Back in 1999 Nintendo revealed a Super Smash Bros. marketing campaign which makes those “everyone is here” Ultimate trailers pale in comparison. The company hosted an event called Super Smash Bros. Slamfest ’99 and it saw the likes Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Mario and Yoshi take to the ring in a wrestling match in front of a live audience.
The event took place in Las Vegas on 24th April 1999, where the crowd could watch their childhood video game idols beat each other up before their very eyes. Basically, the event sounds insane, and until today we had seen very little of it thanks to the woes of film photography and 1990s streaming practices.
But now that has all changed. The event’s producer, Ed Espinoza, has managed to find a collection of his snaps from the day and has shared them online for the world to see. We can catch a glimpse of the giant costumed Donkey Kong taking a beating from Mario, Pikachu and Yoshi wiped out on the floor and even the fighters sharing handshakes with the crowd afterwards.
All of Espinoza’s snaps of the day can be found on Imgur, from which you can see the teaser above. Be sure to check out the full album to catch more photos for a 90s throwback.
We can’t see Nintendo organising something like this ever again — oh god, imagine the number of Fire Emblem characters there now — so the Slamfest is certainly a tasty slice of the company’s history. Video footage of the event is still yet to be found, but you know that we are going to be cheering on Yoshi as/when it becomes available.
What do you make of this event? Would you like to see Smash Bros. live? Let us know in the comments.