April Fool Websites

Japanese being so solemn, everybody recognizes what April Fool is, however companies never tried to make funny jokes to the consumers. But recently, April Fool is considered as charm spice for marketing. Some of the companies play with their websites.

There are two famous websites in Japan that spend tremendous effort just for the first day of April. One is Irem Software Engineering and the other one is Tsuburaya Productions.

Irem is a famous video game maker, known for shooter game R-TYPE and ledgendary damn boring action game Spelunker. In the April Fool website rolled out in 2008, Irem introduced latest version of Spelunker having internet based multi-play feature. This was a joke, however there were many contacts from core fans of Spelunker that they want to play, and Irem really released this on PlayStation 3 platform!

Irem’s April Fool website for this year, Irem made up a web based adventure game. I tried it, but umm, not so funny for me…

You can try it at http://www.irem.co.jp/ (Japanese only)

Spelunker

R-Type

Tsuburaya is famous for Ultraman series, which is one of the best SF hero movies and TV series. Tsuburaya made up a official blog of Kanegon. Kanegon is a character in Ultraman that eat money for meal.

Tsuburaya’s website is at http://m-78.jp/ (Japanese only)

I did not check yet, but what will BBC do this year? “Flying Penguin” was really cool last year. What is your favorite April Fool website?

Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters: Defending the Earth with Ultraman and Godzilla

Set of 8 Rare Ultraman Figures

Related Links

• Google’s April Fool’s Day Pranks
• Google April Fool’s Search
• Japan’s Anime, Game Studios Celebrate April Fool’s Day
• Irem’s April Fools Prank Spreads Into PlayStation Home

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