Every year popular video games release patches with special content celebrating April Fools' Day, and some studios even make special browser games to celebrate the silly day. These DLC drops usually occur on or just before April 1st. Here's a list of the best April Fools pranks and gags for 2019.
The 10 Best April Fools Pranks of 2019 The Brandwatch React team found the top shared April Fools pranks and campaigns amid all the April 1 chatter. April Fools Day is not just a chance for you to throw a cup of water on your sleeping brother.
Also, be sure to check out these amazing April Fools Day internet pranks from around the web, like Google's Tulip, as well as these samples from IGN's long history of April Fools' Day pranks.
Add cool gaming pranks you've found around the web to the wiki by hitting the Edit Page button or let us know which we're missing in the comments below.
Nintendo Direct: Everything Is Coming to Switch[edit]
Yeah, this is IGN's own April Fools' prank for 2019, but we think it's pretty great. See everything coming to Switch in the video below.
SMITE's Lore Lady Is Back[edit]
And she's doing voice over for every. little. thing. Sound effects? Music? Patch notes? The Lore Lady is voicing them all. Watch SMITE's April Fools' video below!
Binging With Babish: Brock's Jelly Donuts[edit]
Binging With Babish's YouTube channel is filled with videos recreating recipes from video games and TV shows. This time, Babish creates Brock's 'jelly donuts' from Pokemon. He says they're 'Unlike any donuts I've ever seen,' and boy, is he right.Watch the video below!
Capcom is Hiring Zombies[edit]
Capcom is hiring zombies on this page due to the 744,038,013 zombies that have been slain in the past two months.
League of Legends Cats vs. Dogs Skins[edit]
League of Legends released funny cat and dog themed skins for your favorite champions, along with a collection of Icons and Borders. Watch the trailer below.
Ash and Pikachu Photobomb Pokemon Go[edit]
Smeargle usually photobombs while using the camera in Pokemon Go, but for April Fools', Ash or Ash-Hat Pikachu will photobomb instead, giving you a chance to catch a Pikachu wearing Ash's hat! Follow the same steps to catch Smeargle to activate this event - you can read these instructions here. Serebii.net posted this Ash picture.
Final Fantasy XIV Omega Smart Home Assistant[edit]
Omega is the boss in FFXIV Stormblood's main raid. But now, the super weapon can act as a home assistant (like Amazon's Alexa!) - at least for April Fools. This trailer showing what Omega can do is funny even for those unfamiliar with Final Fantasy.
For Honor Rabbid Take-Over[edit]
Ubisoft's Rabbids are taking over for the minions in For Honor for April 1st only!
Capcom: 2019 World President Challenges a Shooting Game[edit]
There's a weird shooting game on Capcom's website called 'World President Challenges a Shooting Game' you can play for free here.
Sega's Turn-Based Yakuza Game[edit]
Sega's Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released this video turning Yakuza into a turn-based JRPG.
Nintendo / HAL's Kirby Body Swap with Qbby[edit]
Kirby's gone square on Kirby's official website. Check out Kirby as a cube in artwork for Epic Yarn, Kirby Star Allies, and more.
BoxBoy!'s main character, Qbby, who's usually a cube, is now round like Kirby!
Dota Dynamic Transformations[edit]
Reddy, well-known in the Dota community for making timely announcements, about Dota now supporting dynamic transformations, starting with Silencer. You can see the Dota In-Game Preview video he posted here.
TABS Is Finally Out[edit]
Landfall Games' anticipated Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (TABS) has been in development since 2016, and it's finally out now! Or is it? Launching the game on April 1st treats players to a familiar gag, which you can see below! See the actual reveal trailer here.
Splatoon Island[edit]
This incredibly well-done trailer by Mike Inel has the description 'Splatoon Island is a mobile game full of mini-games set on a vacation island. Who says adult Inklings can't have extreme fun?' See the video below!
DOOM The Joy of Slaying[edit]
This new DOOM experience features painting!... with bodily fluids??? See the Tweet here.
Looking for more? Be sure to check out these amazing April Fools Day internet pranks from around the web, like Google's Tulip, as well as these samples from IGN's long history of April Fools' Day pranks.
Companies will come up with gags. Everybody will have a good laugh, but nobody will be fooled.
Oh, for the days when April Fools' Day hoaxes and pranks could cause lines outside liquor stores or prompt people to smell their TVs or choke telephone lines with complaints to the National Park Service.
Aren't we?
Well, to prepare you for this day of trickery, here are 10 of the best April Fools' pranks in history. After all, forewarned is forearmed. Or, as Abraham Lincoln once observed, 'Don't believe everything you read on the internet.'
On April 1, 1957, the BBC TV show 'Panorama' ran a segment about the Swiss spaghetti harvest enjoying a 'bumper year' thanks to mild weather and the elimination of the spaghetti weevil. Many credulous Britons were taken in, and why not? The story was on television -- then a relatively new invention -- and Auntie Beeb would never lie, would it?
The story was ranked the No. 1 April Fools' hoax of all time by the Museum of Hoaxes website -- a fine source for all things foolish.
2. The fastest pitcher of all time
George Plimpton, always a wry writer, invented the tale of Mets pitcher Siddhartha 'Sidd' Finch for Sports Illustrated. The story about Finch, who could throw 168 miles per hour, ran in the magazine's April 1, 1985, issue, and eagle-eyed readers caught on immediately: The first letters in the words of the story's secondary headline spelled out 'Happy April Fools' Day.' But others wondered whether the Mets had added another fireballer to their top-notch staff.
3. Redefining pi
Pi is so challenging. How can anybody work with an irrational number that goes on and on and on? Lawmakers in Alabama allegedly thought so, passing a law in 1998 that redefined 3.14159 ... to, simply, 3. Though the news was a hoax from a man named Mark Boslough, it became widely disseminated and believed. No wonder: In 1897, the Indiana legislature attempted to pass a bill establishing pi as 3.2 (among other numbers).
Why should right-handers be closer to cleanliness? In 2015, Cottonelle tweeted that it was introducing left-handed toilet paper for all those southpaws out there.
The joke followed a 1998 stunt by Burger King about its new 'Left-handed Whopper.'
Few people may have been taken in by Cottonelle, but that wasn't the case in 1973, when Johnny Carson cracked a joke about a toilet paper shortage. Worried Americans immediately stocked up. Well, you can never be too sure.
In this now-classic 1996 prank, Taco Bell took out newspaper ads saying it had bought the Liberty Bell 'in an effort to help the national debt.' Even some senators were taken in, and the National Park Service even held a press conference to deny the news. At noon, the fast-food chain admitted the joke and said it was donating $50,000 for the landmark bell's care. The value of the joke, of course, was priceless.
The Brits are masters of April Fools' gags, and in 1980, the BBC's overseas service said the iconic clock tower was getting an update. The joke did not go over well, and the BBC apologized. That hasn't stopped it from popping up again in the digital era, however.
In other TV-related jokes, in 1962, the Swedish national network put on a technical expert who told the public that its black-and-white broadcasts could be made color by viewing them through nylon stockings. Many Swedes fell for the hoax. There's no truth to the rumor, however, that some have gotten their revenge by burning a giant goat every year.
In 1989, a Seattle comedy show went on the air and said the city's Space Needle had fallen down. It even had pictures. The news was a joke, of course, but that was little comfort to 700 panicky callers alarmed by the story. Skip to the 2:25 mark on the video:
9. Google Gulp
Google loves April Fools' Day almost as much as making doodles. In 2005, the company said it was branching out with a new drink: Google Gulp. It would help 'to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful cerebral cortex.' Also, low in carbs!
Add it to fake Google products including Google Romance, Gmail Paper and Google Voice for Pets. But not Gmail itself, however: That was real.
In 1994, PC Magazine ran a column about a bill making its way through Congress that would prohibit the use of the internet while intoxicated. Although the name of the contact person was listed as Lirpa Sloof (spell her name backwards), many people took the story seriously.
In retrospect, however, perhaps the bill -- fake or not -- wasn't a bad idea.
A version of this piece was first published in 2016.