Description
Rather than mastering one game, competitors had to prove themselves
across three completely different challenges:
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
- Super Mario Kart
- Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
All while racing against the competition clock.
This was Nintendo competition gaming at its finest.
And now the challenge can be played again.
The Competition Begins
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
First comes Mario—but this isn’t ordinary Super Mario Bros.
Players enter World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels,
using the version found in Super Mario All-Stars.
The objective: Finish World 1-1 as quickly as possible.
Every second spent here is another second you aren’t spending in the
later—and potentially much more valuable—portions of the competition.
Reach the flagpole and it’s immediately on to the racetrack.
Super Mario Kart
Next comes one of the games that helped define multiplayer gaming on
the Super Nintendo.
Your challenge is Mario Circuit 1.
Complete five laps while collecting coins and fighting
for the best possible finishing position.
Your Mario Kart performance contributes to the final competition score,
including points derived from the coins you’ve collected and your
finishing position.
But don’t get comfortable.
The ballpark is waiting.
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
The final challenge changes everything.
Welcome to the Home Run Derby.
With whatever competition time remains, your goal is to hit the ball
as far—and as often—as possible.
This is where huge scores can be created.
During regional PowerFest competition, home runs carried major bonus
points, making the baseball portion critical to high-level play.
For the championship finals, the home-run bonus was increased
dramatically, further emphasizing the importance of the final game.
That creates the strategy at the heart of PowerFest:
How quickly can you finish Mario?
How efficiently can you finish Mario Kart?
And how much time can you leave yourself to crush baseballs
in Ken Griffey Jr.?
Every second counts.
The PowerFest Tour
Nintendo PowerFest ’94 wasn’t simply a game—it was an event.
Nintendo took the competition around the United States, with many local
competitions held using customized trailers stationed outside retail
locations.
Players attempted to post qualifying scores on the special
PowerFest Game Pak, with local winners advancing toward
the championship.
The competition culminated in San Diego, where the leading competitors
were divided into teams named the Cyclones, Hurricanes,
Tornados and Typhoons.
The tournament ultimately came down to Mike Iarossi
and Brandon Veach, who faced one another using a special
version of Donkey Kong Country.
Iarossi won the final matchup and became the
1994 PowerFest champion.
A Cartridge Never Meant for Store Shelves
PowerFest ’94 wasn’t a retail release.
The special cartridge existed to run Nintendo’s competition.
Original PowerFest hardware is extraordinarily scarce today, with
surviving examples representing an obscure part of Nintendo’s early
competitive-gaming history.
For most Super Nintendo owners, owning an original isn’t realistic.
But playing the competition can be.
Experience PowerFest Yourself
This recreation brings the PowerFest experience back to
original Super Nintendo hardware.
No videos.
No simulation of what the competition might have felt like.
Put the cartridge in your SNES.
Pick up the controller.
Start the clock.
Then see what happens when three completely different Nintendo games
become one continuous high-score challenge.
Learn the fastest route through Lost Levels.
Perfect Mario Circuit 1.
Then spend every remaining second chasing home runs.
And when you’re finished?
Hand the controller to somebody else.
Because PowerFest isn’t really about finishing the game.
It’s about beating the score.
THREE GAMES.
ONE CLOCK.
ONE SCORE.
Nintendo PowerFest ’94
A lost piece of Nintendo competition history—ready to compete again.
