Most people don’t know this, but in the great year of 1999 Nintendo of America held a real life wrestling match where people dressed in Super Smash Bros character costumes brawled it out in a big ring.
It sounds wild, and maybe it is, but it actually happened. Fans got to watch their favorite Nintendo characters fight in person in Las Vegas on the 24th of April, 1999.
Despite being broadcast to the official Nintendo of America website via RealPlayer, the event unfortunately has no surviving video. However, Ed Espinoza, Slamfest’s producer, scanned some photographs he had of the event and uploaded them for all to see.
The images are hilarious. You can see Yoshi tripping Pikachu sending him flying into the ropes, Mario apparently kicking Donkey Kong in the nuts while Yoshi pins him to a post, and everyone simultaneously reeling on the floor at the end.
All in all, the event was probably very lighthearted since it was a show meant for kids. I don’t imagine that any of the wrestlers actually got hurt.
“These photos reveal new details that had never been seen before in the search, such as the performers’ rehearsals, the gameplay stations to preview Smash 64, the surrounding stage area and production equipment, clear images of the referee and announcer, and much more. Very few photographs of the event have surfaced previously, so acquiring a collection this large is substantial news.”
Previously to the release of these photographs, Espinoza was interviewed by GameXplain about the event and explained much about the story of how the event came together.
Here are a few photographs from the event:
About the Author
Phillip Schneider is a Twitch Affiliate, gamer, and writer with a particular love for retro games of the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s. Favorite game ever? Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon.
This article (Lost Images from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Slamfest ’99 Revealed) originally appeared at Phillip Schneider and may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author credit, and this copyright statement.
