Remembering the Sonic & Tails Hoax

Plenty of normal hoaxes exist - practically every day that a Smash game is on the horizon, a fake roster comes up. One of the first ever recorded hoaxes, if not the first, was Electronic Gaming Monthly's Magazine said that Sonic and Tails could be unlocked after defeating 20 or more enemies in cruel Melee. Multiple pieces of evidence were used to debunk this as a hoax.

EGM later confessed to making the joke, but as a prize for people who did get more than 20 KO's in cruel melee, they rewarded copies of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. This game was Sonic’s first appearance on a Nintendo system.

The original source image can be found here and this was recorded on Super Smash Bros. Wikia

Where you around to remember this hoax? What other old Melee hoaxes do you remember? Let us know in the comments below!

 

I do credit this famous hoax with being at least part of what probably drove the huge demand for Sonic come Brawl time and in the end, he made it.

I do kind of hope Tails gets his chance for Ultimate to really bring this thing into fruition (Just hopefully not the unlock requirements coming into fruition with it. Because HOOOOO boy). But it's not something I'd be upset about if it doesn't. Sonic is all I've needed for about 10 years and counting. Tails would just be one big cherry on top I'd be ecstatic for.

 

gotta admit, if you looked at the message and CSS, it would still look pretty convincing... where it falls apart is with Sonic and Tails' model in the gameplay pic. both of them aren't facing the right direction, and Sonic's Adventure 2 model in particular is jumping toward the screen...

still, this was way back in the day, not enough people were anywhere near as eagle-eyed about spotting something wrong on this...

 

Imagine how crazy this would’ve been if it was real

 

The 2nd best EGM April Fool's joke ever made.

Only bested by their Sheng Long Joke for Street Fighter II, which became so popular it led to the creation of Akuma.

 

The countless attempts I spent trying to get 20KO's in Cruel Melee...

11 year old me was gullible AF.

 

A fun fact is that there were talks about Sonic really making an appearance in Smash even back then. Glad to see it was eventually realized.

 

Definitely an amusing and historical hoax.

Shadow is upset that there were fakers around here..... I'll go now.

 

If Sonic and Tails were in Melee, they’d probably be top tiered.

 

Haha, I was too young to remember this hoax.

 

If Sonic and Tails were in Melee, they’d probably be top tiered.

If you play ssf2, tails is the best character

 

I WISH tails will be in smash ultimate.

 

You know if you take one hour to beat adventure mode with Samus with the name JB20 you get a clone of samus in her Justin bailiey outfit on hard or above

 

I was only a year old when this hoax happened.

 

i wasn't alive when melee came out

 

I was one of those gullible kids that attempted this after seeing it.

With Bowser, no less.

I actually managed to get 20 KOs and was quite crestfallen when I didn't get any unlocks. I also didn't realize they were sending people who did get 20 KOs a copy of SA2 Battle, but I got that game anyway.

Good times. Good times. Makes me kinda wish Tails was here.

 

I got 20 K.O.s in the game I already had SA2 when they where giving them away for free. In the end I got nothing.

 

Well, this rumor certainly aged well! Lol

Well, since we have the akaneia 0.9 melee build, this actually became a reality now!

No tails though, (Well not playable) but he IS a trophy and background character on green hill zone at least.

 

I remember this joke. Didn’t buy it because I already read that it was fake. It was an annoyance.

By the way, correction, but I am pretty sure Sonic Advance 1 was the first Sonic game on an Nintendo system, not Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

 

I know I had the magazine with this in it at one point - it might have been the only Electronic Gaming Monthly issue that I had. (I generally went with Nintendo Power as my gaming magazine of choice, or occasionally GamePro)

This takes me back. (and makes me wish that Tails was in Smash) The only other Melee hoax that I remember was a claim that Toad was playable; looking into it, the criteria was destroying every name in the credits.