About

No Es Fake (English: “It is not fake”) is a quote from a post pertaining to information leaks prior to the release of video games Pokémon X and Y in 2013.

Origin

The origin pertains to comments made by reputable and reliable leaker and game dataminer, Hirobyte, who often posts online in his first language (Spanish), when confirming and denying specific leaked contents of the Pokémon games during the pre-release period. On 3rd April 2013, Hirobyte, under the handle “F_Lombardi”, posted on Spanish-language forum Elotrolado, to confirm that a recently-revealed new form for classic Pokémon Mewtwo “is not fake”.^[1] This was prior to Nintendo’s official announcement of the new monster, and would later turn out to be “Mega Mewtwo Y”.

The months preceding a Pokémon release are known for being inundated with rumour, hearsay, and oftentimes badly-photoshopped low-quality faked “insider” images. Thusly, the few trustworthy leakers are often looked to for confirmation of the myriad online postings that occur in such periods.

Hirobyte’s leaks have proved correct on many occasions, such as in 2010 when along with fellow Spanish leaker Melkor, the two effectively revealed the entire roster of new creatures featuring in the games Pokémon Black and White. The leaks are believed to have been possible largely due to their respective employments at the Spanish Official Nintendo Magazine. Hiro also accurately produced fanart of some unseen Pokémon to support these claims.^[4][5]

Perhaps the most famous leak came circa 21st April 2013, when revealing that Fairy type was set to be added to Pokémon in its sixth generation of games. At first boards such as /vp/ were highly sceptical of Hirobyte’s claims, but on 11th June 2013, the Pokémon fandom collectively had a salty meltdown following a Nintendo presentation which revealed that the fairy-type Pokémon were, in fact, not fake.^[2]

Spread

The phrase sees frequent usage as a shitposting response on message boards and fora such as /v/, /vp/ and GameFAQs, especially when discussing unreleased games.

The quote was used in several pieces of satirical fan art featuring Sylveon during 2013 during the intense discussion surrounding the leaks.^[3]

Examples

Search Interest

Search interest for “no es fake” spiked during 2013 and has seen occasional spikes during further leaks and reveals for Pokémon.

References