April Fools’ Day jokes never get old, no matter your age. And in gaming circles the day has become a household staple for breaking humorous news stories which are just too good to be true. Last year, we had Satoru Iwata’s personal apology to fans on YouTube, as well as the idea that you would be able to graduate with Honours in a Pokémon Mastery Degree. So what’s 2014’s April Fools’ Day got in store for us this time? Here’s a few of the best Nintendo-related jokes roaming the internet so far.
1. Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge
Google’s started cranking out the April Fools jokes a day early with this video upload. The newest version of Google Maps, which is available to download now, allows you to travel across the world and search far and wide to become the very best; a Pokémon Master. All you need to do is press start on the app.
Our favourite critters have invaded our virtual planet on the streets, forests and even in the cold, harsh mountains, so grab your mobile device and start up Google Maps to find all your wildest dreams come true. Maybe you’ll even find a Pidgey, pecking at its feathers, just outside your home in the tall grass, or a Caterpie just lazing around in your garden near the flowerpots. Let’s hope Google’s next step is Geocaching: The Pokémon Master Edition.
2. Nintendo Launches the Virtual DS
Last week’s biggest technology news was, of course, Facebook acquiring Oculus Rift and its virtual reality headset for $2 billion. Though the implications of a virtual social network is quite terrifying, Nintendo has apparently jumped back into the virtual game and relaunched the Virtual Boy – a commercial failure – as the Virtual DS.
Nintendo’s “official” press release says the VDS will release next year at the incredible bargain bin price of $399.99, with its design an homage to the Virtual Boy. If that wasn’t enough of a headache for you, the VDS even plays most of the 3DS library of games in full-fledged 3D. Wow, this time you’ve truly outdone yourself, Nintendo.
3. Newcomer Nester Introduced To Super Smash Bros. Line-Up
While Sakurai works steadily on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, he’s managed to find some time to update the character roster on the game’s unofficial website. Please bear in mind this is totally legit, Brownie promise and all. So please put your hands together and cheer on Nintendo Power’s much-beloved mascot, Nester.
The ginger-haired teenager Nester – most famous in the early ’90s issues of Nintendo Power – is the newest fighter to the character line-up. Aside from the image above, you can see some more glorious screenshots at the website, here. Doesn’t he look fetching? We may yet see him as an assist trophy, sporting the reintroduction of the “Nesters”.
Let us know if you’ve seen any other awesome Nintendo jokes this April Fools in the comments below – we may even include them in a second feature tomorrow.
lol i actually thought the nester one was real for a second!
yep me too.
Gingers have no soul.
Lol, I don’t even know who that is. Hey guys, you know what the best April fools joke day would be? If Nintendo announces that they are scraping Wii U support and bringing out an ULTRA powerful console. Iwata: The Nintendo Revolution (or whatever ya wanna call it) is “20 times” more powerful than PS4 and Xbox One. And is 5 times more powerful than literally any gaming PC that will ever be made in the next 5 years. XD
supermariogalaxy princess peach on funpop this is no april fools
In all seriousness, we need another Peach game….
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Um. That would not be a good April Fool’s joke. That would just be plain cruel.
The Wii U’s already good enough with it’s graphics. All that matters is the games. And we Nintendo has the best. :D
I’m little worried what kind of april fools they have in new Nintendo Direct later today. ;)
“Nintendo is my Blood” is a Down syndrome water-head..He likes to drink his mom’s period fluid.. iwata approved baby pleaseAundastaannnndd.
Lol nobody would of fell for the Virtual DS.
…
Your comment was pointless asshole.
I would of maybe if the system was a different color.
The one I hated the most was the legend of Zelda movie prank few years ago
I hated it too, that felt so close to become a reality… but it was the best prank ever.
Nothing beats IGN’s Legend of Zelda movie trailer.
oh i dont know that…
you got a link?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8
^THIS
thats the best prank of all time.
link please!
I becomes even more butthurt. April fools, I’m actually drinking all the sperm my dad gave me and it’s impregnating my brain with retards.
Your a fucking fag……. go outside. Look it how butt hurt you are from some guy over the internet.
Dearest me…
The Zelda related pranks are always the most evil and unforgivable! X )
I hate……….that smash prank.rest I don’t care,
Xb1 and 360 are worth owning. april fools
360 is good dude, don’t hate
no is not.
Yes it is.
NO its not, i had 4 360 and each broke down on me over the years while my wii and ps3 broke down once..
To each his own, many people love it.
Wtf?! You actually managed to break a Wii?? Im suprise you didnt go through more 360’s you seem like an awful owner.
Its okay…Was better before it got slammed with ads all over it slowing it down lol.
Tell me when I must laugh..
The joke is on Sony fanboys because there system cant do 1080p and they dont have any games.
ops! post as Anonymous!
wrong form of “their” lol
Fuck this holiday with a broken Call of Duty disc, but damn if that google maps thing isn’t cool.
Jews of the east??.
PS4 doesnt evan have any games. APRIL FOOLS. LOL.
supermariogalaxy3 offially leaked on funpop type princess peach
she has a golden key in here hand with eyes on it and has ginger hair with a diffrent dress
a good one would be if they ultra teased us with a new metroid game.
like reggie filled with samus pins – This Is Gamer, Peace Out
What happened to Reggie, did he got fired?
Nintendo Dubstep Experience and the Twilight Princess pre-order thing come to mind, as well as Sonic in Melee. Those are my favorites.
Best April fool was the zelda movie trailer by ign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8
The website for Nester looks kind of believable, but what is wrong with his limbs?!
Man, Nester in Smash Bros. would be awesome! But only to people who used to subscribe to Nintendo power magazine back in it’s glory days.
nintendo announces the dead of the wii u… oh wait
Super Mario 3 on iPhone and iPad. On tidbits.com
“In a surprise move, Nintendo has caved to media and gamer community pressure, and with little fanfare has released one of its classic titles, Super Mario Bros. 3, on the App Store — for both iPad and iPhone ($4.99 each). Naturally, the surprise announcement has put a serious strain on the App Store, so if the listing doesn’t come up right away, just keep refreshing until it finally does. “This is merely a test run, an attempt at broadening our platform,” Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in a statement.
Relying as it does on its hardware business, Nintendo has been understandably reluctant to release its titles outside of its own platforms. However, with the dominance of mobile gaming on iOS, it looks like Nintendo’s hand has been forced. The company could not have picked a better title for its first toe dip into the iOS waters. Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the most popular video games of all time, selling 18 million copies since its Japanese debut on the Famicom (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System to us Westerners) in 1988. As of 2011, it was still the highest-grossing non-bundled game of all time, grossing $1.7 billion.
For those who have somehow never played Super Mario Bros. 3, it’s a platform game where you travel from world to world, jumping on baddies and collecting coins in a mission to save Princess Toadstool from the evil reptile Bowser, who wants to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. You play Mario, who starts off “small” but grows larger by eating magic mushrooms (insert drug joke here). Touching an enemy as small Mario means death, but while you’re big Mario, it merely shrinks you back down.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was a landmark game in the series. It was the first to introduce an overworld map. It also introduced a number of different “suits,” as well as the ability to fly. In the original Super Mario Bros., in addition to magic mushrooms, you could pick up fire flowers, which gave big Mario the power to shoot fireballs. Fire flowers are still in Super Mario Bros. 3, but there are also leaves that turn Mario into a flying raccoon; frog suits for water levels; a hammer suit that lets Mario throw hammers; and a special Tanooki suit, which not only lets Mario fly, but also gives him the ability to turn into an invincible, immobile statue.
In addition to all of that, Super Mario Bros. 3 expanded on the idea of a themed world, with entire maps dedicated to water levels, desert levels, pipe maze levels, and levels where everything is super sized. It cannot be overemphasized how revolutionary this all was at the time. It was even a focal point of 1989’s The Wizard and rated its own television ad.
But enough with the introduction — how does iOS version play? Although there are separate versions for the iPad and iPhone, they are practically identical. Nintendo made the odd decision to make the games playable only in portrait orientation, likely to invoke nostalgia for the classic Game Boy. Also, I’m guessing Nintendo wanted the experience to be superior on the company’s own devices. Fair enough, but landscape mode would make it easier to see what you’re doing in the game.
The fact that Nintendo went with an onscreen d-pad is disappointing, though I can’t think of a better way to control Mario. But it makes the game tough to play. You hold B to run and A to jump, and with the onscreen buttons being spread so far apart, that makes things tough. For a game like Mario, where precision is paramount, I had trouble getting past the first level.
Performance is surprisingly poor. The game slows down at bad times, making it a risky proposition to jump on enemies, much less pull off complicated maneuvers like kicking a Koopa Troopa out of its shell and then holding B to pick up the shell.
If I had to choose between the two versions, I would go with the iPhone version. It looks better. The iPad version is identical, but stretched to fit the screen. I can’t believe Nintendo charges another $4.99 for such a lazy adaptation.
While Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, and was a huge part of my childhood, the iOS adaptations are a huge disappointment. These are games designed to be played on a TV, with an actual game controller, not on a smooth touchscreen. Granted, the game plays acceptably on an Apple TV-connected big screen via AirPlay Mirroring, but the iPhone is no replacement for tactile buttons. And the graphics are even worse at television size. Come on, this game is over a quarter-century old, you can do better, Nintendo!
Perhaps if Nintendo wants to continue exploring the iOS market, the best course of action would be to create games that designed for the iPad and iPhone. That’s what I’d like to see from Nintendo — new titles, new forms of gameplay, new ideas. Nintendo is at its best not when it’s stuck in the past, but when it blazes a new trail.”
Pingback: 2013/2014 – Lots Of Writing! | The Silver Screen
I didn’t even hear any April Fools jokes this year.
Pingback: Here’s What Google Mailed Its ‘Pokemon Masters’ | My Nintendo News
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any
widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with
something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything.
I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward
to your new updates.