Board 8 > What were the best April Fools' jokes ever?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Also, a discussion question; what makes a good April Fools' joke from a bad one?

I've been thinking a lot about how much I hate April Fools' jokes are just simple lies. "Oh, my and partner broke up! ...Nah, we didn't. April Fools!". They're just lazy, and obnoxious, and while I can just say that's why they're bad I think there's something more to it. Like, basically every prank is a lie, an even really elaborate ones can be annoying, so what really makes a April Fools' prank work? When I think about the jokes I like the best every year, I think my favorites are always the ones that have an element of truth in them. Sort of like how good comedy points out actual truths, the same goes for pranks. I like it when companies or websites make jokes that directly relates to an observation people have made about them. That's way more entertaining that the usual "We're shutting down" or "We're making a fake product" sort of joke. I'm not entirely sure that would translate in general though.

Anyway, to answer my question, the dude who made people think a volcano was erupting is a pretty amazing prank. Although I guess that doesn't fit my assessment of what makes a good prank at all, so maybe once you pass a certain line you just break through into greatness:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Edgecumbe_(Alaska)#Eruption_hoax

Sonic and Tails in Melee. People fell for it for YEARS after it was published.

Yakuza 7

for practical use it may be gmail

https://youtu.be/lQbk_48dql0?si=UoUzNGvXfhOeVYcS

Came for The Room marathon, stayed up til 5am blown away by nostalgia

Mega Mana took my answer.

A prank so good that Toonami is still running to this day because of it.

IGN Zelda movie trailer

That thing looked way too good to be an April Fools joke.

I think my favorites over the years are what I would like to call anti-April Fools. Where a legit product or piece of entertainment is released and the "joke" is that it's actually real.

Maybe that defeats the purpose, I kinda just hate stupid pranks. Most people aren't going to believe anything they see or hear on April Fools day anyway, so it's funnier to me when the prank turns out to be true instead of a typical lie.

That one google maps Pokemon prank directly led to Pokemon GO, that's gotta be up there

The Pokemon GO one is a good call for sure.

Loved that Zelda movie trailer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax
This one is from before my mother was born and is still known. Has to be up there.

The live-action Legend of Zelda movie trailer was amazingly well done, but that's kind of aged now that one is actually happening.

Do agree on the Google Maps ones. The one that people went nuts over leading to Pokemon Go was great. Didn't they also do a MarioKart one that led to a MarioKart mobile game?

One I remember that nobody else does was Pizza Hut renaming themselves "Pasta Hut" for the day... I think that was because it pissed some people off.

The Culver's Curderburger prank was so popular it became real as a result, so that was pretty cool, but I don't think many people around here took note of that since it was largely a Wisconsin hysteria.

Clearly it was the year that FFD and I announced that we had actually been the same person all along.

But seriously, of the ones mentioned in this topic I would say the Pokemon on Google maps felt like it had the biggest impact

Toonami returning as a joke but to such positive reception it became real is a good one.

CassandraCain posted...

I think my favorites over the years are what I would like to call anti-April Fools. Where a legit product or piece of entertainment is released and the "joke" is that it's actually real.

Oh shit. I just remembered last year's Smosh 'prank.' I was there, man... it took me a whole day to realize the wedding was real.

Fighting Sheng Long in Street Fighter 2 comes to mind.

CassandraCain posted...

I think my favorites over the years are what I would like to call anti-April Fools. Where a legit product or piece of entertainment is released and the "joke" is that it's actually real.

I have no idea if anyone else will remember this but I remember a gaming website, thegia (the gaming intelligence agency) announced that it was closing on April 1st and then actually did so, I think in the late 90's. I was still pretty new to the internet then and that was one of the websites I regularly visited.

Gotta be Toonami returning.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

The Culver's Curderburger prank was so popular it became real as a result, so that was pretty cool, but I don't think many people around here took note of that since it was largely a Wisconsin hysteria.

Good call.

CassandraCain posted...

I think my favorites over the years are what I would like to call anti-April Fools. Where a legit product or piece of entertainment is released and the "joke" is that it's actually real.

Maybe that defeats the purpose, I kinda just hate stupid pranks. Most people aren't going to believe anything they see or hear on April Fools day anyway, so it's funnier to me when the prank turns out to be true instead of a typical lie.

Oh yeah. It's fallen off but Rick and Morty legitimately dropping S3E1 on April Fools was excellent. Good episode too.

The pokemon go one was so good, it became real.

But I still like when Google maps made the world the Dragon Quest 3 map.