Web Animation / Super Mario Bros. Z

Super Mario Bros. + Sonic the Hedgehog + Dragon Ball Z = this series.

Super Mario Bros Z is a flash animation series by Mark Haynes under the handle Alvin-Earthworm. The series is a Crossover between the Mario and Sonic universes in a plot that bears great similarity to Dragon Ball Z, in which DBZ-style abilities are granted to each character — their strength, speed, stamina, etc have all gotten a massive upgrade from what is seen in their respective games, shows, comics and other media. Their iconic abilities remain largely intact though (Sonic still runs faster than anybody else, Mario is highly versatile, etc.).

The story centers around Mario and company searching for the Chaos Emeralds, a set of mystical gems that contain an unspeakable power. Metallix (Turbo Mecha Sonic in the original), an enhanced form of Metal Sonic, had ravaged Sonic's world in order to obtain them all. In a last ditch effort, Shadow sent the emeralds to the Mushroom Kingdom in order to keep them away from Metallix. But Metallix crossed dimensions to continue his search, and Sonic and Shadow followed behind him so that they could defeat him once and for all. With Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi joining them, the five set out to find all the Chaos Emeralds before Metallix can, or else mass destruction could fall upon the Mushroom Kingdom.

Combining references to games both old and new, physical comedy (mostly at Luigi's expense), and some rather spectacular battle sequences, the series has gained quite a following. It remains one of the most iconic Flash animations of the 2000s, and has inspired many other Web Animators and crossover battles that came after it, including the creators of 1 Minute Melee and Monty Oum^note Alvin-Earthworm is credited in Haloid, and Haynes himself claims that during a long lost private conversation in his DeviantArt that Monty Oum was inspired by Super Mario Bros. Z to take up animation..

Hosted on Newgrounds, eight episodes were made, with a 9th one left unfinished. There was a 45 episode saga (3 seasons of 15 episodes each) planned, but the series was discontinued nearly two and a half years after the release of Episode 8. On March 26, 2012, there was an official announcement that Alvin had discontinued the series. The only official footage of the now forever-lost episode 9 can be seen here. The official site housed a guide, timeline, and other sundry details along with the episodes proper, before its closure.

^{Further details} Interactions between flash animator Juga Juga (Trevor Nestor) and Alvin suggested that Alvin may have planned on continuing work on the series (rebooting it), meanwhile Juga Juga instated an official kickstarter project to bring the series to some sort of closure... which was quickly pulled, due to Kickstarter's rules.

Juga Juga commented:

"I was looking to contact Alvin, but was unable to because all of his accounts seemed to be shut down. A fan from one of the official SMBZ facebook groups sent me Alvin's contact info, and, it turns out he has an alternate deviantart account (not sure if he wants this information publicly available, so I'm not sure I should post it). I think that he made the post [the post about continuing with the SMBZ series on a reboot] on Newgrounds very soon after messaging me about possibly coming back, so perhaps this project influenced him?"

In one reply from Alvin to Juga Juga shortly before his public announcement, Alvin messaged:

"I have been sporadic with my artwork in the past, so it's not an impossibility that I would someday like to work on it again. I would like to rework the series from the ground up. Change up some key scenes. Improve the story and dialogue. Rework the fight scenes and choreography, etc etc. Obviously I cannot stop you from working on your movie if you really want to."

On October 2013, Alvin released an updated version of Episode 1's opening sequence, along with ideas for a remake, but clarified that the video didn't guarantee that he would be remaking the series.

However, on September 4th, 2015, Alvin released the new introduction to the series' reboot, bringing Super Mario Bros. Z back to life after its cancellation three years prior. The first episode of the rebooted Super Mario Bros. Z was released on January 5th, 2016 for Alvin's Patreon supporters, and January 8th for the general public. However, Alvin's ongoing mental health struggles left Episode 2 in limbo for a long time.

Until February 2nd, 2020, where Alvin delivered a preview of Episode 2. And on March 4th, 2020, Alvin announced that he would be releasing remastered versions of the first 8 episodes of the original series on his YouTube channel. They were released three days later. After yet another delay due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Episode 2 was released to the public on May 2nd, 2021. As of now, episode 3 is in production. Updates on the series can be found on the community section of Mark Haynes's YouTube channel and his Twitter page.

The revival of the series has inspired a group of fans, artists, and animators to make a reanimated collab based on one of the most popular episodes of the original series, being episode 6, and it was published on December 12th, 2020. The series also inspired copycat series with the same "Mario meets Sonic with DBZ-esque action" motif to begin appearing on Youtube, such as Super Mario Bros. DX and Super Mario Bros. Calamity.

The offical YouTube channel can be found here, and Haynes' official Ko-fi support page can be found here.

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This series has examples of:

The Original Run

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The Doomship. Alvin has admitted this was a kind of compromise, since fully rendering it would be a nightmare. He has tried to Hand Wave it by saying that it has a sort of charm, since it kind of calls back to the SNES Star Fox graphics. There's also the fact that fully rendering it would raise the file size, and Newgrounds updated the site just so he could upload Episode 8.
• Action Bomb: Waluigi shows why these should never be used as grenades.
• Adaptation Personality Change: The series turned Shadow from a low-key, brooding, level-headed character into a hot-tempered, angry character to better mirror Vegeta.
  • This got discussed in Episode 8, with Sonic calling Shadow out on being more hot-blooded than usual. It's implied Shadow's personality shifted because of Rouge's death.
• Airplane Arms: Mario, Luigi, and Sonic. That is how they run in their games, however.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Courtesy of Turbo Mecha Sonic, all five Axem Rangers are ruthlessly decimated, and all four Koopa Bros. go down with Yoshi's Island while unconscious. The chief of Yoshi's Island remarks that he would've never wished a cruel fate upon any of them despite their actions.
  Yoshi's Island chief: It saddens me that there are monsters in this world that take great pride in causing pain to others. Even though the Koopa Bros. and the Axem Rangers were bad, I never would have wished such a cruel fate upon them.
• Animal Mecha: Users of Super Leaves and Tanooki Suits become this.
• Another Dimension: Mobius is this to the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Apocalypse How: Planetary destruction and implied total extinction of life on Mobius and Regional destruction with Physical Annihilation in regards to Yoshi Island.
• Arm Cannon: Mecha Sonic's arm contains one of these, complete with shotgun-racking sound effect when he switches to it. He usually uses it as a machine gun, but he can also fire missiles out of it (two at once, even!). He doesn't use it very often though, considering that most of his opponents are fast enough/skilled enough to avoid gunfire.
• Art Evolution: The difference in art, sound, and dialogue quality between Episodes 1 and 5 is staggering, and it only improves from there on.
  • Several characters also go through different sprite sheets. Some notable examples:
    • Yoshi upgraded from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island sprites to Yoshi's Island DS sprites.
    • Bowser upgraded from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga sprites to Super Princess Peach sprites. In the reboot, he went to Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story instead.
    • Wario upgraded from Wario Land 4 sprites to custom-made sprites in the style of Superstar Saga.
    • Princess Peach upgraded from Superstar Saga sprites to Bowser's Inside Story.
• Art Shift: When the characters visit the Minus World, they all appear as 8-bit versions of themselves. This is Handwaved as an effect of the "negative energy" that created the area in the first place.
  • The most recent culmination of this is in Episode 8, where the art breaks from its pixelated bonds to use actual animated art in certain instances.
  • In Episode 8, Mario and Luigi briefly get their Hotel Mario artwork, complete with a Lampshade.
• Asshole Victim: The Axem Rangers are easily the least sympathetic victims of Mecha Sonic.
• A-Team Firing: With very few exceptions, the more projectiles used in a given attack, the less effectiveness that attack will have. Heroes and villains alike casually wade through a sea of beams or hammers without a scratch, but single projectile attacks nearly always hit.
• Avenging the Villain: Basilisx wants revenge on Mario because he killed his best friend, which by the sound of his description, was an unimportant Koopa in one of the castles of Super Mario World... although some have noted that the details he provides don't match up with the game, throwing some suspicion on whether his motives are truthful.
• Bash Brothers: To an art form.
• BFG: Axem Red's secret weapon. It doesn't work.
  • On a larger scale, the Omega Doomship Main Energy Cannon in Episode 8.
  • Between the two sits the Breaker Beam. Back in Super Mario RPG, it might, oh, take half your HP or so. But when Axem Red hooks up a Chaos Emerald, it levels the mountains on Yoshi's Island from a single shot. That didn't stop Mecha Sonic, though...
• Big Bad Ensemble: Mecha Sonic, Bowser, and Smithy, although the latter never personally appeared. Also, Eggman is working for Bowser but seems to have his own agenda. Wart shows up in the anime opening, although he hasn't made it into the show itself yet (though based on the reboot intro, King K. Rool and King Boo look to have taken his place).
• Big Damn Heroes: Sonic and Shadow in 2, Yoshi in 5, Shadow in 7.
• Big Red Button: Eggman's button.
• Bilingual Bonus: Professor Frankly's history lecture in Episode 7 reveals that several centuries ago the Mushroom Kingdom was ruled by Queen Pesca VIII. In Italian, "pesca" means "peach".
• Bishōnen Line: Master Mecha Sonic, as indicated by the intro and supplementary material.

• Bolivian Army Ending: Kind of: In the trailer for Episode 9, showing the progress he made for the episode before cancelling it, Basilisx, after Luigi broke out of his rocky prison via the Tanooki Suit's powers and saved Mario from Basilisx, is last seen telling his soldiers to attack Mario and Luigi as the trailer ends. Because of the nature of the cancellation, it's unknown what exactly would have happened, though Alvin's personal harangue of the Basilisx character implies that Mario and Luigi would have fought their way to the Koopalings.
• Bowled Over: The Episode 9 trailer has Luigi, who broke out of his petrified state due to his Tanooki suit powerup, appear behind Basilisx and strike him with a hammer before he can finish off a helpless Mario. This sends him flying into a group of six Koopatrols and knocking them all out, complemented with a bowling strike sound effect.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  Frankly: ...And you better listen, too. YEAH, YOU! Behind the computer monitor! You need to hear this as well!
  • This is actually more of a Shout-Out to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where Frankly uses an identical phrase during an exposition session in the game.
  • Goombella mentions no one would remember the first "Over 9000" joke, since it was made a year and a half earlier.
• Bullet Time: Mario, Sonic, and Mecha Sonic do this a lot. Particularly notable in Episode 7, where Sonic and Mecha Sonic are fighting so fast that Mario appears to stand still. Shadow can also enter a version of Bullet Time using Chaos Control.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Mario evokes this. See What the Hell, Hero? below.
• Butt-Monkey: Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi.
• Catchphrase Interruptus: Sonic is quickly annoyed by Stuffwell's catchphrase, interrupting him to ask him to stop. Stuffwell is taken back by it, but complies.
• Camera Abuse: Waluigi smacks into it while flying around after Wario pokes him with a pin. Bowser cracks it when Mario throws him out of the Grand Prix in Episode 2. This is a reference to what happens to him after defeating Cackletta back in Superstar Saga.
  • ...Aaaand then the lens is completely shattered in Episode 8 by a startled mook.
• The Cameo:
  • The audience at the kart race are the audience used in Kirby Super Star.
  • The Goomba at the beginning of Episode 1 mentions he has a crush on Goombella.
  • Jeff and Hal of Bowser's Kingdom, another Newgrounds Mario series, make a cameo appearance in Episode 7.
• Canon Foreigner: Mecha Mario, Captain Basilisx.
• Canon Welding: "Mecha Sonic vs Bowser & Perfect Cell & Perfect Nazo (The epic rematch)" treats the fan-made 1 Minute Melee episodes "Bowser Jr. vs Metal Sonic" and "Bowser vs Mecha Sonic", the Rewind Rumble episode Cell vs Mecha Sonic, and the Nazo the Hedgehog vs. Turbo Mecha Sonic'' videos as canon, with the video introducing the reboot's incarnation — Metallix.
• Catapult Nightmare: At the beginning of the Episode 5, Sonic catapults himself awake with a Big "NO!" after experiencing a Nightmare Sequence of Mecha Sonic successfully ascending to his ultimate form and shooting Sonic dead.
• Character Catchphrase: Sonic frequently saids "Let's get moving" before setting off. Stuffwell brings his catchphrase "Back To Adventure" from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time with him.
• Chekhov's Gun: Luigi's 1-Up mushroom; the question-mark boxes on Yoshi's island; Professor Kolorado's Subconian stopwatch.
  • The first looks ready to be fired again. As hopeless as everything looks, E. Gadd packed the heroes a 1-Up and Sonic won another one killing enemies...
  • People confuse the second one for a Deus Ex Machina, but anyone who's played a Mario game knows that you can actually find stars in levels by hitting the brick blocks or question mark blocks if they've been hidden in them.
  • Also, Shadow mentioned in Episode 5 that he could sense Chaos Emerald energy from long distances when explaining why he is suspicious of the "emerald" that was barely 100 yards away. If Shadow finds at least one Chaos Emerald upon returning to the group, this might explain how he got it.
• Chrome Champion: Metal Bowser.
• Cliffhanger: Episode 8 ends with Mario at the mercy at Basilisx, the other heroes turned to stone, Eggman now working for Bowser, Peach kidnapped (as usual), Shadow nowhere to be found and Mecha Sonic still on the loose with half the emeralds. How does it end? Well, despite Alvin cancelling the series before finishing episode 9, he did create enough of it to show how Mario gets saved, and Shadow's whereabouts.
• Cliff Stack: Sonic is a reoccurring victim of this.
• Colony Drop: The Death Egg crashes on Mobius, with some incredibly-devastating consequences.
• Colour-Coded Characters: The Koopa Bros. Made infinitely more amusing when one looks back and realizes who fought who in the first battle against them— particularly Red, Green and Black. The same can be said for the Axem Rangers, though they had one extra member.
• Cool Plane: Sky Pop Mark II. It doesn't use a runway for takeoff —- It uses a slingshot!
• Combat Pragmatist: Zigzagged with Basilisx. He could have just used the Stone Gaze to turn Mario to stone immediately, but he challenged Mario to a one-on-one fight instead, preferring to kill a flesh-and-blood Mario. In the actual fight, however, he has absolutely no qualms about using Poison Mushrooms to weaken his opponent or Luigi as a shield/bludgeon.
• Combination Attack: The Koopa Bros.' finishing move; Axem Ranger Green and Black's spinning attack; Sonic and Mario's double attack when empowered by the Super Star.
  • Most of the fight scenes with more than one of the heroes feature these. Several, in fact, are throwbacks to the myriad Bros. Attacks in the Mario & Luigi series. Of course, due to the nature of this series, the attacks are taken up to eleven.
  • Luigi is particularly fond of these, using the Blue Shell and Tanooki Suits to transform himself into a weapon/vehicle for others to use.
• Continuity Porn: This series takes most, if not all, of the Mario games as canon. Main series, the handheld gaiden games, the RPGs... The series started with a Mario Kart race, and once featured Mario in his doctor get-up. With Sonic, it appears to be the same thing, exempting Mecha Sonic who is the Sonic-bot from Sonic 3 & Knuckles but is apparently an entirely new creation.
  • Mecha Sonic is actually a combination of four of the robotic Sonics from the series: Silver/Mecha Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, an unnamed robot from Sonic Adventure, Mecha Sonic from the Archie Comics Sonic Special "Mecha Madness" (who was actually Sonic after being roboticized), and Metal Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog CD; their combined form is Mecha Sonic from Sonic & Knuckles.
• Contrived Coincidence: Sonic and Shadow's convenient timing on their arrival.
• Couch Gag: In the Newgrounds official releases, each episode (after pressing the "Play" button) features Mario gaining some powerup or another.
  • Or power-down, as the case may be in Episode 6. Poor Mario....
• Critical Hit: Manifested as a double flash and a slight pause.
• Crossover: Mario and Sonic, of course.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Luigi might be cowardly, but he can sure put up a fight when needed.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The series LOVES those, whether it's just one side brutally dominating the other (like Metal Sonic versus Yoshi) either it starts with one side having the upper hand, then something miraculous happens and the other side crushes the opposition with equal ease (like Mario versus Metal Bowser).
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Almost all battles, even the curb stomps, feature some exchange of damage.
  • Yoshi briefly gains the advantage against Mecha Sonic, tanks an insane amount of damage with his egg shield, and for a short time actually contains Mecha Sonic in an egg.
  • Shadow is able to match a Super Mode Mecha Sonic almost move for move, and Mario's fireball from behind seemingly does some real damage since he wasn't expecting it.
  • Sonic gains the upper hand against Mecha Sonic in the Pipe Maze by using the Light Speed Attack, and when Mecha returns the favor they both trade blows in Super-Speed for several seconds.
  • Even the Mooks get in on it: after a complete rout of the entire Doomship deck by the Five-Man Band, a Zerg Rush of Koopatrols within the ship lands hits, briefly subdues Luigi and Yoshi, and surrounds Sonic.
• Cut Short: The original run stopped at Episode 8 (out of the planned 45) in 2009, though the cancellation wasn't made official until 2012.
• Decapitation Presentation: During his "fight" with the Axem Rangers, Mecha Sonic cuts off Axem Green's head, holds it up, and then crushes it; all within the span of a second.
• Deadpan Snarker: Shadow constantly expresses his exasperation with everyone else around him through dry, sarcastic commentary.
• Death from Above: Mecha Sonic's ginormous energy ball, which in appearance is a miniature Sun, which was hurled at Yoshi's Island.
  • Which is a reference to Freeza's death ball which destroyed Planet Vegeta in DBZ.
• Death World: Mobius thanks to Mecha Sonic.
• Deliberately Monochrome:
  • Luigi's flashback in Episode 6.
  • Sonic's flashbacks to the destruction of Mobius at the hands of Mecha Sonic.
• Determinator: Mecha Sonic will stop at absolutely nothing until he gets all seven Chaos Emeralds, ascends to godhood and destroys all heroes. To date, he teleports himself into Mushroom Kingdom once Shadow teleports the Emeralds out of Mobius, inflicts an absolutely brutal beatdown on Yoshi just to make him spit out the Emerald, and travels all the way up to Yoshi's Island to take the remaining Emeralds by force. And no matter how much opposition heroes (or, occasionally, villains) display, he never backs away.
• Deus ex Machina:
  • Downplayed in episode 6. Mecha Sonic is about to wipe everyone out with a Fantastic Nuke when Mario finds an invincibility Star in a power-up box. Useful power-up boxes had already been established to exist earlier in the episode.
  • Alvin himself criticizes his script for episode 7 for having one of these. The Negative Zone's curse blocks any and all attempts to escape, including Chaos Control. Then, Kolorado's broken stopwatch turns out to be a magic broken stopwatch apropos of nothing, which negates the curse.
• Didn't We Use This Joke Already?: An "Over 9000" joke gets made twice; the second time, the perpetrating character is called out on it.
• Ditto Fighter: Mecha Sonic, again. It is explained that he can download the data of the hedgehogs and others he faces, so he can use the same moves as them.
  • Makes sense seeing as Metal Sonic, who fused with other Sonic robots to become Mecha, demonstrates this ability in Sonic Heroes and the Sonic Rivals games.
  • Meant to be a reference to Cell in DBZ and how he knows all the Z Fighters' techniques due to having their genetic material.
• Diving Save: Mario for Sonic and Stuffwell.
• Do a Barrel Roll: Episode 8.
• The Dragon: Either Basilisx or Eggman to Bowser. It's hard to decide which.
• Downer Ending: Episodes 3, 4, and 6. All of them ended their episodes with the heroes on the ropes and/or otherwise incapacitated. The following episodes usually reversed these endings in some fashion however.
  • 8 especially, since the original series won't be continuing. The final scene Alvin created for Episode 9 shows what happens to Mario and Shadow's current whereabouts, but Peach is still imprisoned by Bowser and Mecha Sonic is still at large.
• Dual Wielding: Hammer Bros. Mario; Basilisx.
• Dynamic Entry: Mecha Sonic's answer to Mario's Diving Save. He basically just slugs the holy shit out of Mario at max speed.
  • Spectacularly done by Basilisx in Episode 8; It was strong enough to knock Mario entirely out of his Raccoon power-up.
• Elite Mook: Basilisx. It's been hinted that he's a Super Prototype as well.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Alvin has pretty much confirmed that Mobius, and everyone still alive in it, are screwed forever. That's what happens when a homicidal robot crashes a space station the size of the freaking moon into the planet...
• Era-Specific Personality: In a visual gag from Episode 3, Mario encounters himself as rendered in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. All appearing at the same time. Understandably, he freaks out.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Any villain who isn't Mecha Sonic draws the line at murder.
• Evil Versus Evil: The Axem Rangers, Koopa Bros, and our heroes get in a three-sided fight for the Chaos Emeralds. When Mecha Sonic shows up however, it becomes VERY one-sided.
• Evil Laugh: By Bowser, obviously. Toadsworth wonders why villains feel compelled to do that.
• Exact Words: Meta-example. Alvin Earthworm during discussions on Episode 9 regarding Shadow, only said that Shadow won't return to aid Mario from Basilisx or regroup with the characters. He never said whether Shadow would appear in the episode itself or not, and sure enough, Episode 9's trailer revealed that Shadow would've appeared.
• Expy: Several characters are intentionally reminiscent of characters from Dragon Ball Z as a Shout-Out:
  • Shadow is probably the most clear-cut of these, acting almost entirely like Vegeta, even when this conflicts with his personality in the Sonic games (getting angrily very easily, focusing on taking down Mecha Sonic no matter how illogical this might be, lack of compassion for weaker beings like Princess Peach). This is explained in Episode 8 as being a consequence of Mecha Sonic killing Rouge on Mobius.
  • Sonic and Mario both seem to be fairly similar to Goku, but it's easier to see the resemblance with Sonic, as he speaks more often.
  • Sonic and Shadow both also borrow from Trunks. They traveled to another world in the hopes of destroying what destroyed their homes and preventing more suffering.
  • Mecha Sonic is reminiscent of Cell, being created from the material of numerous beings and having the ability to copy the attacks of all of the heroes. His obsession with searching for the Emeralds to become a complete being exemplifies this.
  • The Koopa Bros. are quite clearly homages to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—mind you, this was their canon gimmick in the original Paper Mario 64.
  • The Axem Rangers are reminiscent of the Ginyu Force, right down to the exaggerated personalities.
  • The Yoshi tribe seem to be based on the Nameks, right down to their home being destroyed by what was essentially a miniature Sun and then being out-of-place refugees from then on out. This would make Yoshi an expy of Piccolo.
  • When the series began, Bowser was a expy of Freeza, complete with a powered-up Metal form. In Episode 8, the Koopas are now shown to be similar to the Red Ribbon Army, with Bowser becoming an expy of Commander Red. Better helps that Basilisx is reminiscent of General Blue, right down to having similar powers.
  • Basilisx also appears to be notably similar to the Shredder.
  • Kamek, Bowser's magikoopa assistant, seems reminiscent of Babidi, especially when comparing his "Parappa the Rapper!" magical incantation to the english dub of Dragon Ball Z.
• Face Fault: Several, including Sonic's death animation standing in for one.
• The Faceless: Eggman, though it's obvious who it is. The original series however never "reveals" who the shadowed figure was, while the reboot pulls the curtain off immediately.
• Failure Hero: The heroes actually win very few battles over the course of the series. Mario defeats Bowser in Ep. 2 and the team (minus Shadow) defeats a whole legion of Koopatrols in Ep. 8, but other than that every fight ends in either a draw or their loss.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Mecha Sonic is the king of this. During the flashback showing him murdering Sonic's friends, each death is more brutal then the last: he snaps Tails' neck, fills Cream (and Cheese) with lead, beats down Knuckles and then fills him with lead, and what he did to Amy was probably just as bad. Omega was left in pieces. Nobody even knows how he killed Rouge, but knowing Mecha, it probably wasn't pretty.
  • Then there's his gruesome killing of the Axem Rangers. It's really saying something when being completely vaporized down to the last atom is the tamest death of a battle, although compared to decapitating Axem Green's head and then crushing it in his hand... anything is tame.
  • Somewhat subverted with the death of the Koopa Bros. which is not directly shown, but highly implied.
• Fastball Special: Wario attempts this with Waluigi in Episode 8. It doesn't exactly work out.
  • Mario and Luigi often use their hammers to launch Sonic, Shadow, or Luigi with his blue shell armor. Yoshi uses a variation where he eats an ally and spits them out as an attack.
• Faux Action Girl: As of the end of the original run, Axem Pink was the only female character to participate in a fight. However, she only did one combo move on Luigi and then died to Mecha Sonic, while the rest of the Axems did much more during the entire battle.
• Finger-Tenting: Dr. Eggman in episode 7. Complete with Scary Shiny Glasses.
• Flanderization:
  • Luigi's cowardice and ineptitude. He becomes much more assertive and confident by Episode 8, although his status as Butt-Monkey of the series remains intact regardless.
  • Shadow's aggression and arrogance. He hasn't taken his loss to Mecha Sonic as gracefully as Sonic, and is notably more brooding and impulsive in this series than in the Sonic series he hails from.
• Flash Step: Mecha Sonic starting with his super form in Episode 6, though it seems to have become a permanent fixture in his arsenal by Episode 7. Shadow can do it, too.
  • In both cases, it's likely the two of them were using Chaos Control for brief, very short-range teleports. They also used flash steps in Episode 7 while inside the Minus World, which only prevented the "warping space" part of Chaos Control and not the "warping time" part. Either that, or they were using the ability you can do with 20 rings in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle's racing minigame.
  • Sonic does flash steps in the battle against the Bowser battleship, both outside and inside the battleship as Fire Sonic, while he was trashing a horde of Koopas.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Mecha, against the Koopa Bros. Followed by an exceptionally-brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the Axem Rangers.
  • In order to provide cover for their battle plane, Sonic and Mario jump off and perform one long, high-speed Foe-Tossing Charge to clear all enemies on deck. And it works.
  • Yet another one by Sonic after he powers up in the hangar. He probably knocked aside more Mooks than he and Mario did in total on the deck.
• Funny Background Event: Becoming more common as the episodes roll on. Often involving Luigi, his drinking tea animation is quite popular.
• Giant Mook: Thunderfoot.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: When Mecha Sonic kills all of Sonic's friends, what does he say? "Blast you." Really.
  • Likely done as a dig at Sonic's kid-friendly nature, since Shadow does all the actual swearing. Also may be unlikely, as it was done during an unironically dramatic scene.
• A God Am I: Mecha Sonic boasts of being a god when upgraded to his semi-perfect form.
• Gotta Catch Them All: The Chaos Emeralds.
  • There's a good chance that the Star Spirits and Twink may also fall under this.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Happens to Sonic in Episode 3... and Waluigi in Episode 8.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Sonic's rolling form is often used for this, or utilized for a Fastball Special. Luigi himself was used (while transformed into stone) by the heroes and the enemy in Episode 8.
  • Turns funny in Luigi's case, because when he morphs out of his stone form, his inertia carries him into a really long face fault (while still knocking aside a few Koopas), ending with a groan and a flat face.
• Heroic Mime: Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi. Humorously, they never have dialogue boxes, their speech being wholly composed of sound effects from the games, mostly the Superstar Saga series. And it works.
  • Wario and Waluigi also communicate solely out of voice natters, but they have yet to do anything heroic.
• Hero Killer: Mecha Sonic, in his backstory, exterminated all of the other major heroes of the Sonic dimension.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Bowser plans to ransom Peach for the Chaos Emeralds.
• Human Shield: Stone Luigi for Basilisx.
• Hurricane Kick: A regular move in Sonic's arsenal. Guess what he yells out when he does it?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shadow. He's bitter and detached from everyone, and while that was present in the source material to a degree it's been exacerbated by Rouge's death.
• In a Single Bound: Despite very few of the characters having true Flight like in Dragon Ball, the battles still find a way to take place high in the sky for minutes at a time.
• Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Both Mario and Sonic are teleported off Yoshi's Island mid-freefall. They both splat into the ground at high speed after the teleport is completed.
• Invincibility Power-Up: The Super Star apparently has the power of seven Chaos Emeralds, since it simultaneously made Mario invincible and allowed Sonic to go Super Sonic, but only for a short time.
  Sonic: Well...... that little experience was pretty short-lived..... *falls*
• Invincible Villain: Mecha Sonic, the main villain of the series, is based mostly on Perfect Cell, and retains the near-invincible aura that he had right up until Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 transformation. His power and moveset are way beyond the heroes in almost every way; he is an amalgamation of all of the Sonic robots created by Eggman as well as data on all of Sonic and his friends, much like Cell. As such, he is as fast or faster than Sonic, incredibly strong and powerful, has machine guns and missiles and can fire energy beams even in his base form, a feat only shared by Shadow amongst the heroes. He is never seriously hurt at any point during the show's original run. Whilst he does take a few hits, he almost never takes damage and defeats Sonic, all of his friends, and later on takes out the Chaos Emerald empowered Koopa Bros special attack (that defeated all 4 main heroes in one hit earlier) as well as the Chaos Emerald-powered Breaker Beam (which just blew up an entire mountain on Yoshi's Island), and beats Mario and Sonic with almost no effort in Episode 7. The only serious hit he takes in the entire series is from a Star-empowered Super Sonic and Mario, and even then he recovers almost instantly to fire his energy ball to destroy Yoshi's Island. Dude is a seriously overpowered villain.
• Kame Hame Hadoken: In a series based on Dragon Ball, this had to pop up somewhere. We have Shadow's Chaos Spear, Mario's fireballs (he even goes into the "Kamehameha stance" to throw really big ones), and Mecha Sonic in particular is fond of these (even performing the actual Kamehameha at one point to finish off Axem Red).
• Kick the Dog: Yoshi facing off against Mecha Sonic. ALONE. OUCH.
• Killed Off for Real: Sonic's friends, the Axems, and the Koopa Bros.
• Killer Robot: Mecha Sonic.
• Lack of Empathy: Basilisx, due to Bowser's objective of creating a merciless minion.
• Last of Their Kind: Sonic and Shadow.
• Laughing Mad: Sonic in Minus World, for a short time.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Shadow wasn't a team player in the games and he hasn't changed a bit in this series.
  • For some reason or another Shadow seems to end up kicking at least one of his teammates in pretty much every fight scene he's in except in episode 7.
• Leitmotif: Mecha Sonic has the most obvious one -— it's Dark Samus' music from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
• Le Parkour: Sonic in the underground.
• Made of Explodium: The little banana-man.
• Made of Iron: All fighters.
• Match Cut: In Episode 5, the Koopa Bros. are preparing to use their special move. The camera zooms in on the yellow emerald they use to power it, which turns red, and the camera zooms out to reveal Mecha Sonic holding his.
• Meaningful Name: Basilisx is a reference to the Basilisk, the mythological creature (lizard) that can turn a person into stone by looking at him/her...although the mythical Basilisk's eye-stare actually killed its victims instantly. The author stated that he deliberately invoked Taken for Granite to ensure the heroes didn't die. Of course, as certain games have been popularizing the stone gaze variant for some time, it's excusable.
• Mêlée à Trois: Mario and the crew, the Koopa Bros., and the Axem Rangers all engage in a free-for-all on Yoshi Island, with the purple and yellow Chaos Emeralds and the Emerald Radar at stake. And then Mecha Sonic joins in.
• Meteor Move: Mecha Sonic does this a lot during his fights.
• More Dakka: Mecha Sonic butchers Cream, Cheese, and Knuckles this way. Even during the episodes, one of his go-to moves for ranged combat is to blaze away at convenient targets with a built-in machine gun.
• Mythology Gag: During fight scenes scattered across the original run, an eagle-eyed observer will notice some attacks are essentially lifted from other games in which the Sonic or Mario characters have had attacks other than just jumping on enemies' heads. In particular, Sonic and Shadow use a number of attack animations from Sonic Battle, whilst Luigi and Mario use the Green Missile and Mario Tornado attacks, respectively, from Super Smash Bros..
• Neck Lift: Mecha Sonic to Sonic in Episode 7, as well as part of Tails' death sequence in the Episode 4 flashback.
• Never Say "Die": Averted. Sonic and Shadow never hold back when it comes to admitting that Mecha Sonic killed their friends.
• No Ending: Since the original series discontinued in March 2012, the fate of Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom is pretty much left up to the audience now. The reboot offers some solace, but since Alvin's already stated that it wouldn't just be an Updated Re-release of the original episodes and their plots, this trope still holds true for how things would have panned out in the original run.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Mecha Sonic to just about everyone. Even turning 8-bit (which reverted him into his original Metal Sonic form) didn't slow him down!
• No Ontological Inertia: Averted; he may have lost the emeralds that helped him create it, but that giant fireball doesn't simply go away, and Mecha Sonic makes sure to launch it before he leaves.
  • Played straight in the very same episode with the fireball that Sonic was about to throw at Mecha Sonic. As soon as Sonic loses the star power-up, that blast he was charging up just fizzled away into thin air.
• No Sneak Attacks: Averted, then played straight, then averted again in Episode 7.
  • First, Metal Sonic ambushes Mario and Sonic in the tunnels, and doesn't say a word before immediately laying into them quite effectively.
  • Metal Sonic's second ambush attempt falls flat when he feels the need to reveal himself with some Evil Gloating before attacking, giving the heroes time to dodge his first attack and bring the noncombatants to safety.
  • Then later, when Metal Sonic has the heroes on the ropes, Shadow shows up without a word and drops a severe beating on Metal Sonic, even stealing his Chaos Emerald!
• Not Quite Dead: Eggman turns up alive and well, if hiding in the shadows, during episode 8, having somehow avoided by killed by Mecha Sonic and transported himself to Mario's world, where he's allied himself with Bowser.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Basilisx invokes this, on how Mario has no right to say that using Luigi's stone body as a shield is unfair, when Mario himself is using the shell of one of Basilisk's comrades against another.
• Ocular Gushers: Peach does the full-on fire hydrant wail after the recounting of Sonic's tragic Back Story in Episode 4. Bowser does it with his tantrum, and Luigi does it pretty often.
• Oh, Crap!: Mecha Sonic in Episode 6 causes quite a few of these, including a Mass "Oh, Crap!" just by arriving on the battlefield. Luigi reacts this way quite often in nearly every episode, and gets one of the single best expressions ever during Episode 6. A few Mooks use an fitting image in their Speech Bubble during the assault in Episode 8; see Symbol Swearing.
  • Mecha Sonic himself gets one in Episode 6. After a powered-up Mario and Sonic bludgeon the Chaos Emeralds out of Mecha Sonic, Sonic prepares to finish him off with an energy blast. For a machine that doesn't show any expressions, Mecha Sonic's brief moment of frozen fear is priceless. He's saved only by an ill-timed Power-Up Letdown.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Given the shortage of audio clips of Italian-accented "Sonic", when Mario says it it sounds distinctly British.
• Orphaned Series: As of March 2012.
• Playing with Fire: The Fire Flower gives anybody who grabs it the ability to shoot fireballs and summon fire storms. Both Mario and Sonic use it at different points.
• Plot Coupons: Chaos Emeralds.
• Plot Hole: Less than ten seconds out of the interdimensional capsule, Sonic is able to identify Mario on sight, and a later episode relates that he already knew Mario was both a plumber and a celebrated hero, and that their world was called the Mushroom Kingdom. Although it is vaguely hinted (enough to be unintentional) that Eggman had "a database" in the wreckage of the Death Egg, it is never fully explained how Sonic came to know all of this.
• Poison Mushroom: Basilisx hits Mario with two. One to strip him of his Hammer Suit, the other to poison him.
• Power Creep, Power Seep: Everyone, most notably the Axems and Mecha Sonic.
• Power Echoes: "Here we go-o-o!"
• Power Glows: Mario, Sonic, and Mecha Sonic.
  • Mario gets the most variety in his, getting a DBZ styled one with the Cape Feather, a flaming one for the Fire Flower, and DBZ style with sparkles for the Super Star.
• Power-Up Letdown: Luigi is confused about the Blue Shell power-up he grabs in Episode 5 since it doesn't appear useful at a first glance, but before three seconds have passed it proves itself by protecting him from an attacking Axem Ranger.
• The Professor: E. Gadd, of course, fills this role, being the "useful Mad Scientist" ally character who provides them with necessary gadgets, like a Chaos Emerald detector and transport to faraway locations.
• The Psycho Rangers: The Axems are a band of villainous minions themed after the Power Rangers, just like in their original game.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Three of them show up over the course of the original run. The Koopa Bros (originally from Paper Mario 64) and the Koopalings (from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World) show up working for Bowser, whilst the Axem Rangers (from Super Mario RPG) return under the command of their boss, Smithy.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Mario and Basilisx, done with hammers and Wolverine Claws.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: according to the SMBZ Wiki, a Real Life problem ended up making Alvin Earthworm put the series on hiatus. He had later resumed work on Episode 9, but ultimately decided that he no longer had the motivation or free time to continue the series...at least until the reboot was announced a few years later.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Shadow, Basilisx.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Shadow's the red oni to Sonic's blue.
• Regional Redecoration: Episode 6 is called "Brawl on a Vanishing Island" for good reason. When Axem Red uses a chaos emerald to power up the Breaker Beam, the resulting blast levels the mountains. By the end, Mecha Sonic blows up the entire island.
• Right Back at Ya!: Yoshi with one of Mecha Sonic's missiles in Episode 7.
• Robot Me: Mecha Sonic and Mecha Mario.
• A Rotten Time to Revert: After picking up a Starman, Sonic is able to transform into Super Sonic and single-handedly turns the tide of the battle against Mecha Sonic. Having cornered him, Super Sonic begins charging up a Finishing Move only for the transformation to run out before he can actually fire it.
  Sonic: Well, that little experience was pretty short-lived... [cue freefall]
• Rule of Cool: It's Mario, Sonic, and Dragon Ball Z physics mashed together. What did you expect?
• Running Gag: The little banana man.
  • Something negative always happens to Luigi.
• Shock and Awe: Luigi with his Thunderhand ability.
• Shoryuken: Several. Mario does a non-flaming Shoryureppa. Interesting, since that's Ken's move.
• Shout-Out: Now has its own page!
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Among the main characters, Shadow was implied to be of this trope by Alvin Earthworm. In the series overall, Hal was this in his cameo, with his two swears being bleeped out.
• Spin Attack: Sonic, of course, but any other character does this, even while Dual Wielding hammers.
• Spoiler Opening: The anime-style opening was released after Episode 6. A number of characters appeared in it that hadn't shown up in the series at that time. That includes the Koopalings, Eggman, Wart, and the Star Spirits and Twink.
  • The Reboot intro does the same, though now in place of Wart, it features King K. Rool and King Boo.
• Sssssnake Talk: Basilisx.
• Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot: The Omega Doomship is, of course, introduced in a dramatic panning screen.
• Standard Power-Up Pose: Appears befitting to the inspiration source. Notable in that in Mario's characters case it involved modified sprites from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga to achieve this pose.
• Stepping Stones in the Sky: Mario Vs Red Koopa in episode 6.
• Storming the Castle: Gearing up to be played as straight as possible, with Basilisx, Mecha Mario, and potentially Eggman serving as Dragons, the Koopalings serving as the Quirky Miniboss Squad, Bowser (and again, potentially Eggman) as the arc's Big Bad, and the Koopa Troop serving as the hopelessly doomed Cannon Fodder for a spectacular Foe-Tossing Charge.
• Stylistic Suck: The "SMBZ n00b style" short, created by Alvin Earthworm.
• Super Drowning Skills: Sonic in Episode 7.
• Super Mode: Mecha Sonic using the Chaos Emeralds, and the main characters with the Star Spirits.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Sonic gets them after obtaining the Starman (Episode 6) and the Fire Flower (Episode 8) powerups.
• Super-Soldier: Basilisx is one. He turned Luigi, Sonic, and Yoshi all to stone, then beat the ever-loving crap out of Mario with a combination of Wolverine Claws and Combat Pragmatism. Before the experiments to turn him into a Super-Soldier, he was a Mook just like every other Koopa who got knocked shitless the scene before.
• Super-Speed: The hedgehogs and Mecha Sonic. Yoshi, Mario, and Luigi all have super speed too, but not to the same degree as the aforementioned hedgehogs.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Wario attempts to intercept the heroes on a plane by performing a Fastball Special with Waluigi. How are they epically defeated? Because...the plane is simply too far away and Waluigi loses momentum.
• Symbol Swearing: Variation in Episode 8; when Mario kicks a Bob-Omb into a cannon, the operators all simultaneously scream and a picture bubble appears above their heads showing... a warm turd. In other words, SHIT!

• Taken for Granite: Basilisx' power and Luigi's Tanooki Suit.
• Take That Us: The second "Over 9000" gag is pretty much this towards the Schedule Slip.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Mecha Sonic is the all-time champion of this.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works Zig-Zagged. A few times, when a single hammer is thrown by the Mario Bros, it works rather effectively. However, when fighting Basilisx, Hammer Bros. Mario attempts Projectile Spam and the former barely even blinks.
• Time Master: Shadow, naturally, along with the rest of his Chaos arsenal.
• Tongue Trauma: During his first battle with Yoshi, after breaking out of an egg, Mecha Sonic uses Yoshi's tongue as a handle to first engage in some Metronomic Man Mashing, then drag him into the air, then use it as a kind of perverse safety rope—repeatedly yanking on it to pull Yoshi in close and then punch him back away—before finally using it as a handle to swing Yoshi around repeatedly before finally letting go and throwing him through a mountain.
  • Downplayed during the battle between our heroes and some wild Yoshis on Yoshi Island; one Yoshi tries to grab Mario with its tongue, but Mario jumps over the grasping tongue and onto the Yoshi's head, causing it to bite said tongue and then yelp in pain.
• Totally Radical: The Koopa Bros.' phrases, in a Shout-Out to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Transformation Sequence: Sonic and Mario when they touch the Starman.
  • Solar/Fire Sonic, complete with badass music and an explosion.

• Twitchy Eye: Yoshi when surrounded by mooks they hadn't seen earlier.
• Villain Team-Up: Bowser and Eggman.
• Voice Grunting: Everyone gets dialogue except Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and every Yoshi except the Chief. They only communicate through voice samples and occasionally Speaking Simlish, just like in most of their respective games.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: The Yoshis tribe.
• Wave-Motion Gun:
  • The Axems' Breaker Beam.
  • The Omega Doomship sports one as well in Episode 8.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Basilisx takes vengeance against Mario for offing his Koopa brethren. As in, the Koopas you're probably used to taking out without a second thought in the actual games. If you think about it, it actually makes Basilisx pretty sympathetic.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Axems are the only characters to be killed on screen so far^note The Koopa Bros. also meet their demise, but it's offscreen - Mecha Sonic simply ripped them apart. It wasn't pleasant to watch. Still, they didn't bleed, and Smithy can always rebuild them.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Shadow finally gets called out for his excessively Jerkass attitude in Episode 8.
  • Basilisx does the same to Mario later, recounting how gruesome his best friend's death was at Mario's feet. As stated above, Mario just doesn't remember.
  • Here's the full quote, with enlongated "s" sounds edited out:
    "So, it ends. And I am the last one standing. (Mario tries to get up) You sniveling pedlar. You have no right to be angry that I used your friend to my advantage, especially when you did the exact same thing with my friend's shell against him and his comrades that day. I couldn't even mourn him properly because he was burnt to cinders. Well, I'll make sure no one will be able to mourn you properly either. Your disgusting hypocrisy will vanish along with your hopes. Think about my words after I toss your severed head into your grave!"
• Wolverine Claws: Basilisx. Cue Wolverine Publicity.
• The Worf Barrage: Happens quite a few times, as befits its DBZ inspiration. After Turbo Mecha Sonic, powered by four Chaos Emeralds, singlehandedly wipes out the Axem Rangers, Red brings out his secret weapon in the form of a BFG, and fires a Wave-Motion Gun-style blast on Turbo Mecha Sonic... but it does nothing to him.
• You Monster!:
  Axem Red: You...you monster! How could you do such a thing?
  Mecha Sonic: Monster? I'm not a monster, I am a god!

The Reboot

• Actionized Sequel: Not that the original wasn't actiony, it was plenty actiony, but that one started with a Mario Kart race. This one starts off with a Martial Arts tournament.
• Actually Pretty Funny: When Yoshi keeps one of the Chaos Emeralds in his mouth, Metallix tells him to spit it out if he values his "pitiful life". Yoshi instead swallows the Emerald and burps at Metallix's face, causing Metallix to stand stunned in shock for a brief moment, before he lets out a hearty chuckle.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the original series, Eggman first appears in the seventh episode planning the construction for Bowser's airship. In here, he appears in the second episode with the implication he's been there much earlier. He also proposes an alliance to Bowser and he explains to Bowser and Jr. the purpose of the Chaos Emeralds.
• Adaptation Expansion: The original series was made more than a decade ago, which has given Alvin time to elaborate on certain plot points:
  • Episode 2 includes an additional scene with Bowser in which he agrees to ally with Dr. Eggman, learns of the Chaos Emeralds and their power, and sends the Koopa Bros out to retrieve them, all of which was alluded to in the original but never actually depicted. Wario and Waluigi are also seen learning about the Chaos Emeralds, and engage in a lengthy battle with Luigi and Yoshi for the white Chaos Emerald before Metallix interrupts. The brief sequence (under 10 seconds) in the original Mecha Sonic fight, where Yoshi holds his own, is lengthened into a spectacular scene where Yoshi taps into the swallowed Emerald, matches more closely with Metallix, only to be overpowered again when the villain does the same.
  • In the original series, the story leading up to Sonic, Shadow and Mecha Sonic arriving in the Mushroom Kingdom was explained in about 6 minutes. In the reboot, Episode 3 will be dedicated to their backstory.
• Adaptational Badass: The Koopa Bros. were already competent fighters in the original series, but this time they're trained in weapons as well.
  • In the original canon, Wario and Waluigi generally avoided any violence in their appearances. In Episode 1, Mario fights Wario in a Smash Bros tournament and then Luigi and Yoshi fight the pair over the silver Chaos Emerald in Episode 2.
• Adapted Out: It has been confirmed that "Secret of the Pipe Maze" (episode 7 of the original series) will not be remade for the reboot due to it being deemed as filler to the overall narrative.
• Agony of the Feet:
  • Waluigi after Wario tosses a barbell without looking behind him, which lands on his foot.
  • After Bowser turns to metal, this is how Mario reacts to a failed kick attack.
• Amusing Injuries: Plenty of these within the opening of Episode 3, where many of Bowser's minions run into issues trying to build some airships.
• Art Shift:
  • Like in the original run, Alvin sometimes splices hand-drawn animation alongside the sprite animation, though this time it's noticeable from the outset.
  • Luigi tends to turn 8bit for a split second whenever he panics.
• Always Save the Girl: Double subverted. Kamek holds Princess Peach hostage again, but Mario doesn't change course until the absolute last second.
• Bait-and-Switch: Mario picks up a home run bat during his fight with Wario. He winds up to attack Wario, and then he wedges the bat in Wario's mouth to keep him from chomping down on Mario instead of swinging it like in Smash Bros.
• The Cameo:
  • Just like the original, the Goomba that finds a Chaos Emerald and is killed by Mecha Sonic at the beginning of Episode 1 mentions he has a crush on Goombella.
  • The tournament bracket features several side characters from the Mario franchise, a few examples including Prince Peasley, Jr. Troopa, Lady Bow, a Whacka, and Il Piantissimo.
  • During the emerald hunt in Episode 2, Sonic speeds by Boshi.
  • Mr. Game & Watch and Poochy both briefly emerge from a warp pipe in Episode 2.
• Canon Foreigner: Fire Waluigi (Fire Wario exists, though. As does Metal Bowser.) Also, the "Hyper Mario" form seen in the opening.
• Circling Birdies: During Episode 2, Luigi hits his head and sees circling Marios.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: This time around, Yoshi puts up a much better fight against Metallix, due to him gaining a huge power boost from the Chaos Emerald he swallowed. At the end of the day, however, Yoshi was still no match against him, and suffered an even more brutal beatdown, after which it's all but directly stated that said power boost is the only reason he's still (barely) alive.
• Darker and Edgier: Metallix is much stronger than his Mecha Sonic incarnation in the previous run. Yoshi only barely survives because he bought himself time by powering himself up with the Chaos Emerald, and instead of attempting to vaporize him with his laser, Metallix opts to choke Yoshi until he runs out of oxygen.
• Deadpan Snarker: Shadow, much like in the original.
  Sonic: I seem to remember it was YOU who sent the Chaos Emeralds to this dimension in the first place!
  Shadow: Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware you had every intention of letting Metallix reach his perfect form.
• Death from Above: Bowser pulls this in a stadium by letting loose a powerful, explosive fire blast into the sky. Flames rain down on the stadium meteor style, forcing evacuation by spectators.
• Denser and Wackier: Expect more comedic scenarios and memetic sound effects whenever the Knight of Cerebus isn't around. Though, we don't get to see Bowser crying like a baby here.
• Disaster Dominoes: A Dark Koopa whistles to catch the attention of a Clubba, which knocks down two Koopatrols, with one of them falling into a cannon. This cannon fires the Koopatrol into a Hammer Bro, which hits a crate full of Bob-ombs, letting them free and causing them to blow up on the workshop floor.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Metallix demands that Yoshi spit out the Chaos Emerald he's hiding in his mouth. Like the original, Yoshi responds by swallowing it... but here he follows that up with a loud, aggressive belch right into the robot's face, and then a defiant glare. Naturally his reward for this is a near-fatal asskicking.
• Expy: As an arrogant fighter who's been upstaged by the main heroes yet still beloved in the public eye, Rawk Hawk is the series' answer to Dragon Ball's Hercule Satan. He even uses sound clips of Hercule Satan.
• Fartillery: Wario's signature "ability", used in both episodes so far.
• Farts on Fire: During his fight with Mario, Wario gets Waluigi to light his fart on fire using a fireball. Said fart results with a nuclear explosion.
• Flash Step: In his first appearance, Sonic uses one of these to get over to Kamek and kick him into the sky.
• Funny Background Event: The dancing banana pops up in the background while Bowser explains how he came up with his plan. It later flies out of a pipe in Episode 2.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The side mirror in Wario's car says "Objects in mirror are after your treasure!" Given how fast the scene is playing out, you’ll have to pause to really see it.
• Go Through Me: Luigi, despite his cowardice, steps in front of the downed Mario and refuses to move even as Bowser prepares to fire the finishing shot. Only Sonic and Shadow's arrival saves them both.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
  Bowser: What do you mean "fresh out?" You're a goshdarned Magikoopa! Can't you conjure one up, you imbecile!?
• Graceful Landing, Clumsy Landing: In the intro, when the heroes jump off their airplane to land in front of Bowser's castle, everyone does a smooth Three-Point Landing, save for Luigi who crashes face first on the ground.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Wario's plan to use Waluigi as a cudgel during his fight with Mario.
• Groin Attack: While falling into the forest after being ambushed by Metallix, Yoshi lands crotch-first on a tree branch, causing him to wince and fall backwards. This is one of the least painful things to happen to him that day.
• Hammerspace: Used quite literally when Luigi pulls two giant hammers out of his overalls.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Waluigi tries to shake off Luigi and Yoshi by throwing a barrage of Bob-ombs at them. Luigi blows up their getaway car by deflecting a Bob-omb back at them.
• Kame Hame Hadoken: Once again, Mario's got this, fireball style.
  • He also pulls off the Mario Finale as an attempt to put Metal Bowser down.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Towards the original run in a way. In the reboot, Mecha Sonic's default form takes the appearance of his full-powered self from the original series, seen in shadow (well, blinding light rather) in Sonic's injury-induced dream and in the old anime opening.^note The form is basically Mecha Sonic with a Mega Man X-like body and a new head that resembles Metal Sonic's head.
• Malicious Misnaming:
  • Bowser never calls Dr. Eggman by his name, but rather things such as "Yolkman", "Egg Fried Rice", and "Baldy McNosehair".
  • Sonic calls Shadow “Edgy the Hedgy”.
• Missing Steps Plan: Wario doesn't actually know how getting the Chaos Emeralds before Mario will result in them getting rich (having laid out the scheme on a whiteboard similar to the trope image), but neither he nor Waluigi doubt that it will.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Bowser was telling his story starting with a bowl of Koopa Krunchies, the dancing banana creeps in from a chunk of rubble, paying homage to the original run's Running Gag.
  • After he's summoned as an Assist Trophy, Waluigi chases Mario around, trying to stomp him into the dirt before knocking him away with a tennis racket, exactly how he behaves as an Assist Trophy in the Super Smash Bros. games. He performs a near-identical stomping action in Episode 2 while trying to force Luigi off the back of his and Wario's car.
  • Luigi force-feeds Mario a 1-up Mushroom to help him regain consciousness, ala the Mario & Luigi games.
  • The Wario/Waluigi nuclear fart gag is reused from the final segment of the Beat Up Sandbag collab, which Alvin animated. Similarly, the suspenseful pause after Mario hits Metal Bowser with a huge fireball is a near-perfect recreation of the first moments of Smash Kingdom Melee's Mario versus Sonic segment, also animated by him.
  • Boshi's cameo references his role as a champion racer in Super Mario RPG. Naturally, he's quite surprised when someone much faster than him passes by him.
  • The music that plays during the car chase in Episode 2 is the boss music from Diddy Kong Racing. The same song was used during the original series' first episode during the kart race.
• Non-Standard Character Design: While character art style varies based on the game their spritework comes from, most characters are of comparable (i.e. low) resolution and consist of drawn poses. Rawk Hawk however uses his art from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door unedited, giving him a very high resolution and pivot-based animation.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Mario's reaction while staring down Wario and Waluigi's fire fart plan.
  • Wario and Waluigi later have a similar reaction when their charge towards Mario is interrupted by a Bulky Bob-Omb appearing in the arena, right in front of them.
  • Bowser upon seeing Mario back on his feet, courtesy of Luigi. He later has a similar reaction when Mario barrels towards him with the Cape power-up.
  • When Luigi recaps what happened to Yoshi during Episode 2, Sonic and Shadow understandably freak out when he mentions "missiles", realizing that Metallix is after him and the Emeralds.
  • Yoshi, seemingly triumphant over Metallix, barely limps away from the battle. But when Metallix emerges from under the rubble, you can see the absolute terror on Yoshi's face.
• Painful Transformation: When Bowser becomes Metal Bowser, it actually seems to hurt this time.
• Playing with Fire:
  • Fire Mario and Bowser take it up to eleven in their fireball duel.
  • Waluigi briefly uses a Fire Flower in Episode 1.
• Poor Communication Kills: Almost literally in Episode 2. Sonic and Shadow only tell the Bros that the Chaos Emeralds can’t fall into the wrong hands and must be found immediately. They never mention that someone else is after them. When Luigi alerts Mario of Yoshi's plight, Sonic gets angry upon hearing Yoshi is alone with a Chaos Emerald and he and Shadow instantly rush off without explaining. Naturally, Mario is furious when the hedgehogs argue over being too late to stop Metallix, and demands to know his identity as it almost caused the death of one of his closest friends.
• Record Needle Scratch: Used when Luigi shows he wants no part of the upcoming fight against Bowser.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Whenever Wario and Waluigi leave the story in Episodes 1 and 2, a dramatic moment or battle is sure to follow.
• Shout-Out:
  • The beginning theme includes "Do the Mario!", a tribute to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
  • The theme that plays when Kamek holds Peach hostage is "You Idiot" from Undertale.
  • When Mario initiates Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs against Bowser, he performs Kenshiro's iconic ATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!
  • Link appears in the tournament bracket. This could also be a reference to Mario Kart 8, where he's a guest character in that game as well.
  • Amidst the booing towards Wario and Waluigi, and later, Bowser, a voice can be heard saying "Boo! You STINK!"
  • Sonic kicks Kamek into the horizon, with Kamek bellowing Goofy's signature "AHHHHHHHHHH-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!" as he soars away. Also, Mario defeats Bowser as he bellows out Tom's signature scream before slamming his face into the camera.
  • The Metal Gear series' alert noise is heard when Luigi realizes he can help Mario bounce back from defeat.
  • When Bowser throws his bowl of soup into Kamek's face, the latter lets out one of Squidward's screams.
  • The weapons the Koopa Bros. wield are the same weapons used by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • Wario draws up a plan on how to get the Chaos Emeralds on a whiteboard. Step 3 in his plan is "?", Step 4 is profit. After Wario eats the whiteboard, he burps like Barney Gumble.
  • Sonic speeding past Boshi plays out like something from Looney Tunes. Boshi even holds up a sign like Wile E. Coyote does. The shot of Sonic racing over three hills with the road jumping and scrunching up behind his feet like a ribbon is a homage to the opening of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, mirroring the shot almost exactly.
  • While Wario and Waluigi are driving off with the white emerald, Wario gazes into one of the side mirrors and sees Yoshi approaching behind him.
  • Luigi and Yoshi get into a Big Ball of Violence with Wario and Waluigi. While they're all fighting, sound effects from Ed, Edd n Eddy play.
  • Wario and Waluigi exit the scene in Episode 2 by proclaiming "We're blasting off again!"
  • Whenever Yoshi uses his tongue, the sound effect of Scorpion's chain plays.
  • The new style of fight choreography used for Yoshi vs Metallix in Episode 2 is heavily reminiscent of the style used in the more modern Dragon Ball films, in particular Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The beatdown Metallix gives Yoshi is very reminiscent of the beatdown that Broly gives to Super Saiyan God Goku during their fight, with shots of Yoshi being dragged face-first across a rockface and a close-up of him gasping in pain as he is slammed into the ground (although in this case by his tongue) being direct recreations of shots from that fight.
  • The gatling gun Metallix uses in the beginning uses the sound of the Pulse Rifle as heard from Alien.
  • Metallix finishes Yoshi off with an Ultra Combo, which is basically the equivalent of a fatality in Killer Instinct. The music that plays during Yoshi and Metallix's fight, "Type 03", is also from that game.
• Space Whale Aesop: From episode 1: Don't take things that aren't yours, or a homicidal hedgehog robot from another dimension will destroy you.
• Stepping Stones in the Sky: Regularly in the first episode.
• Taking the Bullet: Mario jumps in front of a fireball intended for the KO'd Luigi, just barely stopping it with his own fire energy.
• Toilet Humor:
  • As to be expected, Wario is a walking fart joke.
  • Upon swallowing the white Chaos Emerald, Yoshi lets out a huge belch right in Metallix's face.
• Tournament Arc: Not so much an arc, but the series opens with Mario entering a fighting tournament ala Dragon Ball. This scenario replaces the Mario Kart one from the original series.
• Twitchy Eye: Wario gets one when he discovers his finishing move wasn't quite effective.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When the Heroes find Yoshi wounded and dying. Mario is far from impressed that Sonic and Shadow's first reaction is to bicker over who’s at fault for Metallix getting away with a Chaos Emerald.
• Wipe the Floor with You: A favorite move of Metallix's. Here he uses the infamous attack where he stomps and grinds Yoshi across the ground, then follows it up by doing the same against a cliff face. He even uses it as part of his Finishing Move, without even going out of his way: pounding Yoshi into a crater in a wall, grabbing him, and pulling him into the sky to set up a Meteor Move, incidentally dragging him upwards through the rest of the wall.

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