author: Paul Wozniak
Yakuza: Like a Dragon – turn-based combat mode. April Fools' jokes that turned out real
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The gameplay in Yakuza: Like a Dragon differs a lot from what we were accustomed to in previous installments of this gangster series. This time, the creators decided to abandon the arcade combat system in favor of turn-based battles straight out of classic Japanese role-playing games. However, as it turned out, the developers didn't have it in their plans at all, and the game was created with with a fairly standard combat system in mind for a long time.
On the first of April 2019, gameplay from the latest Yakuza, which showcased the turn-based combat system. It was just a hastily made up joke, but the idea was actually received extremely well by fans (some even believed that it was the developers' plan all along), so a few months before the release, it was decided that it had to make it into the final version of the game.
However, this was not an easy task. The prank happened in April 2019, and the game was already slated to release in Japan in January 2020 – so there wasn't much time for such drastic modifications. Despite some difficulties stemming from this short period of time, the developers from Ryu Ga Gotoku studio managed to rework the combat system, and Toshihiro Nagoshi himself admitted that doing things in a hurry had already become something almost characteristic for Japanese developers. Although they had to face various problems, the changes paid off, because the debut of Yakuza: Like a Dragon should be counted as very successful – players praised the atmosphere, characters, narration and dynamic (albeit turn-based) combat system.
Warhammer: Vermintide – brawl mode
Warhammer: The End Times – Vermintide is a co-op online game in which players, in teams of four, fight their way through hordes of rat-like skaven, prowling the city of Ubersreik. The goal is to reclaim the metropolis from the monsters. While the concept of the game itself is not the work of an April Fool's joke, one of the modes that was available for a limited time in 2017 is precisely that.
On the first of April, as a joke, a trailer for Inn Brawl appeared online – a mode that offered the opportunity to have a bare knuckle fight with other players in a tavern specially designated for that. Fans quickly picked up on the idea and openly announced that it must eventually make it into the game. And indeed it did, though unfortunately only in the form of a time-limited event occurring under exceptional circumstances.
SUPERQOT - free modification
Have you ever dreamed of combining two of your favorite games into one? In many cases, of course, this is not easy, but – as you can see – the developers of SUPERHOT have decided to take on such a task. As an April Fool's joke, they moved the distinctive form of gameplay (e.g. opponents only move when the player moves) from his game to the classic Quake from 1996. Sound unusual? And that's exactly what SUPERQOT is, for that's the name given to this modification, made available for free download on the first of April 2015.
This title offers a complete Quake campaign in a SUPERHOT fashion. And while not everything turned out perfectly – the color palette made it hard to see doors or ammunition in some places, for example – players weren't picky and remembered that this creation was released purely as a joke, so they welcomed it happily.
