History AprilFoolsDay / VideoGames

** For 2018, the official ''Pokémon'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-TtQ6jR1gQ YouTube]] and social media were [[HostileShowTakeover hijacked]] [[https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamRocketTakeover by Team Rocket.]] For 2021, the Twitter featured Bidoof and made posts featuring the Pokémon.

* Frontwing (of ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaSeries'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Island}}'' fame) turned their homepage into a fake movie site for ''[[Anime/KingOfPrism King of Grisaia]]'', even including a page for the film's hypothetical "cheer screenings".

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': For April 1st of 2024, an "Undeluxe Edition" was announced as a beta feature, an option to downgrade the game all the way to Version 1.06[[note]]''Terraria''[='=]s version at the time was 1.4.4.9[[/note]], one of the very first versions of the game released to the public. The "update" came with [[https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-undeluxe-edition-out-now.134454/ a poster inspired by ads for old games]] that tries to pass off the immense drop in content as a major selling point.

** In 2018, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8FyRoiYgmY their very first Rivals Direct]] were filled with joke announcements (the most notable of which being [[JokeCharacter Sandbert]]) prior to the announcement that Elliana will be joining the roster.

* A common meme among VideoGame/{{Duolingo}} users is taking the frequent push notifications to the extreme of Duo forcing you in real life to take your daily lesson. On April 1, 2019, the company [[AscendedMeme embraced this]] by promoting a program called [[https://push.duolingo.com/ Duolingo Push.]] A monthly subscription would have a giant mascot version of Duo show up, so you can't ignore the reminders anymore. The joke isn't [[MemeticPsychopath quite as frightening]] as the meme typically portrays Duo, though.

** 2023: More ''Learning With Manga! FGO'' card art was released and ''Fate/Grail League'', a baseball game with the chibis was made playable for the day. The English server launched ''Quiz Battle Master'', a trivia game with the chibis, instead.

** 2014: The game was purchased by Website/{{Facebook}} for a million dollars. The announcement even included a fake screenshot of the game running on a Facebook webpage. This was an obvious TakeThat at Facebook's purchase of the Platform/OculusRift.

** 2010: Rather than fully changing the main page as in former years, Website/{{Twitter}}- sorry, [[CharacterBlog TMitter]] feeds were added to the site. Hilarious and ''very'' in character Twitter feeds from their most popular characters.

** 2014: The return of the [=TMitter=]! Also, TM-channel, a series of Website/NicoNicoDouga-like "streams" of several characters, some of them done in a vlog style.

* By the time April 1st 2021 rolled around, original Website/{{Newgrounds}} mascot VideoGame/{{Pico}} had gained [[ColbertBump a newfound boost in popularity]] thanks to his appearance in ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin''. In response, creator Tom Fulp replaced Pico's debut game, ''Pico's School'', with a deliberately LighterAndSofter version. In it, instead of gorily shooting down the perpetrators of a school shooting like in the original, Pico now befriends and talks down the would-be shooters before the massacre could even start. The protagonist of ''Friday Night Funkin[='=]'' even appears, with Pico stating they're dating! The change was reverted a day later, and the newer version, now dubbed ''Pico's School: Love Conquers All'', was given a separate upload on its own page.

** On 2013, [=WayForward=] announced its newest original property: ''[[http://www.wayforward.com/blog/2013/4/1/get-ready-for-wayforwards-latest-epic-adventure-cat-girl-wit.html Cat Girl Without Salad]]'', a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot puzzler, platformer, shmup, action, shooter, adventure, strategy, fighting, rhythm, arcade, horror, tactical, RPG, TPS, RTS, visual novel]] about [[CatGirl Kebako]], a female space BountyHunter and [[SupremeChef four-star chef]] searching for love and adventure. It will be released [[ComicallyMissingThePoint exclusively to Nintendo 3DS, DS, Wii, Wii U, XBLA, PSN, PC, Vita, iOS, and Android]]. Of course, fans were so amused by the idea that the company was [[{{Defictionalization}} eventually convinced to make it an actual game]], seeing release on PC via Humble Bundle in 2016, and later getting ported to the Nintendo Switch on April Fool's Day 2020.

** In 2015, they announced ''[[https://wayforward.com/news/2015/03/get-ready-for-wayforwards-latest-adventure/ You Are The Winner! Go You!]]'', featuring [=WayForward's=] new [=PlayForMe=] technology, which automatically collects coins, defeats enemies, and does everything for you without having to press a single button.
** In 2016, they teased an image of [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins four]] [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog very]] [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim notable]] [[VideoGame/BlasterMaster silhouettes]] who would appear in their newest adventure. [[https://wayforward.com/youll-never-guess-who-weve-got-lined-up-for-our-next-adventure/ And then they were revealed.]]

** In 2018, they did something similar with the announcement of ''[[VideoGame/TheMummyDemastered The Mummy]] [[LicensedGame Demastered...]]'' [[https://wayforward.com/news/2018/03/take-a-sneak-peek-at-the-brand-new-the-mummy-demastered-remastered/ Remastered]]. Among other things, one clue of this being an April Fool's Day joke is that it's slated for the Platform/TurboGrafx16, the Sears Tele-Games System (read: an Platform/Atari2600 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX2gGz8NhM clone]] sold exclusively at Sears), and the Platform/AtariJaguar.
** In 2021, they released a [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=XwEy5ATLyUE trailer]] for a visual novel titled "Are We Soulmates or am I just being Wayforward", with presentations of silhouetted characters from several games, who turned out to be completely different ones.

* A demake of ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' was published on Steam on April 1st, 2017[[note]]the game's titled ''8-bit Bayonetta'', even though the graphics resemble those of a 16-bit console[[/note]], which really upset those who were expecting a proper PC port of ''Bayonetta''... [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/bayonetta-pc-announced-with-4k-support-is-availabl/1100-6449282/ that they ultimately got ten days later]].

** In 2017, they [[https://wayforward.com/news/2017/04/announcing-a-new-re-imagining-of-a-wayforward-classic/ announced]] a {{VideoGame/Shantae}} [[VideoGameDemake Demake]].
** In 2018, they did something similar with the announcement of ''[[VideoGame/TheMummyDemastered The Mummy]] [[LicensedGame Demastered...]]'' [[https://wayforward.com/news/2018/03/take-a-sneak-peek-at-the-brand-new-the-mummy-demastered-remastered/ Remastered]]. Among other things, one clue of this being an April Fool's Day joke is that it's slated for [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 the TurboGrafx-16]], the Sears Tele-Games System (read: an [[Platform/Atari2600 Atari2600]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX2gGz8NhM clone]] sold exclusively at Sears), and [[Platform/AtariJaguar the Atari Jaguar]].

* In 2016, Creator/PlaytonicGames' Twitter account announced that ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'' would become a UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn exclusive "due to budget constraints."

** In 2018, they did something similar with the announcement of ''[[VideoGame/TheMummyDemastered The Mummy]] [[LicensedGame Demastered...]]'' [[https://wayforward.com/news/2018/03/take-a-sneak-peek-at-the-brand-new-the-mummy-demastered-remastered/ Remastered]]. Among other things, one clue of this being an April Fool's Day joke is that it's slated for [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 the TurboGrafx-16]], the Sears Tele-Games System (read: an [[UsefulNotes/Atari2600 Atari2600]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX2gGz8NhM clone]] sold exclusively at Sears), and [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar the Atari Jaguar]].

** 2014: The game was purchased by Website/{{Facebook}} for a million dollars. The announcement even included a fake screenshot of the game running on a Facebook webpage. This was an obvious TakeThat at Facebook's purchase of the UsefulNotes/OculusRift.

* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'' ([[UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 PS3]]-only) had free "Hessian Sackboy Fragrances" DownloadableContent for a limited time (one week from April 1, 2010). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTcl6qjGGTI They're simply extra hand animations.]]

** 2021 saw the release of ''[[https://plus.minecraft.net/ Minecraft Plus!]]'', a screensaver pack presented as a {{parody}} of the ''Microsoft Plus!'' ExpansionPack for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows (specifically the one from Windows XP).

* Playing ''VideoGame/PowerBomberman'' on April 1st will play a special intro before the title screen parodying the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] version of ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw WWF Raw]]''.

** 2019: A WebVideo/NintendoDirect [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=OpOkr0bTSwQ&time_continue=244 aired on their channel]], announcing that ''everything'' was being ported to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. They started with the entire ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, including the PersonaNonGrata [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames CD-i games]]. After that, they went on to games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Then they pointed out that "everything" includes "the bad stuff", like ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}} II'' and ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing''; and eventually it escalated into nonsense such as ''Franchise/{{Fallout}} 2016 Election'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong Divorce Cruise!'', ''Series/TheRealHousewives of Orange County [[Memes/SonicTheHedgehog & Knuckles]]'', and ''Grandfather Bath Simulator X: Steam Edition''.

* An example that very rapidly became HilariousInHindsight: in 2006, Gamespot did [[http://www.gamespot.com/news/april-fools-analyst-revolution-will-take-lead-in-2010-6146958 an April Fools' article]] predicting the triumph of the console then known as the Creator/{{Nintendo}} [[UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} Revolution]] in the next UsefulNotes/{{console war|s}} on the strength of its low price (for both the console and its games), its [[UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole library of classic, inexpensive downloadable titles]], and its ability to tap into markets that aren't thought of as "core gamers". Did we mention that this was meant to be an April Fools' joke?
* The teams of two indie fighting games produced fake screenshots for supposed retro handheld versions of their series in 2012: ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' had Skullgals for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket Color, and the familiar puke-green classic Game Boy colors found their way to the supposed UsefulNotes/DSiWare "Nettou VideoGame/BattleHigh".

* The Frostbite engine (used in the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series among other things) is incapable of running on UsefulNotes/WiiU hardware without severe issues (though this has been brought into question when Crytek later confirmed that the latest version of Cry Engine, a more taxing engine, can run just fine on Wii U hardware). Despite this, its developers announced in 2014 that they would back-port the engine to the console anyway and went on to tweet what were allegedly progress updates. This development, however, read less like harmless joking and more like an excuse to fire off some of the pettiest, most vicious anti-Nintendo and -Wii U {{Take That}}s imaginable. It was taken to [[DudeNotFunny such an extreme]] that Creator/ElectronicArts COO Peter Moore eventually issued a public apology and deleted the offending tweets, with the Frostbite twitter account being updated to say that the offending programmer was acting alone and did not represent EA as a whole.

** 2015: A triple combo: the "release" of a new character for the capsule minigame in the UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita version of ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'', a Franchise/{{Pokemon}}-style championship on said game (complete with [[BlandNameProduct A-tuborudo and The Big Ben Company]] branding), and "Imperial Roma", a talent agency launching the idol careers of several characters ([[Videogame/FateExtra Nero]] being the main spotlight), complete with release dates and everything. Also the [[CharacterBlog TMitter]] came back again.

** 2019: A WebVideo/NintendoDirect [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=OpOkr0bTSwQ&time_continue=244 aired on their channel]], announcing that ''everything'' was being ported to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. They started with the entire ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, including the PersonaNonGrata [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames CD-i games]]. After that, they went on to games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Then they pointed out that "everything" includes "the bad stuff", like ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}} II'' and ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing''; and eventually it escalated into nonsense such as ''Franchise/{{Fallout}} 2016 Election'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong Divorce Cruise!'', ''Series/TheRealHousewives of Orange County [[Memes/SonicTheHedgehog & Knuckles]]'', and ''Grandfather Bath Simulator X: Steam Edition''.

** 2019: A WebVideo/NintendoDirect [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=OpOkr0bTSwQ&time_continue=244 aired on their channel]], announcing that ''everything'' was being ported to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. They started with the entire ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, including the PersonaNonGrata [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames CD-i games]]. After that, they went on to games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Then they pointed out that "everything" includes "the bad stuff", like ''VideoGame/{{Bubsy}} II'' and ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing''; and eventually it escalated into nonsense such as ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}} 2016 Election'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong Divorce Cruise!'', ''Series/TheRealHousewives of Orange County [[Memes/SonicTheHedgehog & Knuckles]]'', and ''Grandfather Bath Simulator X: Steam Edition''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': In 2023, the team showed off a fake title screen for ''KEL'', a game that supposedly had Kel navigate Orange Space rather than White Space. Thd game's official Twitter account also turned itself orange to sell the joke.