The Flipnote Switch rumors were a fake and elaborate April Fools joke by Flipnote fans

‘I guess it goes to show how many people want a new Flipnote’

Every so often my wife and I will look at each other and say, “I miss Flipnote.”

For those of you who never owned a 3DS (or DSi), Flipnote Studio was a rocking app that ran from 2008 to 2013 that allowed users to send cute notes to each other. Alas like most things on older Nintendo systems it was discontinued, and the hope of a resurrection died with it. Until this past week, it seems.

As usual, Nintendo rumors were running rampant with little in the way of proof, and some folks believed that Flipnote Studio was coming to Switch because of some leaked images. And as is customary, it turns out that the entire thing was a hoax.

Developer James “rakujira” revealed the whole affair today on Twitter, noting that it was originally intended to “goof on a couple of small Discord guilds,” but completely blew up from there. James says it took five days to put together, and was a joint effort with multiple people.

As James notes, the small team managed to get Flipnote trending in Japan, which they say will hopefully remind Nintendo that this series is beloved. It is! But I am far past the point of taking Nintendo rumors at face value.

Rakujira [Twitter]