April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day is an annual custom occurring on April 1st for pranks and hoaxes.

Relation to Dead or Alive

The Dead or Alive series, and to a certain extent Ninja Gaiden has had various April Fools' related pranks throughout its history, either sanctioned by Team Ninja or by third parties.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

The EGM page

In the April 2003 edition (issue #165) of the videogame publication Electronic Gaming Monthly (which, despite the edition name, was actually released two months earlier), the magazine revealed a "nude code" for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, as an April Fool's day joke. The magazine promised readers they could play the game with the girls topless, in an unlockable nude mode, and also implied that this was the reason for the game's M-rating. Upon discovering the nude code was a hoax, many readers sent angry letters to EGM, despite the fact that such jokes and hoaxes are an annual tradition for EGM.

Nobunyaga no Yabou: Nyanja Gaiden

Nobunyaga no Yabou, or Nobunyaga's Ambition, is a browser-based social game produced by Tecmo Koei. It is presented as a "cuter", more light-hearted incarnation of Nobunaga's Ambition, a more serious alternative history strategy series, with the added twist of recasting the whole cast as cats.

In 2011, there was an April Fool's joke made with a fake announcement for a crossover with Ninja Gaiden, entitled Nyanja Gaiden. It would later be repeated with the mainline Dead or Alive series a year later (see below).

Nobunyaga no Yabou: Cat or Alive

The fake Cat or Alive announcement banner shown on the Nobunyaga no Yabou website for April Fool's Day, 2012.

As an April Fool's joke in 2012, a fake announcement for Cat or Alive, a crossover with Dead or Alive was created. A headline banner for the Nobunyaga no Yabou website was published, showing a render of Ginchiyo Tachibana, a character from the series, dressed up as Kasumi. The banner was taken down the next day.

Misaki VRutuber

In 2018, Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation had an April Fool's Day joke where retweeting a specific tweet 10,000 times will have Misaki debut as a Vtuber. Players ultimately got an SSR ticket.

Zombienus Vacation

In 2019, a semi-Crossover with Zombieland Saga featured Fiona appearing as a zombie idol (a reference to her voice actress, Kaede Hondo, voicing the main character of Zombieland Saga). It also featured a PV featuring Fiona falling into a pool (as it occurred around the time of the Spring Pool Hopping event) before emerging as a zombie, with it showing Fiona dancing while shifting between human and zombie forms, as well as scenes of the various girls expressing fear of Fiona's zombie nature, as well as an opening scene not seen anywhere else where Fiona briefly stumbles throughout the night zombie-like before meeting the Owner and discussing with him her new costume, as well as implying her decayed features were not makeup. A mini-festival also existed where the player had to challenge Fiona as the opponent, each time having her in her zombie attire, with prizes including a title and a free ticket to attempt to unlock Fiona's suit. Gels also existed during that time that could alternate between Fiona's zombie and human forms. All traces of the event got scrubbed, with a tweet by Misaki indicating the Owner dreamed the entire thing, although Fiona's suit during the April Fool's event, "Pink Requiem", nevertheless was made available in the May 2019 ticket.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation anime

In 2021, teaser images were unveiled featuring a supposed anime based on Xtreme Venus Vacation, with 2D anime-style artwork of Kasumi, Honoka, Marie Rose, Misaki, Tamaki, and Nagisa wearing Margarita, basic swimsuit, Sweet Bitter Berry, Appetizer Pinchos, Linarite Prism, and Springtime Schoolwear, respectively. A special SR was also distributed upon logging in.

Card girls

In 2022, although not in the game itself, the official website had a page claiming all the girls are now cards, and that you can use X-ray glasses to discern their identities. Marie Rose in particular acted as the 6 of Hearts; Luna acted as the 8 of Diamonds; and Misaki acted as the 5 of Spades. It also implied you could use the glasses to gain an edge in Blackjack, while giving the fictitious price of 5000 trillion. A teaser was also published on Twitter as well.

Venus company car

In 2023, Misaki made a twitter post mentioning that the fiscal year earnings were used for two paint jobs for the company car: One for chibis of all the Venus Vacation characters up to that point, and one with Marie Rose with red rose petals.

Wanko Soba

In 2024, A joke trailer featuring Nagisa, Luna, and Tsukushi was released where they advertised a new set of soba dishes called "Wanko Soba", a subtle reference to Nagisa's then-ongoing True Colors event.

Worldwide sale of jet black fan

In 2025, a tweet claimed that Nyotengu's Jet Black Fan from the Venus Shop is now being sold worldwide and even has a website of its own.

Trivia

• There were plans for an April Fools' joke in Xtreme Venus Vacation in 2020, but it got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.