Way back in 1999, Nintendo held a promotional event at the now-defunct MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas. Called “Slamfest ‘99,” the event pitted Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi against Mario,Mario, Yoshi, And Donkey Kong Wrestle Yoshi, And Donkey Kong Wrestle each other in a wrestling match to promote the upcoming N64 release of the original Super Smash Bros.
Unless you were actually present at the event, the only other way to see it was via a livestream through Nintendo’s site. Zelda 64 Planet managed to take a few screenshots, with Vice publishing them online back in 2020, but the pictures weren’t very good since livestreaming technology was pretty bad back in ’99.
RELATED:
Apex Legends Season 16 has just kicked off and has introduced a bunch of new content, character tweaks, and a whole lot more.
We do know that the event certainly took place thanks to descriptions appearing in various publications. Here’s what Nintendorks had to say about the event: “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.
FAQ:
What are some fun facts about Donkey Kong?
Cranky Kong, DK’s grandfather, is actually the original Donkey Kong in the arcade game. Donkey Kong was meant to translate to “stupid ape”, according to Shigeru Miyamoto. Diddy Kong is a cross-characterization between a chimpanzee and a spider monkey. All of his physical traits resemble an ape except for his long tail.
How are Donkey Kong and Mario connected?
Mario Bros. is the first Mario game, and stars Mario, originally the main character from Donkey Kong, making the Mario series a spin-off of the Donkey Kong series. Note that Mario was originally known as “Jumpman”, but he was already renamed in console versions of Donkey Kong and in its sequel Donkey Kong Jr.
Why is Donkey Kong named?
When developing the “Donkey Kong” arcade game, Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto thought “Kong” meant gorilla in English. He wanted to use “Kong” as the last name and came up with “Donkey” as the first name, which he thought meant “stupid” in English.
