A brief history of fake Nintendo leaks

A brief history of fake Nintendo leaks

Posted on August 22, 2026 by Ethan in Features, Switch, Switch 2

In 2026, Nintendo has been somewhat quiet. There have been plenty of games, of course, but relatively little in terms of big reveals – at least in the first half of the year. This silence leads to lots of leaks and rumors and the meantime, which in this case led to things like the Ocarina of Time remake rumor, among other things.

In the past, there have been several other leaks that popped up during relatively quiet times, and have gained traction for one reason or another. So today, we’re discussing leaks that people thought were real, but turned out fake for one reason or another.

The Grinch leak

This is, at least in my opinion, the most convincing fake Nintendo leak of the last decade. The Super Smash Bros. series always spawns all sorts of leaks and rumors, but the Grinch leak was a whole different level. Someone got a hold of unreleased marketing materials of an upcoming animated Grinch movie, and these supposedly wound up being real. In the same picture, though, was the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate mural with several character additions, none of whom had been revealed for the game.

Fans did tons of digging, and found that the photograph was likely taken at an actual printing company that worked with video games, which gave this leak a ton of credibility at the time. Fans thought if this leaker had access to unreleased Grinch art and assets, it’d make some kind of sense if they somehow had access to the same for Smash, right? Taking a close look at the mural, you can see Shadow the Hedgehog, Ken, Banjo & Kazooie, Geno from Super Mario RPG, the Chorus Kids from Rhythm Heaven, Isaac from Golden Sun, and Mach Rider included as newcomers.

Unfortunately, at this point, the only base game newcomers that hadn’t been revealed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate were Incineroar and Ken (who coincidentally was part of the leak as well). Banjo & Kazooie were later made available as DLC, but Shadow, Geno, the Chorus Kids, Mach Rider, and Isaac never made it in. Indeed, the leak was fake, and we still don’t even know how it was possible for what amounted to a Photoshopped banner to gain so much momentum.

Rayman in Smash Bros.

This is another one of the most infamous Nintendo “leaks” out there, and it’s another Smash Bros. one. A picture of Rayman on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’s character select screen started making the rounds sometime around 2014, and at the time, it looked real – this leak was created long before AI could do anything similar. Rayman’s render was completely unique, which added credibility to the rumor.

Eventually, it was revealed that the whole thing was orchestrated by a very talented artist. It turns out, being able to make Smash-quality renders and take slightly-blurry phone pictures can make something pretty convincing! You can take a look at how the leak was put together here.

Star Fox Grand Prix

Around 2018, rumors began circulating of a Star Fox racing game for Nintendo Switch called Star Fox Grand Prix that was supposedly being developed by Retro Studios. Long story short, this was never a real project, and it’s not too clear how it gained traction at first.

Some say that Star Fox Grand Prix was a fake title made up by Nintendo to catch leakers, but additional research implied this probably wasn’t the case. We’d highly recommend checking out DidYouKnowGaming’s much more in-depth video on Star Fox Grand Prix – the full story is very interesting.

Are there any recent fake leaks that you think looked convincing, even though they weren’t true in the end? Let us know in the comments down below.