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Super Smash Bros. Slamfest '99

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Title card for Slamfest '99 created for the Zelda 64 Planet website.

Super Smash Bros. Slamfest '99 was a promotional event 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], it was meant to promote the then-upcoming release of Super Smash Bros.. The event featured a real-life, staged wrestling match between costumed performers dressed as Mario, Yoshi, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong, as well as booths set up for attendees to preview the game.[1] The costumes used were the same as those featured in the North American commercial for the game.

The wrestling match was broadcasted live on the web via RealPlayer G2, and a downloadable file was available from the event's official website for several months following its conclusion, allowing users to watch the rebroadcast of the stream when loaded into RealPlayer.[3] Despite the rebroadcast, no video footage of Slamfest '99 is known to survive, and the broadcast is currently considered to be lost media.

Event Details

Slamfest '99 was a joint production between Nintendo of America and public relations firm Golin/Harris International, Inc.[2] It was held in the "Salem Waterfront" district at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 24th, 1999, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM PST.[1] Ed Espinoza of Golin/Harris served as the event's lead producer.[2]

The wrestling match lasted for 17 minutes[4], and was performed by Cirque du Soleil actors, who choreographed the fight themselves.[2] The event's script was written by Espinoza.[2] The match was held on a boxing ring set up in the "Salem Waterfront" district originally slated for use with an upcoming Mike Tyson fight.[1]

The costumes used in the event were produced by California-based KCL Productions, and were the same as those featured in the North American commercial for Super Smash Bros. KCL had no involvement with the Slamfest '99 production beyond providing the costumes to Nintendo.

Promotion for Slamfest '99 was deliberately limited in scope as a cautionary exercise in the wake of the Columbine school shooting earlier that week, as it had spurred controversy surrounding violence in video games.[2] More than 100 children from the Andre Agassi Foundation were invited to the event, as well as 6 members of the media [5], including an Associated Press photographer. The event was not mentioned in Nintendo Power magazine around the time period, however, several print publications and numerous online gaming outlets covered it.

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[6]
“ 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[7]
“ 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[8]

Broadcast

The wrestling match was broadcasted live on the web via Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and could be viewed in an application that supported the protocol, namely RealPlayer G2. The stream was hosted by InternetBroadcast.com,[3] a web broadcasting service owned by the company MediaOnDemand.com.

A Real Audio Metadata (.ram) file was available to download from the event's website for several months following its conclusion, which allowed users to watch the rebroadcast of the stream when loaded into RealPlayer.[3] The .ram file was not an actual encoded video file, but rather a container file which would direct RealPlayer to stream the video from the URL it contained.

As of 2022, the servers which hosted both the .ram and the address it pointed to are non-functional, as are their archived counterparts in the Wayback Machine.

Legacy

In the years since its conclusion, Slamfest '99 has not been referenced in any official capacity by Nintendo, and held a highly obscure status even among fans of Nintendo and Super Smash Bros.

No video footage of Slamfest '99 is known to survive, and the broadcast is currently considered to be lost media. However, some non-video content has surfaced, such as images, magazine articles, written firsthand accounts, and an archive of the event's official website. Additionally, a talking Donkey Kong plush figure from the "Nintendo Collectibles" line has been found featuring advertisements for the event.[9]

In May 2020, André Segers of the YouTube channel GameXplain published a tweet recalling Slamfest '99,[10] which garnered the attention of the Lost Media Wiki. A coordinated search effort was launched by the Lost Media Wiki in the following months, and remains active as of October 2022.

Gallery

Images

  • The matchup. Composite image created for the Zelda 64 Planet website.

    The matchup. Composite image created for the Zelda 64 Planet website.

  • The beginning of the match.

    The beginning of the match.

  • Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

    Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

  • Yoshi vs. Donkey Kong.

    Yoshi vs. Donkey Kong.

  • Yoshi takes down Pikachu.

    Yoshi takes down Pikachu.

  • The end of the event.

    The end of the event.

Publications

  • Excerpt from N64 Magazine.[8]

    Excerpt from N64 Magazine.[8]

  • Photo from the N64 Magazine excerpt close-up

    Photo from the N64 Magazine excerpt close-up

  • Photo from the N64 Magazine excerpt close-up

    Photo from the N64 Magazine excerpt close-up

  • Slamfest99DKPicture.png

    A photograph of the Donkey Kong suit featured in "The Ultimate History of Video Games".

Merchandise

  • The Donkey Kong plush[9]

    The Donkey Kong plush[9]

  • A ticket that came with the plush advertising the event.[9]

    A ticket that came with the plush advertising the event.[9]

  • A plush tag advertising the event.[9]

    A plush tag advertising the event.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nintendo Stages Smashing Fight - IGN (04/21/1999)
  2. ^ a b c d e f GameXplain interview with Ed Espinoza
  3. ^ a b c Official Slamfest '99 Website (archived)
  4. ^ This beats Monday Night RAW! - Nintendo World Report (04/26/1999)
  5. ^ Winnipeg Free Press, April 29, 1999, pp. C10
  6. ^ Zelda 64 Planet's Slamfest '99 special
  7. ^ Nintendorks News 4-26-1999
  8. ^ a b N64 Magazine, Issue 29 (June 1999), pp. 13
  9. ^ a b c d Images provided by Brain Bot (@ForcedUserX via Twitter)
  10. ^ André Segers' Slamfest '99 tweet, 5/11/2020

External links

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