April Fool's Day and announcement of new era-name Reiwa in Japan

News from 2019.04.01
Archived on 2019.04.19

It's April Fool's Day!
People in Japan are enjoying this day as an event, including people related to Sonic development.
Also, every year, more and more companies are joining the bandwagon of releasing fake game news and announcements - including SEGA, of course.

However, this year in Japan, April 1st was also the day on which the new era name was announced by the government due to the abdication of current Tennoh (Japanese emperor). The last time a Tennoh abdicated while he was alive was in the year 1817, so this event gathered attention of whole Japan. In order to avoid confusion and unnecessary information to fly around while the announcement happens, many companies decided not to do an April Fool's event on this day.

Instead, they joined the meme which spread immediately after the new era-name announcement, which you see below:

New era-name of Japan was announced to be 令和 Reiwa - and its announcement style immediately became a hot topic and meme

🔵SEGA related people on the new era name of Japan presented today: Reiwa 令和.
⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 1, 2019

新元号発表！

新元号は

「令和（れいわ）」！ pic.twitter.com/XpcWYJWKkp

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 1, 2019

"The new era-name is 'Reiwa'!"
- SEGA Official

新元号は、「レイ輪」！#新元号 #令和 #令和元年 pic.twitter.com/EbvxQ4HQDf

— ソニック委員会「R」 (@sonic20th) April 1, 2019

"The new era-name is 'Ray-wa'!" (wa = ring in Japanese)
- Sonic Committee

「レイ輪」どっちを出そうか迷って出さなかったボツ案#新元号 #令和 #令和元年 pic.twitter.com/VIy3VAXxaz

— ソニック委員会「R」 (@sonic20th) April 1, 2019

"The scrapped idea of the image that goes with 'Ray-wa'."
- Sonic Committee

書きやすいこともいいね。#令和 #Reiwa pic.twitter.com/fvoTnZYr67

— 金丸淳一 かねまる じゅんいち 声の演じ手、歌い手。Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) April 1, 2019

"It's also good that it's easy to write. Happy Reiwa." - Junichi Kanemaru

But of course, there were people who commented on April Fool's Day related events on this day...

Naka-san on Christmas NiGHTS on April Fool's Day

4月1日にクリスマスナイツをプレイするとナイツがリアラに変わるんだったね。すっかり忘れていて、フェイク動画かと思いましたよ。23年も前になるんですね。ナイツは長く愛されているのは、本当に嬉しいです。ありがとうございます。同じくらい愛されるゲームをスクエニで作りたいです。 https://t.co/6pNPuhPLMd

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 1, 2019

🔵Naka-san on a video of an easter egg of Christmas NiGHTS which can be found only on April Fool's Day:
"Oh right, if you play Christmas NiGHTS on April 1st, Nights will change to Reala. I totally forgot about it and thought this was a fake video. It's already -

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 1, 2019

- 23 years ago. I'm glad NiGHTS is being loved for such a long time. Thank you very much. I want to make games as loveable as it at SQUARE ENIX.

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 1, 2019

Kanemaru-san and April Fool's Day

え?どうかしました?#HappyAprilFoolsDay#AprilFoolsDay pic.twitter.com/tMxMtCL05S

— 金丸淳一 かねまる じゅんいち 声の演じ手、歌い手。Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) March 31, 2019

"Huh? Is something wrong?"
- Junichi Kanemaru

Wow this is unusual?! SEGA Official

🔵The person behind SEGA Official account becomes a YouTuber?!

Watch the video "I was forced to become a YouTuber because of SEGA FES, so I did, but it was impossible for me" ⬇ https://t.co/5fI0fiBB9j

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 2, 2019

Oh yeah, and SEGA of America enjoyed the April Fool's as usual...

Struggling to ketchup? Don't be such a chicken; it's the

GOTTA GO FAST-FOOD EVENT!

For today only, vote on which of these outrageous designs you want to see in game! We can only deliver the one though, so have your say now!https://t.co/rt8VHsPvJw#SonicForces pic.twitter.com/ThdG04Zf6c

— SEGA HARDlight (@SEGAHARDlight) April 1, 2019

Move over, 100-man battle royales. The future is here. pic.twitter.com/xHfZpiub9D

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) April 1, 2019

Everybody seems to be having fun with April Fool's!
How was your day?
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