Lost Smash Bros. Slamfest ’99 Photos Put Pikachu, Mario, and Yoshi in a Real-Life Ring
When Super Smash Bros. debuted in 1999, it was an oddity in the Nintendo 64’s library and a stark contrast to Nintendo’s monolithic status as a pantheon heavy hitter today.
In addition to the now-iconic N64 commercials promoting the game, Nintendo has also devised creative ways to spread it to its audience. It included a bizarre yet entertaining real-life slug fest by Ki. And now, some Reddit researchers have found high-quality photos of the event, showing how this early high-concept gaming event went awry.
legendary event
The event itself is something of a legend in the online gaming community. previously reported vice About the community efforts to find media in 2020, but not much has come out of it. Original site called “Millennium Close Combat” (it is now lost over time), this IRL Super Smash Bros. exhibition took place in Las Vegas in early 1999 in front of a live audience.
During the event, fighters in Nintendo costumes dug it out, and the judges decided which characters in the Smash Bros. lineup had the upper hand. It has pioneered many of the familiar conventions and geek-centric spectacle events. Not only did it feature pretty high-end cosplays of Pikachu, Mario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong (the exact same thing as his famous N64 commercial), it was also broadcast over the internet for fans to watch online.Despite the spectacular spectacle, much of the footage of the event has yet to be recovered. This is common with content in the early days of the Internet. However, the content creator and her Redditor have to hunt down photos and even recordings of events. In recent years, GameXplain creator Andre Segers called on fans to find showcase photos and videos, leading to some good discoveries. In addition to his interview with Ed Espinoza, one of the key producers behind Slamfest ’99, several of his Redditors revealed anecdotes and some stories about the exhibition. .
Does anyone remember the actual Smash Bros. fight (using the same outfit) that Nintendo live-streamed to promote the game? (Yeah! Live stream from 1999!) I have never heard of it. https://t.co/vR8gkTv3yY
— Andre (@AndreSegers) May 11, 2020
A treasure trove of new photos
recently, Reddit user bozo_ssb We posted a treasure trove of photos of the event and behind-the-scenes shots. These photos were taken by Ed Espinoza while he was working on the event. This is an exciting discovery and shows that gaming events are growing in scale and that video games are becoming more and more mainstream. This photo from his SlamFest ’99 event is also a capsule of his excellent 1999 time.
It’s fun to look back at old gaming event locations. Hopefully more people will provide actual footage of the event. Any serious Smash Bros. fan would love to see footage of the real-life Pikachu awkwardly swiping in Donkey Kong.
Thumbnail credit: Ed Espinoza
Alessandro Fillari is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and his Instagram @afillari.
