Slamfest '99

Super Smash Bros. Slamfest '99, also known as Super Smash Bros. LIVE, was a 1999 promotional event for the launch of the fighting video game Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64, the first game in the franchise. The primary attraction of the event was a staged wrestling match involving costumed versions of characters from the game. Although the match was live-streamed via RealPlayer, the broadcast footage is now considered lost media. Since 2020, a search effort to find a copy of the broadcast has been initiated by video game fans and archivists.

Description

Slamfest '99 took place at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas on April 24, 1999, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM PST. It was announced two days prior by Nintendo of America.[1] The event featured a boxing match involving four costumed versions of characters from the game — Donkey Kong, Mario, Pikachu and Yoshi.[1] The location had interactive gameplay stations showcasing Super Smash Bros. 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.[2]

Zelda 64 Planet described the match as follows:[2]

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 is a winner!" the announcer yelled.

At the time, Slamfest '99 received coverage by video game magazines N64 Magazine,[3] Planet 64,[4] X64,[5] and Nintendo Magazine System.[6] It was also mentioned on the newspaper The Sacramento Bee.[7] An image of Donkey Kong from the event was published in Steven L. Kent's book The Ultimate History of Video Games (2001).[8]

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.[9]

Retrospective interest

In the years since it took place, Slamfest '99 has maintained an extremely obscure status, even among fans of Super Smash Bros.

On May 11, 2020, André Segers, founder of the GameXplain YouTube channel, vaguely recalled Slamfest '99 on Twitter in response to a tweet about a Super Smash Bros. commercial which featured the same character costumes. Since then, internet archivists and video game fans have been searching for footage of the event, which as of 2023, is considered lost media.[2] Only a handful of photographs and screenshots were known to exist.[2] However, a batch of new images were discovered of the event in February 2023, provided by the show's producer, Ed Espinoza.[10] Archived webpages of the rebroadcast in the Wayback Machine no longer work.[2]

References
  1. "Nintendo Stages Smashing Fight". IGN. April 22, 1999. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  2. "Archivists Frantically Hunt Footage of 1999 Super Smash Bros. Boxing Match". Vice. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  3. "Slamfest". N64 Magazine. Issue 29, p. 13.
  4. Planet 64, issue 29.
  5. "Voice of America". X64. June 1999 issue.
  6. Nintendo Magazine System (Australia), June 1999 issue.
  7. "Star-studded affair". The Sacramento Bee. April 25, 1999, p. 30.
  8. "Nintendo: el Lost Media de Smash Bros que todos deben conocer". IGN. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  9. "This beats Monday Night RAW!". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  10. 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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