Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Sonority Scouts - Prankfully Yours, 2020 Edition



It's been another 360-ish days since our last April the first, so here we are again with our yearly spotlight about how much wacky can the other competitors in the music gaming ring get! ...For this year in particular, however, it's important to underline before we start how not everything is running its own course in the world as usual, with the pandemic waves of early 2020's coronavirus batch paralyzing many nations around the globe.

While joining the masses in telling that the 'There's no place like home' literary saying can be a lifesaver for ourselves in such a time, be warned in advance that some of the following campaigns have been either slightly modified or downright canceled, like with Taito (link). For the former case, we'll also pinpoint all the affected variations, so you can avoid focusing on the ongoing issues in order to enjoy the funny goodies on a future and safer frame of time.

We've had a dire start, but let's see if the remaining otoge rivals can bring some laughter!


This year we'll start from Sega, whose musical talents are providing us yet another ground-breaking invention getting introduced by a CHUNITHM official news post. After years of innovation with one-day wonder gizmos for your music gaming needs, now the series' mascot penguin is eager to introduce a new digital wallet bearing its own image, complete with picture slideshow of its very first purchase... but seriously, is there a year where it doesn't end up with a penguin bloodshed around here!?

Just like the former years, the return of a collection of week-limited WORLD'S END charts would have taken place, enriched by the latest Irorimidori joke song about the Chu-PAY incident, but the ongoing pandemic issued have slated such courses's release to a later date.


Speaking of Irorimidori once again, one of the WORLD'S END tracks' limited release getting the axe is also a brand-new cover of conflict, siromaru/Cranky/Pico's infamous BMS hit that has made the rounds in music gaming. For the reminder of the day, however, it's still possible to head over the unit's website and getting greeted by quite the unique main page reworked intro. Sing all the 'wwwwwww's you like to your heart's content, in the wait for a safer day!


Always in Sega grounds, one of the idols from Ongeki has somehow got the entire (game's) universe stuck into space, altering the game's website and the cabinets' card printer to her own low-rarity card alone as a result.

Together with these measures, this tweet and a related news post both chiming back to the ghost of April Fools' Past, there was also supposed to be one new time-limited addition, which won't downright happen instead.



Marvelous's WACCA, on the other hand, is having a 1-day title unlock campaign, but rather than telling you what the year's joke is gonna be, here's a reminder from the team to play it safe with social distancing and the use of gloves in such dire, dire times.


Konami's bemani branch in 2020 has pulled a couple of pranks, the first of which involving the DANCERUSH series' latest iteration. A quirky and outer-worldly bug is causing weird video outputs for today while recording the player's performance with the song Eco Jii (エコ爺) vy Y&Co., causing the resulting video to be all kinds of weird. See it for yourself with one of these!


While you're waiting for this day to be over, the jubeat Twitter account has announced what will totally happen afterwards: the coming of the Radius Selection jukebox for half a month! With a reaser pic like this, you can totes trust 'em on this reveal, right?


Closing the bemani circle is this one bit of news that, despite not being a jokey one per-se still begs to be mentioned, considering that it's about an original song of theirs for the fated jokers' day! From today, pop'n music players are able to unlock a new UPPER mode (the series' equal to Taiko's Ura Oni) for April Fool no Uta. How fitting!


Our last arcade-oriented series that seems to be in with the jokes has kinda-sorta come off unscathed from the ongoing pandemic, and it's from Sega once again! For today and today only, maimai DELUXE arcades are upgraded to the special TSUKEMEN version which replaces all the menu supporting characters with tasty bowls of Japanese cuisine instead! Mix it up to find the finest flavor combo to play with, but please do not drool while playing!




The maimai staffers are not the only one suffering of a severe case of the munchies this year, as mobile game developer Synthnova is ready to take part into their own gaming culinary experience! That is why, for the remainder of the day, their music game RAVON is getting a tap-a-licious makeover into RAMEN. Just take a gander at how many delicious songsdishes are at your disposal, just a tap away!




Among the returning mobile game challengers from last year is C4Cat with Dynamix, doubling down with a funny stunt that easily goes beyond a funny 1-day song BG change! Ever wondered how playing the game on the Southern Hemisphere would feel like? Just boot up your game today in order to see your world being turned upside-down... quite literally!

When you're done with menu navigation giggles, you can also test your hands on a new, 1-day-only GIGA challenge based on one of the game's furthest unlockable tracks. The title of ARForest's involved song gets flipped upside down as well!


Discounting a bunch of song packs for the coronavirus outbreak wasn't enough of a good deed for the makers of OverRapid, so they're doubling down with quite the ambitious collaboration project! Forget other brands/artists/games, the International Squirrel Federation is going to bring in the awesome to your gaming skills!




Among 2020's AF debutants we can also count Naoki Maeda's SEVEN's CODE, which is celebrating the release of a brand new song. Don't get too accustomed to regular gameplay if you're going to try this track, or else one of the ending portion's wacky curve balls will deny your Full Combo attempts there!



Another 2019 veteran, Noxy Games' Lanota fields a day-limited track for everyone to enjoy... provided that you can handle its unique rhythms. For you see, playing an unnamed tune near a CD player's arm in the game is not just for show!




With Cytus 2 being busy with a major version update, the time for tomfoolery at Rayark's lies elsewhere! In VOEZ, for example, ginkiha's Fading Star gets a slight star-themed renaming course and takes its name... waaaay too literal with its brand new Special mode! Truly, it's special in more than a way.


A simpler take on your usual April Fools joke was taken for Deemo instead, with this tweet advertising the debut of a collaboration pack with the aforementioned VOEZ! Just try not to be bummed out that much, if you're going to check the game yourself...





Lowiro has always been keen in adding quirky features in early Spring for their own music game, and this year is no exception! If you play Arcaea and just can't stand playing its stamina-based World mode, now you can just up and remove it from the game! Just be ready to face the consequences for it...

If you're feeling nostalgic, last year's Like function comes back so that you can enjoy a couple of April Fools variants from the past! If you can..


We round things up with a tweet from the main composer/creator of Tone Sphere, saying that there won't be a new April Fools chart this year due to works of a musical matter. You can still open the app and play all three of the past Tomato Spherical charts, though!
Posted by Nintendo 5-Star at 9:05 AM
Labels: