1990 Nintendo Powerfest Event Program

[GunPanther]

Yes, I'm sure you're all curious to know exactly what this is.


Anyway, here's it's origin:



Back in October of 1990, I was one of the lucky 13 year olds to attend the Nintendo Powerfest when it made a stop at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland California.

This program is what was handed out to patrons who either attended the event or managed to procure one through certain newspaper publications such as the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle.

This particular copy was obtained when my father and I bought our tickets at the Coliseum on Saturday, October 6th.

I was recently cleaning out a shelf in my room when I re-discovered these video game related treasures which I had put away so long ago.

Okay, I've managed to find a place to let me upload the pictures. Here they are.













GunPanther

[NintendoMan]

HELL YES, I would LOVE to see anything to do with the PowerFest!!!

I have always looked for more info on the topic but can never find anything, well basically no good information or pics or whatever of the event.

I wait til you load them on here. THANKS!

[davidleeroth]

Mail them to me and I'll host them.

ihme_elukka(a)hotmail.com

[GunPanther]

Okay, the pics are now uploaded.

Once I have my scanner back up, I'll scan some pics of the other items I re-discovered such as the 'official' Powerfest Handbook as well as the Powerfest/The Wizard promotional movie handbook (given out to moviegoers who saw "The Wizard" the day of it's release.)

Yes, I'm guilty. I saw "The Wizard" on opening day. I was such a Nintendo nut back then. I still remember all of the other kids in the theater going "wow!" or "that looks so cool!" when the footage of SMB3 was on the silver screen. I should know. I literally gasped when I saw the gameplay.






GunPanther

[rbudrick]

Okay, the pics are now uploaded.

Once I have my scanner back up, I'll scan some pics of the other items I re-discovered such as the 'official' Powerfest Handbook as well as the Powerfest/The Wizard promotional movie handbook (given out to moviegoers who saw "The Wizard" the day of it's release.)

Yes, I'm guilty. I saw "The Wizard" on opening day. I was such a Nintendo nut back then. I still remember all of the other kids in the theater going "wow!" or "that looks so cool!" when the footage of SMB3 was on the silver screen. I should know. I literally gasped when I saw the gameplay.

Nice! The Powerfest that came to my area had nothing like that...just the official handbook you mentioned. Could you get some better scans of them? I actually managed to snag 6 of the handbooks and got them signed by Ben Smith, Nintendo's head game play counselor at the time.

As for the PocketPower from the Wizard, I've been dying to get full scans of that for a while! I've only found a couple pages online. I remember being soooo pissed I didn'tget a chance to snag one of those when the movie came out! Can't wait to see those!

Thanks!
-Rob

[Jive3D]

Oh shit I had the PocketPower! No clue what happened to it though!

Lost alot of game stuff before I became a collector (aka, trying to recapture my youth! )

[norkusa]

I've got the Power Fest and Pocket Power books. Were the Power Fest and the NWC completely different events? The reason I ask is because I have the guide book to the NWC and it is almost exactly the same as the Power Fest book with the exception of the cover art and a few ads.

[GunPanther]

I've got the Power Fest and Pocket Power books. Were the Power Fest and the NWC completely different events? The reason I ask is because I have the guide book to the NWC and it is almost exactly the same as the Power Fest book with the exception of the cover art and a few ads.

From what I remember, the NWC and Powerfest were combined into one. I'm guessing that Nintendo decided to just give it two names.

My "Semi Finalist" sticker is still tacked to my wall. I'll never forget having that sticker and my dad watch me play and kick ass at the NWC games. It's too bad I only got to be a Semi Finalist.

I remember exactly what happened: My score took the worse turn because the Tetris blocks never gave me the damned 'long sticks' when I needed them. :/ SMB? Cake. Rad Racer? Pie. Tetris? A big bowl of salt.





GunPanther

[Sph1nx]

I have a sudden desire for frozen jello snacks.

[Aussie2B]

I've got the Power Fest and Pocket Power books. Were the Power Fest and the NWC completely different events? The reason I ask is because I have the guide book to the NWC and it is almost exactly the same as the Power Fest book with the exception of the cover art and a few ads.

From what I remember, the NWC and Powerfest were combined into one. I'm guessing that Nintendo decided to just give it two names.

If I'm not mistaken, Powerfest was the original name of the event, and then it was officially titled the NWC. They mentioned something about the name change in Nintendo Power.

[rbudrick]

If I'm not mistaken, Powerfest was the original name of the event, and then it was officially titled the NWC. They mentioned something about the name change in Nintendo Power.

That sounds about right. I don't think they were ever actually seperate by the time the first date of the tour happened. I forget why the double name/name change though.....I'm thinking a legal reason but my memory is fuzzy.

-Rob

[delafro]

Pics aren't loading

[NintendoMan]

Once I have my scanner back up, I'll scan some pics of the other items I re-discovered such as the 'official' Powerfest Handbook as well as the Powerfest/The Wizard promotional movie handbook (given out to moviegoers who saw "The Wizard" the day of it's release.)

Yes, I'm guilty. I saw "The Wizard" on opening day. I was such a Nintendo nut back then. I still remember all of the other kids in the theater going "wow!" or "that looks so cool!" when the footage of SMB3 was on the silver screen. I should know. I literally gasped when I saw the gameplay.

Thats so fucking awesome to me, that you got to see THE WIZARD at the movie theatre!!!!!!!! I would have loved to see that movie then. I was only 8 back in '89, when the movie was released, but I did see the first Land Before Time movie which was also released in '89. Too bad I didn't see the Wizard though. Anyways, I think the movie is pretty good, maybe because of all the Nintendo stuff in it or what, and it did have good actor in it. Me and my friend used to tell each other we were going to rollarblade to CA, back in the day when we were younger.

For some reason I just love that movie to this day, I have like 5 copies of the movie, yes 5. Also other stuff like the PressKit, Official Movie poster, that used to hang at the theatre's. I also have the mini NintendoPower/The Wizard guide. It's in absolute PERFECT condition too. I used to watch that movie like once a week or a few years. I remembered every line in the movie. I will admit that I haven't watched it fully in about 3 years though, I guess due to me wathcing it so many damn times in the past.

That movie has to be the most effort put into promoting a product, videogame wise. (SMB 3)


By the way, the pics aren't loading.

[TRM]

I had heard that the tour was changed to Power Fest, since it did not involve the whole world.

[GunPanther]

Pics aren't loading

Sorry about that. It looks like the bandwidth at the website I used to upload the pics has been exceeded for today. Maybe it'll start again sometime within the next 24 hours.





GunPanther

[NintendoMan]

Thanks for the pics. They are loading now.

[8bitnes]

The Hollywood Video near my town lets you rent kids movies for free and The Wizard is included. That was such a relief too because last year my fiance bought me a factory sealed copy for Christmas and I had to see it but refused to open it. I am certain its authentic too because it has the corporate printing on the seals and looks mint. Maybe someone here can verify?

[GunPanther]

The Hollywood Video near my town lets you rent kids movies for free and The Wizard is included. That was such a relief too because last year my fiance bought me a factory sealed copy for Christmas and I had to see it but refused to open it. I am certain its authentic too because it has the corporate printing on the seals and looks mint. Maybe someone here can verify?

If it's a VHS copy of a movie, it's more than likely to be authentically sealed if the following is present:

1 - Most VHS tapes of movies, especially from the 90's, are all sealed similarly to the way NES 8-bit games are sealed. They have some sort of 'vertical' line running through the back area of the cellophane.

2 - Depending on the manufacturer or movie production studio, they might have authenticity markings such as cellophane wrap imprinted with the studio's logo or name (i.e. Warner Home Video, Touchstone Home Video, New Line Home Video, etc.) or they would have a little sticker type of seal (can be multicolored as well as have the studio's logo or name. Can also be holographic) which is affixed to the bottom part of the box and the tape, making the VHS tape 'open/tamper proof'.


If your sealed VHS movie tape doesn't have any of those features mentioned above present, then it's probably not an authentically sealed tape.


I learned about all of this stuff through my sister, who has been working for the Blockbuster Video Corporation for over 10 years. When she was a regular clerk, she would let me help her deal with the dirty NES games as well as teach me a bit about VHS tapes.

Now as a Regional District Manager, she literally has so many perks that it's not even funny. Getting to see free movies is only a tiny percentage of what she's getting as a 'perks'.








GunPanther

[8bitnes]

Thanks, I am confident its legit.

[rbudrick]

If anyone would like to sell me thier issue of Pocket Power, I would be most grateful. :-)

Those pics are great, but are scans coming? That's really the only pamphlet like that I've ever seen. I would doubt it if it is the last one in existance, since it was in newspapers...also, I didn't see any like it for the other cities' newspapers, so maybe that one was only distributed for that area's tour date? Hmmm...a mystery,...

-Rob