The best Gaming April Fool's Day jokes

Here are the best April Fool's Day posts and updates we've seen so far in the world of gaming.
Jem Alexander
Writer

It’s that time of year again. Spring has sprung and suddenly everyone’s a comedian. Publishers and developers alike have once again tried to outwit each other with the most ludicrous announcements, revelations and… playable games? Here are the best of 2019’s video game april fool's jokes.

The best Gaming April Fool's Day jokes

/r/Games is offline to highlight toxic hostility in the community

There’s nothing jocular about the Games subreddit’s decision to go offline for the entirety of April Fool's day. Instead, the moderators are trying to spark discussion on important issues around toxicity within the games community. By closing the subreddit for the day they are directing people to a singular post that outlines some of the homophobic, misogynist, racist, transphobic (and other forms of hate) speech that has been becoming more and more common of late.

The post sets out ways in which people can work together to become better and to make the gaming community just that, a community. A team that works together and accepts one another. There are also links to LGBT, women’s and POC charities for those who can afford to give. It’s an inspiring use of a day usually devoted to frivolity and outright lies. Here’s hoping it has an impact.

Final Fantasy XIV’s Omega invades your home

It’s pretty rare for an April Fool's prank to be legitimately funny, but Square Enix has managed to produce an entertaining video that was met with more than a couple of chuckles by us. And like all good April Fools jokes, we also kind of wish it were real...

Goodbye Kirby, hello Cubey

Kirby has a new shape! Sure, this little bundle of something can change its form on a dime, but now Nintendo has replaced all the official art on the Kirby website with this new pointy version. Clearly someone has been feeding him too many square watermelons.

Yakuza goes turn-based

This ‘leaked’ video from Sega’s Yakuza development team shows a new direction for the series. Gone is the real-time action combat and instead it’s been replaced with a turn-based system, complete with some Persona-style character artwork and UI elements. This is probably one of the cleverer pranks we’ve seen this year. GG, Sega.

Rabbids in For Honor

Let’s be honest, Ubisoft’s missing a trick by not adding rabbids to every game in their stable. We’ll take what we can get, though, even if it is a one-day mini-event for a game people largely stopped playing months ago.

Capcom releases World President Challenges: A Shooting Game

This one is a little weird, in that it’s a fully playable game based on Capcom’s 80s classic 1942. We can’t tell if the joke is how weird the game is or that Capcom would bother creating something so complex for a little April Fool's prank. Either way, it’s a fun way to spend a few minutes by playing a remixed shooter from yesteryear.

Worms for Teletext

You’re probably too young and too not-British to have heard of Teletext, but picture this: A pre-internet made from words and ascii art that you could access from your TV and navigate using four colored buttons. Largely useful for news, sports results and entertainment reviews, it had a smattering of games. A quiz game called Bamboozle and a choose-your-own adventure game, with chapters added weekly, were the highlights. But now we’re happy to see that Worms will be making its Teletext debut. We’re just surprised it got there before Skyrim did.

Writer

Jem is an alumnus of Sumoner's Rift, knowing all there is to know about Riot's League of Legends. Thankfully that also imparts a sort of cosmic wisdom, which gives him an understanding of most games unless they have "creeps" instead of "minions". Deviant.

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