Slamfest ’99 was an event to promote Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. It took place at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas, Nevada in April 1999 and featured people dressed in costumes of Nintendo character featured in the game including Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Pikachu. But they weren’t just there to look cool: they came to fight. For 17 minutes between 11am and 1am, the costumed characters took each other on in something akin to a Royal Rumble.
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 teamate, Yoshi. Ultimately, the match would end in a crash which knocked out everyone resulting in a draw. “Everyone is a winner!” the announcer yelled.
Wow, just like a Barney episode gone bad. It sucked…
Even though I wasn’t able to go see the match myself(I uhh…lost my plane tickets, yeah, that’s right…), I was able to question a member of the audience, 8 yr. old, Maree O’Brothers. When I asked him what he thought of the fight, he said, “It was rigged you idiot. It was just a stupid promotion for a video game. Get a life!”. His comment left me thinking how sad the youth of today is…so sad, so young, so innocent…
via Zelda 64 Planet
I didn’t jump onto the Super Smash Bros. wave until Melee so an event like Slamfest ’99 would have passed me by (I’d only just got a Game Boy the year before) but it would have sounded really cool and while footage is elusive, I hope something surfaces soon.
You can read more about the event on Lost Media Wiki as well as a full size version of the main photo on this post.
More on SSB: the battlegrounds of a ‘Super Smash Bros For 3DS’ tournament, 13 minutes of Super Smash Bros controversy, and that time someone made ‘Super Smash Bros.’ for TI-83/84 Calculators
