Super Mario Bros Z Kai

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~NGD OMEGA~

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
Yep, it's exactly as the title entails. Though he didn't call it Kai for some reason.
Some will remember, way back in the old newgrounds days, a rather fun series of videos called Super Mario Bros Z. Basically a Mario Sonic Cross inspired by DBZ tropes and combat. Well apparently the guy has gone back to the drawing board with something a bit more meaty than Flash and has started it over, with the help of Patreon. First episode is out currently here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5-ErbSrTOc
Has a lot of the same basic structure, animation is about on par with the best of his older stuff, and he's definitely improved the text boxes, though the noticeable slowdown with the talking bits is still there. Here's hoping he keeps up the good work. Had a hankering to see more of this for a while.
 
R

Rising Dragon

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Frankly I'm surprised he did so at all. For a while it seemed he had grown to hate it--people asking him about updates actively caused him to hold off on working on it, etc.
 
N

~NGD OMEGA~

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Well to be fair, he now has a Paytreon for it so effectively people are now paying him to make them. Let's see... It's currently sitting at quite close to 5000 per episode. So needless to say the internet has changed since then I imagine.
 
Altered Nova

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
I am glad to hear that SMBZ is back, but I wish he'd just continue the original series instead of rebooting it.
 
N

~NGD OMEGA~

Well-Known Member
#6
#6
I'm torn on that front because although I want to get right into the new stuff, the old text bits of the old stuff was bad... I mean it's still not great and slows things down now but at least it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb anymore.

Really, I'm just miffed he missed the chance the name the reboot Super Mario Bros. Z Kai.
 
Altered Nova

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#7
#7
Finally watched the reboot episode. Animation quality is about the same but the camera work is FAR superior. Really makes the fights more dynamic and sells the illusion that the sprites exist in a three dimensional world.

Interesting decision to replace the kart race with a fighting tournament. It better explains why only Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi are involved in the competition we are shown, it was kind of strange originally that they were having a Mario Kart race with only two cars. And it's definitely a better fit for the Dragonball homage aspect of the show.

The Wario fight had some great gags, especially the assist trophy joke.

I assume Rawk Hawk is going to be the Mr. Satan of this series, since he just sits on the sidelines talking shit and never actually helps Mario.

I noticed Link was in the tournament bracket. I kind of hope that's not just a cameo, it could be cool if one of the chaos emeralds landed in Hyrule and leads to Link teaming up with Mario, Sonic and company for at least an episode.
 
A

armedlord

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
~NGD OMEGA~ said:
Well to be fair, he now has a Paytreon for it so effectively people are now paying him to make them. Let's see... It's currently sitting at quite close to 5000 per episode. So needless to say the internet has changed since then I imagine.
Click to expand...
Wait, what?  He's using Sega and Nintendo properties and having people pay him for this? And these two companies are okay with it?!? Whatwhatwhat?!?

Can someone explain to the dumbass known as I what I am missing that makes this okay?
 
N

~NGD OMEGA~

Well-Known Member
#9
#9
Honestly I have no idea myself. Nintendo is notorious for copyrighting everything, and in absolute fairness in this case at least they have more of a basis than actual in-arguably fair use things like reviews and informative videos in the simple fact that he's using their sprites. I mean Transformative is always the easy case to toss in this case but that's also always an iffy arguement, and really Nintendo's long since proven that they don't give a shit about the fans on that front so you'd figure they'd be all over this especially as they have an actual case to argue here.

If I had to throw a guess, I'd imagine it's the distinction between monetizing the video, which Nintendo can easily claim via Youtube's claim system, and Paytreon paying out once a certain goal, in this case a video being released, triggering all the pre-setup payments. I believe in fact this method's also being used to get around similar bullshit with the abridged anime stuffs as well, laws might not have caught up with the new distinction there.

Or they could just not be aware of it, not sure how when the paytreon link is right there in the video, but Nintendo's been morons about handling the internet for a while so them not being savvy wouldn't be particularly surprising.
 
Altered Nova

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#10
#10
Legally it's not okay. Sega and Nintendo can shut him down anytime they want to. They always could have. Even before he was making money creating these videos, either of them could have had all his videos pulled off the internet with a few DMCA takedown requests.

I doubt they ever will unless he starts earning a lot more money from it though. He's not costing them any money and stopping him wouldn't be worth the legal and PR cost.
 
N

~NGD OMEGA~

Well-Known Member
#11
#11
While I agree, Nintendo's done FAR FAR dumber than this case where I can actually agree they have a case to argue. Like even flat out illegally claiming things like Reviews and Informative Media. Nintendo's PR gives no shits when it comes to claiming their content regardless of the fact that they flat out legally don't have the grounds to do so.
 
R

Rising Dragon

Well-Known Member
#12
#12
Altered Nova said:
Legally it's not okay. Sega and Nintendo can shut him down anytime they want to. They always could have. Even before he was making money creating these videos, either of them could have had all his videos pulled off the internet with a few DMCA takedown requests.

I doubt they ever will unless he starts earning a lot more money from it though. He's not costing them any money and stopping him wouldn't be worth the legal and PR cost.
Click to expand...
Frankly, his works would arguably benefit Nintendo and Sega in the long run by bringing in more fans or making people want to buy their Mario/Sonic titles.  But corporations rarely see the sense in such moves.
 
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