the Diirect for more news.
I don't get it... what does Pac-Man has to do with Nintendo?
@luke88 I don't recall stage sharing being mentioned for Smash in the past. It's not impossible, of course, but it depends whether Nintendo's up for monitoring and moderating them, perhaps. Fingers crossed!
I think it would be great if the nintendo direct was Iwata appearing briefly just to go "April Fool!, see you at E3 "
@Inkling I didn't know they'd admitted it was a fake. I never though it was real, so wasn't actually keeping track of it!
The Smash DLC thing is fake. Popo and Wolf have their models/artwork from Smash 3, a visual mod for Project M to make its textures more Wii U-like. (Yes, you heard me right, there are mods for mods.)
Apparently the Binding of Isaac game coming to Nintendo consoles isnt a April Fools joke: https://mobile.twitter.com/EdmundMcMillenn/status/583164512330592256
@ThomasBW84 aww, so I did imagine that. Thanks for your thoughts though! Now I can stop feeling outraged, it's a real relief to be honest. Yes fingers crossed, some of the stages people have created are just incredible.
Yeah, the apple watch is going to be completely pointless. Except of course, if you're interested in things like monitoring diabetes and cancer, heart disease, etc.
@NESlover85 @RupeeClock not to mention this Watson has a mini remote controlled Dr Watson based on the Sherlock Hound one.
@andyg1971 I thought it was Pre-Ghibli Miyazaki, like Castle of Cagliostro. Heck, I think even Nausicaa was pre-Ghibli, technically.
The Unfortunate thing about Sherlock Hound is that Miyazaki only Started on it, but there was a pause in production due to legal issues, so he only directed 6 of the 26 episodes. His influence was certainly felt in the rest of the series, but those six episodes are probably the best.
My personal favourite is The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. I think it was shown in cinemas before screenings of Nausicaa in fact.
@ThomasBW84 @Damo Isn't it NintendoLife's Anniversary today?
@ChessboardMan Yeah I think you are correct, I bow down to your SG knowledge my friend.
Did you guys see our Corporate Series amiibo post yet?
http://nintendofuse.com/BLtUH
Fun fact: Popo and Wolf DLC WAS a April Fool's joke, but Mewtwo and Lucas are indeed coming.
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