Nintendo
Nintendo had a real-life wrestling match between Mario, Pikachu, DK and Yoshi in the 90s
Back in 1999, Nintendo organized Slamfest ‘99, a real life encounter between some of its biggest characters in an actual ring to celebrate the launch of Super Smash Bros.
If you thought you’d seen it all, think again: fans have just unearthed photos of a Nintendo event called Slamfest ‘99 in which actors wearing Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu and Yoshi outfits fought in a wrestling ring in Las Vegas. And while there’s still no archival footage, it seems like they’re getting close.
Taking place back in 1999, sometime around the release date of the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64, this wrestling match was a once in a lifetime event. Officially produced by Nintendo as promotion for the game, Slamfest ‘99 was performed in front of a live crowd out in the open. They had an entire ring set up, and people seem to have gathered to watch the actual show, which means it was by all means a success. But the event was also livestreamed, which is a surprise considering this happened in 1999.
While the recording of this livestream was available online to be replayed by anyone who wanted to watch the event, this only lasted for a few months before it was taken down. Up until now, no footage whatsoever of the event had been found, with an entire group of “fans and archivists” from the Lost Media Wiki page joining their efforts to try and find anything about it. And while no footage has been found yet, they’ve managed to track down the actual producer of the show, Ed Espinoza.
Espinoza had taken a series of photos of the actual fight, and when asked about it he was kind enough to share these images with the team hunting down the event. You can find all of these pictures through this link, some of which have been shared in this article as well..
Their efforts to find video of Slamfest ‘99 aren’t stopping, but in the meantime they’ve gathered eyewitnesses’ accounts of the event. This is only one of them:
“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”