Want to see a real-life wrestling match between Mario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong?
Brawl of the wild.
Let's be honest, we've all wondered what it would be like to see some kind of Super Smash Bros. brawl in the real world. Admittedly, Rhianna did come close with her recent Super Bowl staging, but the distinct lack of Nintendo IP was a little disappointing.
Well, today I learned Nintendo actually did host its own real-life Smash Bros. event, sort of. There were no cosmic powers and elaborate stages, but even so, they still got Mario to wrestle Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Yoshi.
Back in 1999, Nintendo hosted Slamfest '99 in the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas to promote the upcoming Smash Bros. release for N64. The company hired actors to dress up as key characters from Nintendo history, and let them loose in a wrestling ring. Yes, actually.
This event was watched by Nintendo fans at the venue, but also livestreamed from a website linked on nintendo.com.
I did a bit of digging, and came across this description of the event by Zelda 64 Planet:
"Mario and Donkey would start the match. Donkey Kong, being much larger than our favourite 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."
Ah, to have been there!
Anyway, my headline was asking if you wanted to see how this all looked in action, and you have been patiently waiting. Now, thanks to one Ed Espinoza sharing never-before-seen photos of the event via reddit, we can all enjoy these Mario and friends testing their Smash Bros. mettle in Vegas, baby.
