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Gamers who grew up during the 90s might remember a very particular TV commercial, which depicted a handful of fan-favourite Nintendo characters walking through a grass field, and eventually duking it out between themselves with punches and kicks, which was a marketing commercial for the then upcoming Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo 64.

The marketing campaign for Smash 64 didn't stop there, though.

Back in April, 1999, an event took place in Las Vegas, which had people dressed in what seems to be the same costumes for Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Pikachu used in the commercial, live in a wrestling stage, with the event being televised. However, video footage for that event seems to be non-existent, with only a mere few images remaining as evidence of the event happening.

Recently, a member of the Lost Media Wiki by the name of bozo_ssb has opened up several threads regarding a new discovery at Reddit, a gallery of previously unseen images from the Slamfest '99 event provided by the organizer of the event, Ed Espinoza. The images have been uploaded to Imgur for posterity, and while the video footage of the event still remains elusive, their efforts still continue to reach out to people who might have any kind of new media regarding the event, be it images, audio or video recordings, and with some luck, even the whole event recorded.

Here's some more details regarding the new discovery and how people can contact them in case of having new media regarding the event:

What is Slamfest '99?

Slamfest '99 was an official promotional event for the N64's Super Smash Bros. that took place in Las Vegas on April 24, 1999. It featured a real-life, staged wrestling match between costumed performers dressed as Mario, Pikachu, Yoshi, and DK, and was broadcasted live on Nintendo's website via RealPlayer. The costumes used were the same as those seen in the well-known North American commercial for the game.

Despite the live broadcast, and despite it being available to be rewatched in RealPlayer for several months afterward, no video footage of Slamfest '99 is known to survive anywhere on the modern-day internet - it's completely lost. With little evidence of the event even occurring, it has languished in extreme obscurity for over two decades, even among hardcore Nintendo fans. Since May 2020, a group of fans and archivists from the Lost Media Wiki have been actively searching for the lost broadcast footage (of which I'm a member).

If you're interested in learning more, check out the Slamfest '99 article on SmashWiki for more details on the event, as well as LSuperSonicQ's video series that chronicle the ongoing search effort.

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Image Details

These 31 new photographs were provided courtesy of Ed Espinoza, Slamfest '99's producer. They were scanned from his personal collection, and he was gracious enough to offer them to the search team to be shared around. Ed has previously been interviewed by GameXplain to talk about his memories of Slamfest '99's production.

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.

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Can I help the search?

Yes! If you have any video footage, images, or information surrounding Slamfest '99, we would be greatly interested to hear from you - please reach out to me (/u/bozo_ssb) here on Reddit, and I'll relay it to the rest of the search team.

Before anyone brings it up, we are already aware of a certain Youtuber who claims to possess footage of the event on an obscure video format. In addition to a history of producing troll content, they have not provided a shred of proof to back up their claims, and we will not be taking them seriously until they do so.

Anyone is welcome to join the search effort in the Slamfest '99 On-The-Hunt channel in the Lost Media Wiki discord. Feel free to message me if you need any help accessing the channel. Hope to see you there!

Source

 

[SylverReZ]

This is incredible stuff that I've never seen before that was thought to be lost. Thanks to the Lost Media Wiki community for preserving great Nintendo history.

 

[James_]

Finally, after almost 24 years we get to see a thousand children reaching to grab Pikachu

(This lost media roller coaster is never going to stop, is it?)

 

[HalfScoper]

Hell yeah another piece of classic and enjoyable wrestling.
Really brings joy to someone who grew up with the sports entertainment but who is disappointed with the current WWE, but to be fair Japanese wrestlling (I refer to it as JP wrestling since Nintendo organised it) always has been more interesting than its American equivalent, sad that on the same hand it also means the matches of the past are very hard to find because WWE actually did a better job archiving stuff, even trying to find home-tapes of very old or niche events/federations that they acquired (as in bought the company) throughout the history.

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Lost Media Wiki never ceases to amaze me with their finds. Cheers to them!

 

[Jonna]

RealPlayer was able to do live broadcasts? I only knew it as the player to watch downloaded videos back then.

 

[urbanman2004]

Another point on the scoreboard in the name of game history preservation

 

[sombrerosonic]

Now we can watch Mario beat the shit out of Pikachew in real life

 

[Dud]

Now we can watch Mario beat the shit out of Pikachew in real life

You don't need to when there are Nintendo fanboys starting mosh pits in Direct streams.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

That footage worth nothing to me to be honest. It's just the one Nintendo subsidiary doing marketing stuff. Why should I care?

There were uncountable instances of promotional events on behalf of Nintendo through the years in every corner of this planet.

So for me it's not video game history, it is, at best, part of advertisement history.

 

[diggeloid]

Finally, after almost 24 years we get to see a thousand children reaching to grab Pikachu

View attachment 353524

(This lost media roller coaster is never going to stop, is it?)

and Mario scratching his balls

 

[eyeliner]

Finally, after almost 24 years we get to see a thousand children reaching to grab Pikachu

View attachment 353524

(This lost media roller coaster is never going to stop, is it?)

Is my man Mayro itchy down there?

 

[HarveyHouston]

Now find those missing episodes from my favorite TV shows...

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

finally, we've been waiting for this to get uncovered !

Now find those missing episodes from my favorite TV shows...

find them yourself

 

[Blauhasenpopo]

Very cool and atmospheric photos, i feel the power of the pictures, all the children and there glance in the eyes....wonderful, amazing

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

I LOVE FAT PIKACHU I LOVE YOU

 

[NeSchn]

LSuperSonicQ is probably hyped as hell over this!