Earlier this week, an 18-second video was released on YouTube that showed footage of an alleged leak involving a new playable Super Smash Bros character. The character in question was Rayman from the platform type games series by developer Ubisoft. In the video, Rayman is shown as a selectable character in the character creation screen.

Fans of the action brawler were understandably excited at the prospect of a new character addition, but all that excitement came crashing down a few days later after the video's uploader revealed that the purported leak was nothing more than an elaborate ruse.

In an interview at the Game Informer, the video's creator was revealed to be Omni Jacala, a freelance graphic designer who previously worked with the non-profit organization the Rice Bowls to create the game 'Hunger Crunch', which is designed to help raise awareness on world hunger.

Jacala explained his motivation in releasing the fake video as an attempt to showcase his YouTube channel while practicing his technical skills. He added that he had hoped that the video would lead to suggestions from the public on future artwork that he could work on.

When asked about negative feedback, Jacala admitted that while he has received some hate, he has also received his fair share of support. "I have, but overall, it's been pretty positive. I'm very grateful to the people who are showing their support, in spite of the fact that I just tried to deceive everyone," he said.

Still, the talented designer continues to be a big fan of the game and disclosed that his most anticipated character would be Klonoa from Klonoa Works. He added that Rayman was his choice for the leaked project as there were already existing artwork that more readily suggested the inclusion of the character in the game.