April Fools' Day 2005

April 1, 2005 was an April Fools' Day that fell on a Friday.

Hoaxes

A magazine page scan depicting Korechū

A Chance TCG card

Pokémon-related hoaxes this year included:

• A new Pokémon, Korechū (Japanese: これュウ and これちゆぅ, sic) was revealed in a magazine page scan also depicting a DS port of Hey You, Pikachu!. PokéLord later admitted he had composed it as a joke. The Pokémon Shinx appears to look similar to this Pokémon.
• Chance (Japanese: チャーンス Chānsu), believed to be a pre-evolutionary form of Chansey, is revealed as a new TCG card. Its only attack is "April Fool".
• Pokemopolis posted a cease and desist letter from a law firm representing Nintendo that claimed the site had tarnished Nintendo's image.
• The PokéMasters forums faked a database error.
• Serebii.net forums had an elaborate custom avatar prank which angered many.
• Legendary Pokémon showed a fake magazine page scan (actually about The Legend of Zelda), revealing the shadow of a Pokémon named エイプリルフール — a katakana rendition of April Fool.

• 
  Pokemopolis
• 
  The PokéMasters forums
• A scan showing April Fool
  A scan showing April Fool

Aesthetic changes

Bulbagarden forums

Serebii.net

Bulbapedia

A fairly predictable joke that recurs each April Fools' Day is an aesthetic change:

• Bulbagarden forums forced all users to adopt a skin for a day, parodying the scheme of Serebii.net forums.
• Bulbapedia was taken over by a cabal, and various texts were changed to reflect this.
• Serebii.net used the classic Digimon-for-Pokémon substitution.
• Pokedex.jp also changed its appearance to focus on Digimon.

Content changes

Haruka Fanclub

Dogasu's Backpack

A variation on the previous theme, some sites change their focus:

• Haruka Fanclub turned into a crudely done Misty fan site for the day.
• Dogasu's Backpack changed into "Mod Soul" Kon's Backpack, a Bleach site.

Non-hoaxes

Real announcements misinterpreted as hoaxes included:

• Pokémon Casewraps - customize your consoles with Pokémon images, but as the information was released on April 1, there was confusion as to whether it was real.

References

This article is a part of Project Fandom, a Bulbapedia Project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every aspect of the Pokémon Fandom.