PlatinumGames Reveals Final Platinum 4 Announcement as an April Fools’ Collaboration with Hamster

PlatinumGames recently announced that its fourth Platinum 4 announcement was coming April 1st, 2020 and today is the day. The Platinum 4 website updated with a shocking docking new collaboration with a certain legendary developer.

Upon clicking “more details” on the website, it links you to the video below:

You’ve waited so long, and at last, it’s here! What better day than 4/1 for the hotly-anticipated fourth #Platinum4 announcement? PlatinumGames and HAMSTER Corporation present…

We didn’t think they’d actually make an April Fools’ joke out of it, but PlatinumGames got developer Hamster in on the fun. The game is Sol Cresta, a neo-classic arcade game made as a successor to the 1985 vertical-scrolling arcade game Terra Cresta . If you’re wondering about the connection there, Hamster Corporation acquired the rights to all of Nihon Bussan’s games in 2014. This included Terra Cresta, developed by Nihon Bussan’s video game brand Nichibutsu.

Here’s a message from PlatinumGames’ chief game designer Hideki Kamiya on the April Fools’:

“We, PlatinumGames, went all-out for this year’s April Fools’ again. While I’m aware that we’re living in troubled times, as an entertainer there’s a part of me that just wants to cheer you all up, even if it’s just a little.

And a big thank you goes out to the folks at Hamster for their cooperation.

I’ve always had my own rules about April Fools’ jokes such as ‘make it obvious that it’s a lie’ and ‘make sure it doesn’t disappoint even if they know it’s a lie’ and so on. However, this time it was ‘make something that will get us (me?) excited’ and we went full stupid with it. I hope that you were able to get a good laugh and remind yourself that this is PlatinumGames.”