Just a reminder Thursday is April Fool's Day. Since it's already April 1 in Japan, I've already been asked to translate some Japanese pages, including this goody:
That's a supposed collaboration between Examu and Arc System Works for Arcana Heart Vs. Blazblue. If you play a mini-game on the site, however, the ending reveals it as a joke. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems "Vs." fighting games are some of the most prime April Fool's jokes in gaming.
I remember gaming April Fools starting with the likes of fighting Shen Long in Street Fighter II or unlocking Akuma in Resident Evil 2. Magazines were ripe with April Fool's gags, usually with the name of the person submitting the code or cheat being a clever phrase like Shur Fooldya. We may look back and laugh at it now, but think of the poor lost souls that actually beat Resident Evil 2 three times in a row using nothing but the knife. It seems the jokes became so prominent in April, that magazines now have to go out of their way to let people know, "hey, this is a joke." Game Informer recently released its April issue and included is the annual "Game Infarcer" section that pokes fun at various items in the industry. On the other hand, though, the Internet has allowed this to become a beast where the goal is to get as many people as possible to buy into your charade. I've seen my fair share of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 photoshops and the reactions are priceless.
This works in reverse, though, making April 1 perhaps the worst day in the world to release gaming news if you are a PR representative or a game company. Seriously, Mario & Sonic at the Summer Olympics, if it wasn't announced on April 1, it was darn close. I refused to believe this was true for at least a few days. I mean, come on. Just look at the premise and tell me you would believe it when it was announced so close to April Fools' Day. The most eagerly awaited match-up in the history of video games, and the first game that mashes them together is a freakin' Olympics game? Good luck with that one. Oh, yeah. It sold very well and there is actually a winter Olympics sequel out. I guess I was definitely the fool in this scenario.
As much as we look forward to the crazy things the games industry comes up with for April Fools, we always seem to forget in the heat of the moment what day it actually is. Most of these jokes illicit strong reactions where we wish the joke was actually true. How many times did we laugh at someone saying Sonic was coming to a Nintendo system or Mario was appearing in a SEGA game just to breathe a heavy sigh and say, "I wish?" So, remember, don't get your hopes up tomorrow - we're bound to see a lot of fools.
