Nintendo gets buried in water buffalo as Switch 2 hopefuls bombard YouTube trailers with memes, mastermind says "I am surprised at how effective this joke was"
Like Mufasa in The Lion King, recent trailers uploaded to the Nintendo of America YouTube channel suddenly face a stampede of buffalo. Unlike The Lion King's, these water buffalo are specifically meant to be "kind" and "funny," their invasion sparked by a Reddit meme that has quickly taken on a life of its own.
This community gag appeared on my radar as I perused the comments on the new Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition trailer uploaded this morning. There's some excitement for the new content and updated visuals as this JRPG cult classic finally escapes the wreckage of the Wii U, but the top comments are all singing the same curious song.
"I hope they have the spectacular delicacy of water buffalos as a side quest," says kenzie117.
"The vast ocean is giving water buffalo," adds jbat762.
"As you can see the water buffalo goes to space in this entry," danboy12342 points out. And on and on and on.
Where did these water buffalo come from? Yesterday, January 8, Nintendo Switch 2 subreddit moderator MacksNotCool summoned the council for a meeting: "We're gonna pull a funny," he said. "We need your help."
The battle plan was simple: mosey on over to the latest Nintendo of America trailers and talk about water buffalo in the comments, in any way your heart desires, and then upvote any like-minded comments so they rise to the top. "This is not a hate event," the post stresses, and there should be no mention of the subreddit or the many Switch 2 leaks circulating online. No using multiple accounts to spam, either.
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"This idea is instead kind (it's free promotion & an algorithmic push for Nintendo's YouTube channel), technically within the confines of Reddit's Terms of Service, and is entirely aware that this will not get a reveal out sooner," MacksNotCool wrote. "This is, however, still dumb, but that's why it's funny."
Why are water buffalo, specifically, the battle cry? "Someone posted a picture of size
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