My Favourite Gaming April Fools Pranks — For Realsies

Ok, we had our fun. We hope you enjoyed our cheeky little article, but here are the actual entries for those who are not fluent with vowln't:

1. Anor Londo — Another Crab’s Treasure

Among the many dreary soulslikes of recent history, Another Crab’s Treasure really stood out by being colourful, humorous, and even having a chipper protagonist. Studio Aggro Crab, however, received complaints about this clash of genre and palette, causing the developers to, seemingly, give the players what they wanted.

Marketed as a new feature, Dark Soulslike mode would add a dark, desaturating filter over the game and even make Krill, the plucky hero, look battleworn and exhausted. To top it off, the developers even added the actual map of Anor Londo from DARK SOULS to the game! This, of course, was a clever April Fools' ruse, and no such additions were made… if only.

2. Sonic is really dead, we promise! — The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

For larger studios, such as Sony or Nintendo, April Fools’ is often written off with a few low-effort tweets or an image or two. They make us laugh (sometimes), and we move on. If we’re lucky, we may even see a “brand new trailer for a game coming soon” and it’ll be something like Uncharted Kart: Golden Grail A Gogo, so when we were presented with The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, we laughed as we always do and moved on… oh what fools we were.

Coming out as an actual freeware release, the game was a real, playable title for fans to enjoy. While (spoilers) the blue flash never actually goes to that big Chilli Dog stand in the sky, the game has a very real charm of its own. If nothing else, we can appreciate SEGA for pulling a fast one on us, pun intended.

3. Virtual Boy Pro — Nintendo

If you’ve been gaming for a while, especially on Nintendo consoles, the utterance of “Virtual Boy” may fill your soul with off-red coloured dread with an added side of incoming migraines. Yes, the progenitor of modern Virtual Reality tech, the Virtual Boy, is infamous for not quite living up to the hype. As such, I was delighted to see the tenacious team at Nintendo doing their darndest to redeem this oft-riddiculed console with the Virtual Boy Pro.

Marketed as a Nintendo Switch attachment of sorts, this handy dandy device would let us all live out our dreams and install our consoles right onto our heads, leaving our hands free to pet cats, get a drink, or whatever it is that we do. The funny thing is that a lot of people were excited by this announcement! Sure, the name could use some workshopping, but being able to use the relatively affordable Switch as an ad hoc VR headset seemed like a great plan to many! However, it was not to be and the veil was lifted on this clever prank soon enough.

4. Pandaren — Warcraft

Last but not least, one of the rare pranks that turn into a real product by the end! The Pandaren race of Warcraft is, at this point, a staple of the series. These ursine warriors are known for their mastery of martial arts, fondness for brews, and a relaxed outlook on life, making them stout allies and fast friends in and out of the battlefield. However, not many people know that they started off as an April Fools’ prank back in the ancient times of 2002.

Near the release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the Blizzard team decided to have a bit of fun with their fans and release an announcement introducing the “fifth playable race” to the upcoming RTS, the titular Pandaren! While this was indeed a prank and a nod to the longtime art director, Samwise Didier, the fan reaction to both this announcement and other instances were so strong that an actual Hero unit representing the panda people was added in the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion.

There you have it! A few of my absolute favourite pranks in gaming, delivered with the utmost of efficiency. Do you have any favourites we missed? If so, let us know in the comments and have a happy April Fools’ Day!