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A part of Nintendo history that will live on in thousands of gamers' minds. I regret not being in the Nintendo World Champions of 1990, but I can only imagine that those several nights must have been absolutly fantastic.
 The powerfest consisted of dozens of activities, something for all. There was a lounge for parents to wait while their kids went and tried out the latest Nintendo games. Some of the games which ade appearences were Castlevania 3 and The Punisher, Castevania 3 being a great game. There were numerous game counsellers there who answered people's questions. And then...the Nintendo competion.
In order to participate in the competition itself, you needed to have a VIP Pass and a Competition Ticket, such as the one shown here, which just happens to be owned by a lagoonbug. The contest took place using a special Nintendo cart which contained versions of Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer, and Tetris. The competition lasted about 6 minutes, the carts had ajustable time switches thus making the game last longer/shorter.
The competition was based on points. You had to play each game some for your score to count. You had to collect 50 coins in Super Mario Bros, travel through the first stage in Rad Racer, and slap some blocks down in Tetris. It didn't matter how you played, as long as you played them all. There were three age groups too, so a 35 year old wouldn't be competing against someone of age 7.
 The finalists of each location of the Powerfest were then flown down to Florida where they competed against themselves to decide the final 3 winners, one of which was...
 Thor Aackerlund. Thor was a Nintendo gamer from Houston. A year after he won the title of "World Champion," he was hired as a spokesman for Camerica. He appeared in alot of Camerica's old ads, reccomending this game or that. Nintendo was pretty ticked because Camerica was producing unlicensed games.
So then what happened? Nintendo "took away" Thor's championship title! I really don't think this was right, and in my mind Thor is still one of the world champions. Since then, Thor seemed to have laid low.
Only a few (around 126 or so) Nintendo Powerfest carts are in existance, quite a shame too for I would love to own one of these things. The price range has been around $1000 or more US. The gold carts are much cooler than the grey carts, but they are both so cool! The Powerfest has always been a unique part of Nintendo history, and thoughts will always remain of those wonderful nights of competition glory across the US.
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