Again in 1999, across the time of the discharge of the unique Tremendous Smash Bros. on the N64, Nintendo had an enormous thought. To assist promote the sport they might go to Vegas, arrange a wrestling ring, get a bunch of actors to put on Nintendo character costumes and have them go at it.
So that they did simply that. The occasion, referred to as Slamfest ‘99, wasn’t simply carried out in entrance of a dwell crowd, it was additionally streamed on-line—in 1999!—after which obtainable to observe for a couple of months afterwards as nicely. You’ll suppose that may imply that some footage of the stunt has survived, however in some way no, it hasn’t, and so for a couple of years now a gaggle of “followers and archivists” from the Misplaced Media Wiki have been scouring the web in search of some.
Right here’s how one in all that group, bozo_ssb, describes their efforts:
Regardless of the dwell broadcast, and regardless of it being obtainable to be rewatched in RealPlayer for a number of months afterward, no video footage of Slamfest ‘99 is thought to outlive wherever on the modern-day web – it’s fully misplaced. With little proof of the occasion even occurring, it has languished in excessive obscurity for over twenty years, even amongst hardcore Nintendo followers. Since Might 2020, a gaggle of followers and archivists from the Misplaced Media Wiki have been actively looking for the misplaced broadcast footage (of which I’m a member).
G/O Media could get a fee
The unhealthy information is that they nonetheless haven’t discovered any. The excellent news is that they’ve now discovered one thing. The LMW group managed to trace down Ed Espinoza, who was the producer for Slamfest ‘99, and Ed was variety sufficient to share a bunch of pictures he took on the day in order that the world may get a recent have a look at Mario punching Donkey Kong within the tit.
Whereas no footage has survived, some eyewitness accounts have, which LMW have catalogued right here:
Mario and Donkey would begin the match. Donkey Kong, being a lot bigger than our favourite plumber, shortly took Mario out. Yoshi got here in and acquired his revenge on the gorilla. Pikachu would are available in for the monkey solely to be knocked down by Yoshi’s deadly tail. Then, earlier than anybody knew it, Mario went loopy. He worn out Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and his personal teammate, Yoshi. In the end, the match would finish in a crash which knocked out everybody leading to a draw. “Everybody’s a winner!” the announcer yelled – Zelda64
Mario and Yoshi have been on one group, Donkey Kong and Pikachu have been on the opposite. It was fairly humorous to see the life-size mascots bouncing round a wrestling ring. Mario went on a crazed rampage hitting everybody in sight, and as a substitute of Yoshi, Donkey Kong by accident hit himself along with his ‘mallet of doom.’ And in probably the most heated second, all 4 mascot smashed into one another within the heart of the ring, and all fell to the mat. That’s proper, in true Nintendo vogue, it was a draw…and everyone seems to be a winner! – Nintendorks
Even the ref acquired in on the act, biting Pikachu’s ear and declaring that it tasted ‘like hen’. Mario shocked us along with his low blow antics and Kong knocked himself out along with his personal magic hammer, however all of them wound up better of buddies on the finish, the match being declared an honourable draw – N64 Journal
We’ve shared a couple of of the photographs right here, however right here’s a hyperlink to the entire gallery, which is fascinating not only for the photographs from the bout itself, but in addition for the pictures of the wrestlers warming up out of costume. And enjoyable truth: there’s a superb likelihood this complete stunt was simply an opportunity for Nintendo to get their cash’s value out of these costumes, since they’re the identical ones featured within the basic “Glad Collectively” Smash industrial:
