10 Funniest Video Game April Fools' Pranks of 2026, Ranked

April Fools’ Day is easily one of the most predictable days of the year because we all know we can’t trust anyone at first glance. We start the day on high alert, bracing ourselves for whatever prank might come our way, especially when it comes to fake announcements.

However, I started having much more fun with this date once I began paying more attention to what game studios and publishers do to prank the community. Naturally, that led me to rank the very best ones!

And this year, we got lucky since we had some fantastic jokes, ranging from quite a revolutionary accessory for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to a major baseball team jumping on the hype for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

So, to ensure you get some laughs instead of just feeling the rage of being fooled (don’t lie, I know you fell for a few today), here are the 10 funniest gaming April Fools’ pranks we encountered this year!

10 Mirror Mode in For Honor

Made by Ubisoft

I personally love it when a holiday serves as an excuse for developers to create a special mode, and that has been the case with For Honor and April Fools’ Day for years now!

Ubisoft is keeping the tradition alive by bringing back the “Mirror Mode” event, which basically flips the entire game 100%. Even the music is mirrored, which is pretty crazy. It is a disorienting yet hilarious way to experience this historical brawler, but you have to be quick: it only lasts for 24 hours. The event is live now and ends tomorrow, April 2nd, at 9:00 AM ET / 6:00 AM PT. You can even get a glimpse of this year’s Mirror Mode in this special trailer.

9 Look Outside for Smooches

Made by Devolver Digital

Devolver Digital is famous for its brilliant sense of humor regarding game announcements, and this year, fans of Look Outside (which, by the way, is my favorite cosmic horror game of 2025) were treated to the publisher's creativity.

Out of nowhere, they dropped a mysterious trailer that looks like a recorded call between Devolver and the game's creator, known online as FrankieSmileShow, regarding a shadow-dropped update.

The solo developer sounds genuinely surprised, explaining that the update isn't even ready! Yet, somehow, it’s out now. And if you boot up Look Outside, you’ll find the "update" is a classic prank: it adds the option to "smooch" button practically every monster in the game, meaning you can kiss them and even make them have rosy blushing cheeks.

8 Yoshi Meets Yoshi Meets Yoshi

Made by Los Angeles Dodgers (I’m Serious!)

Who would have thought a baseball team would be responsible for one of the best gaming pranks of the year? That’s because the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of the hype surrounding the premiere of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie this week with a hilarious video.

It features the team’s pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (nicknamed "Yoshi"), finally meeting the character Yoshi and Donald Glover, who voices Yoshi in the animated film. They recreate the famous Spider-Man pointing meme, and it's pure gold!

So, there you go, I never thought I’d write "Yoshi" this many times in one sentence, but I have the Dodgers to thank for that. You can check the full video below:

7 More Blue, Please

Made by SEGA

Ever wondered if SEGA’s iconic logo could be... bluer? Well, wonder no more, because the company did us a "favor." Oh, and they decided the brand needed to be exactly 3% more blue.

“We’re excited to announce that we’re making our SEGA logo 3% more blue,” they shared on X (formerly Twitter). They even posted the "new" look and asked players to take a moment to familiarize themselves with the upgraded aesthetic – and you can check the result right above!

They even wrote, “We hope you enjoy the upgrade”, and I can say with more than 3% certainty that we did, SEGA.

Made by Square Enix

Square Enix jumped the gun early, posting pranks that likely fooled scientists as much as gamers! On X (formerly Twitter), they shared an image of a “liquid metal slime” that had allegedly just been discovered on the ocean floor.

The post read: “Breaking News: A rare liquid metal slime has been discovered on the ocean floor! There are high expectations for a significant breakthrough in equipment.” Of course, upon closer inspection, it is just a Dragon Quest's Slime hanging out in the deep sea. We all know they’re real already, right? So nothing to worry about!

5 Release Date? Think Again!

Made by Remedy

I will admit that this one almost got me (in my defense, I had just woken up). And Control: Resonant is easily one of my most anticipated games of the year, so it is one of my biggest weaknesses this year!

Basically, Remedy decided to toy with our hearts by pretending to reveal the release date for the sequel. “Mmmm... release date…” the post on X (formerly Twitter) read, accompanied by... a photo of a cell. Get it? Release? That’s just too funny.

While some fans in the comments are still holding out hope that this is a bluff and that we actually may get the date soon, I’m 99.9% certain Sam Lake is just sipping a warm cup of coffee and laughing with his team right now.

Made by Capcom

We all know Capcom loves a good crossover, especially when it involves silly skins, so we couldn’t have a complete April Fools’ Day without a prank from them, right?

That is why they shared a brief teaser for Pragmata, their next biggest release, featuring the protagonists, Diana and Hugh – except Hugh is looking a bit too much like Mega Man. And it is exactly the kind of self-aware humor we expect from them!

For me, the best part is that I guarantee someone will make this an actual mod the second the game launches on April 17, 2026. You can check the full prank right below:

3 Farmer Goku Joins the Fight!

Made by Bandai Namco

Out of the blue, Dragon Ball Legends players got a neat surprise today with the arrival of a new character. However, it is quite an eccentric version of our beloved Goku – it is the Goku Farmer!

“SPARKING Farmer Goku joins the fight!” says the announcement trailer, which already shows him in action and saving the world against some terrible lettuce monsters, because Bandai Namco clearly thought, "Why not?"

And he’s already available in Legends as part of a special event that will last the whole month until April 30th at 06:00 UTC (or 11:00 PM PT, April 29).

2 NieR Meets Cosmic Horror

Made by Square Enix (Again)

I think that Square Enix is feeling particularly mischievous this year! Not content with just Dragon Quest jokes, they decided to troll NieR fans with an announcement that fell into the "too realistic to be funny" category for me.

At midnight, they announced NieR: COSMIC HORROR with a very, very mysterious teaser, claiming that more details and information were on the way, pointing at a brand-new game in the NieR franchise. While many smelled a prank immediately, some hopeful players got genuinely excited.

However, the announcement blew up quickly through social media, and Square Enix already had to publish a clarification hours later, apologizing for the confusion. Honestly, with Yoko Taro involved, we can never be 100% sure what's a joke and what's a roadmap, so this one was gold.

1 Meet Project R.O.A.C.H.

Made by CD Projekt Red

The crown for this year’s April Fools’ Day goes to CD Projekt Red, since they found a way to poke fun directly at the recent The Witcher 3 expansion rumors while being incredibly creative!

In case you need some context, speculation about a new DLC has been rampant in the past weeks, so the Polish studio released a high-production video today using the game's official identity – that makes you immediately think, “Wait, is that a new expansion announcement?”

However, a few seconds in, you realize it is a fake announcement for a "revolutionary" accessory: a controller shaped like Roach’s head, Geralt’s faithful companion. Brilliant, absurd, and exactly why we love this day.