Earlier this week, Nintendo fans went into a bit of a frenzy thanks to a rumour which suggested Flipnote, a popular animation sharing app that appeared on DSi and 3DS, would be coming to Switch. Images 'leaked' online looked to be authentic in the eyes of many, and excitement quickly began to grow among those who enjoyed the application on past systems.

Earlier today, however, it was revealed that the whole thing was faked as an April Fools' prank. Despite being leaked in late March, rather than on April Fools' Day itself, the prank's creator took to social media to let everyone in on what had happened. They said:

We faked a Flipnote Studio for Switch "leak" to goof on a couple of small Discord guilds, and needless to say it got wayyy bigger than we ever anticipated... sorry!

The post contained further proof in its replies, with images detailing how it all went down.

To say that the social media post received a negative response would be quite the understatement. Angry Nintendo fans jumped on the post to express their feelings over the prank, going as far as to abuse the creator.

The person behind the post - which we'll avoid linking to given the circumstances - has now removed the images and set their account to private in an attempt to avoid further abuse. Eurogamer managed to catch some select replies before the creator locked down their account, most of which are much more abusive than anything we'd ever want to share on our site. Suffice to say, the angry messages didn't wish the creator well.

As huge fans of Nintendo and the community surrounding it, we understand how disappointing it can be to be misled, even in jest. It's even more disappointing, however, to see such levels of abuse coming from those who share a similar interest. Be kind out there, folks.