Slamfest '99

Super Smash Bros. Slamfest '99, also known as Super Smash Bros. LIVE or simply Slamfest '99, was an official promotional event for the North American release of Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, held at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 24th, 1999.[1] Organized by Nintendo of America and public relations firm Golin/Harris,[2] the event featured a real-life, staged wrestling match involving four costumed Super Smash Bros. characters performed in front of a live audience.

The wrestling match was recorded and live-streamed on the web via RealPlayer by the web broadcasting service InternetBroadcast.com.[3] While the rebroadcast of the match was hosted on the event's official website for several months following its conclusion, no video footage of Slamfest '99 is known to survive on the modern-day internet, and the broadcast is currently considered lost media. A search effort by fans and internet archivists to find the broadcast footage has been active since May 2020.

Description

Slamfest '99 took place in the "Salem Waterfront" district at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas on April 24, 1999, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM PST.[1] It was announced two days prior by Nintendo of America.[1] The event featured a wrestling match involving four costumed versions of characters from Super Smash Bros. — Donkey Kong, Mario, Pikachu and Yoshi, as well as interactive demo kiosks set up outside the ring for attendees to preview the game.[1]

The costumes were designed by mascot-crafting company KCL Productions, who had no involvement in the production of Slamfest '99 beyond initially providing the costumes to Nintendo. The costumes were previously used in the North American commercial for Super Smash Bros., as well as various advertisements and Nintendo-related events afterwards.

The wrestling match was live-streamed via RealPlayer G2 from a website linked on nintendo.com.[4]

At the time, Slamfest '99 received coverage by video game magazines N64 Magazine,[5] Planet 64,[6] X64,[7] and Nintendo Magazine System.[8] It was also mentioned on the newspaper The Sacramento Bee.[9] An image of Donkey Kong from the event was published in Steven L. Kent's book The Ultimate History of Video Games (2001).[10]

A rebroadcast of the match was made available for several months after its conclusion, via a downloadable RealPlayer file from the event's official website.[11]

Firsthand accounts

Mario and Donkey would start the match. Donkey Kong, being much larger than our favorite plumber, quickly took Mario out. Yoshi came in and got his revenge on the gorilla. Pikachu would come in for the monkey only to be knocked down by Yoshi's lethal tail. Then, before anyone knew it, Mario went crazy. He wiped out Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and his own teammate, Yoshi. Ultimately, the match would end in a crash which knocked out everyone resulting in a draw. "Everyone's a winner!" the announcer yelled.

— Zelda 64 Planet[12]

Even the ref got in on the act, biting Pikachu’s ear and declaring that it tasted ‘like chicken’. Mario shocked us with his low blow antics and Kong knocked himself out with his own magic hammer, but they all wound up best of friends at the end, the match being declared an honourable draw.

— N64 Magazine[13]

Mario and Yoshi were on one team, Donkey Kong and Pikachu were on the other. It was quite funny to see the life-size mascots bouncing around a wrestling ring. Mario went on a crazed rampage hitting everyone in sight, and instead of Yoshi, Donkey Kong accidentally hit himself with his 'mallet of doom.' And in the most heated moment, all four mascot smashed into each other in the center of the ring, and all fell to the mat. That's right, in true Nintendo fashion, it was a draw...and everyone is a winner!

— Nintendorks[14]

Retrospective interest

In the years since it took place, Slamfest '99 has never been referenced in any official capacity by Nintendo, and has maintained an extremely obscure status even among fans of Super Smash Bros. No video footage of Slamfest '99 is known to exist on the modern-day internet, and the official broadcast is currently considered lost media.

In May 2020, André Segers of the YouTube channel GameXplain published a tweet vaguely recalling Slamfest '99,[15] which garnered the attention of members of the Lost Media Wiki. A coordinated search effort to find the broadcast footage was launched by the Lost Media Wiki in the following months.[16] The search effort has since uncovered a variety of content related to Slamfest '99, such as photographs, magazine articles, written firsthand accounts, and references to the event on archived websites in the Wayback Machine.[16] Additionally, a talking Donkey Kong plush figure from the "Nintendo Collectibles" line was found featuring promotional material for the event.[17]

In February 2023, a collection of new high-quality photographs from Slamfest '99 were uploaded to social media by members of the Lost Media Wiki.[18] The photos were provided to the Lost Media Wiki by Slamfest '99's producer, Ed Espinoza.[18]

References
  1. "Nintendo Stages Smashing Fight". IGN. April 22, 1999. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  2. "Searching for Nintendo's Lost Smash Bros. 64 Event: Slamfest '99 - We Talk to One of the Creators!" on YouTube
  3. Smash Bros. Internet Broadcast at the Wayback Machine (archived September 8, 1999)
  4. "Archivists Frantically Hunt Footage of 1999 Super Smash Bros. Boxing Match". Vice. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  5. "Slamfest". N64 Magazine. Issue 29, p. 13.
  6. Planet 64, issue 29.
  7. "Voice of America". X64. June 1999 issue.
  8. Nintendo Magazine System (Australia), June 1999 issue.
  9. "Star-studded affair". The Sacramento Bee. April 25, 1999, p. 30.
  10. "Nintendo: el Lost Media de Smash Bros que todos deben conocer". IGN. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  11. "This beats Monday Night RAW!". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  12. "Zelda 64 Planet - Slamfest '99". tripod.com. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  13. N64 Magazine, Issue 29 (June 1999), pp. 13
  14. Nintendorks.com at the Wayback Machine (archived August 22, 1999)
  15. @AndreSegers (May 11, 2020). "Does anyone else remember the real-life Smash Bros battle (using the same costumes) that Nintendo live-streamed to promote the game? (Yep! a live stream in '99!) I've never heard anyone else mention it and I can find zero evidence of it ever existing online" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. "Slamfest '99 aka "Super Smash Bros. LIVE" (lost livestream of promotional event for Nintendo 64 crossover fighting game; 1999)". Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  17. @ForcedUserX (May 12, 2020). "So, maybe this? I've always wondered what this was in reference to!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. Plunkett, Luke (February 15, 2023). "In 1999 Nintendo Had A Real-Life Wrestling Match Starring Mario And Pikachu". Kotaku. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
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