EGM April Fools
Posted by: j_john
While flipping through the last issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (a magazine I've subscribed to since its infancy) I came across a story about an amazing new preorder bonus for the much-anticipated new Gamecube Legend of Zelda. Putting some money down would net you a free version of their last Gamecube Zelda, the cel-shaded Wind Waker, although this time around the graphics would be more realistic and include the dungeons that were axed from the previous version due to time and difficulty concerns. It appeared that Nintendo had listened to the critics again, and was providing the fans with something truly special. I immediately began telling my friends how excited I was to play the new Wind Waker, mostly because I wanted to see those extra dungeons. This was an incredible offer, and it seemed too good to be true.
Boy was I taken. Of course it was too good to be true. I had neglected to remember it was the April issue, and anyone who reads EGM will tell you they love a good April Fool's joke. I have to admit it was pretty funny, and I was kind of glad I believed it for a bit--good one EGM, you got me.
Now that I've admitted my gullibility let's take a look at some of the more infamous April Fool's jokes EGM has pulled on its readers.
The original, and arguably best joke concerned a hidden character in Street Fighter II. Taking advantage of gamers' ability to gossip and theorize about the meaning behind whatever minimal dialogue existed in this legendary fighting game, EGM claimed that you could fight "Sheng Long" in the game by not touching the final boss M. Bison. Sheng Long would then come out of nowhere and kill Bison, and you would fight him. Sheng Long was supposed to have similar moves to Ryu and Ken, but with more speed and power. What made the joke so successful were the fakes screenshots that EGM put together--there was visual proof he existed, and no-one had previously published such falsehoods before, so gamers went to the arcades and wasted quarter after quarter trying to fight this nonexistent character. Needless to say, many readers were not too happy when they found out it was all an elaborate joke, but the publicity inspired EGM to continue pulling the collective wool over its reader's eyes.
Another early joke involved the ability to play as Simon Belmont in TMNT2: The Arcade Game" for the NES. A couple of years ago they claimed to have found the "topless mode" in Tecmo's Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the Xbox, and few gamers will forget the (in)ability to play as Sonic & Tails in Super Smash Brothers Melee for the Gamecube.
All of these pranks illustrate how ingeniously EGM took advantage of gamer's rumblings and secret desires. You want to believe it, even if something tells you it's probably fake. Nintendo has already released some excellent bonuses with the Ocarina of Time and Collector's Edition compilation, so the Wind Waker remake doesn't seem quite so far-fetched. It seems possible that Simon Belmont is in the new TMNT game since they were both designed by Konami, or that there could be a topless mode in the Xtreme Beach Volleyball game since certain games are becoming more and more mature. When Sega decided to call it quits in the console wars they allowed their revered franchises like Sonic to appear on previous competitors systems. EGM decided to jump in and claim that the transition was already included in Nintendo's fighting game-turned-history museum SSBM and everyone wanted to see the first example of this unheard of phenomenon.
The legacy of the first April Fools joke reached unbelievable heights when Street Fighter publisher Capcom actually did release a character "Akuma" (in one of its many updates to the Street Fighter franchise) who looked and played much like the dreamt-up Sheng Long. It is precisely this sort of development that fuels gamers' imaginations about what strange and seemingly unbelievable bonuses could come true next, and makes me await yet another opportunity to be April Fooled.
