The early days of YouTube and Newgrounds paved the way for fan animations/stories featuring some of gaming’s most popular characters. Super Mario Bros. Z, a fan animation show created by Mark Hayes (or his online persona Alvin-Earthworm), was one of the most legendary shows of its kind. Now, in 2023, the intro to the show has been remade using 3D models. It’s done to such dazzling effect that it looks like official renders from the original developers.
The new 3D remake of this intro was created and animated by YouTuber NooB_B3D, who currently has no other videos on their channel. Their about-page description only says that they “like to animate things.” The video was also posted to their Twitter, amassing over a million views, over 12 thousand retweets, and 33 thousand likes.
Super Mario Bros. Z first aired on April 22, 2006, and featured a story where the Mario brothers had to team up with Sonic the Hedgehog to prevent a new enemy, Turbo Mecha Sonic, from stealing the Chaos Emeralds. The series also featured side characters from both franchises, such as Yoshi and Shadow the Hedgehog. After six years and nine episodes, Super Mario Bros. Z was canceled.
The series was eventually rebooted in 2016, with Hayes stating that the first episode would be released on his Patreon. Sadly, the Nintendo lawyers found out about Hayes trying to make money from their IP and shut down his Patreon. To date, only two episodes have been released from the revival series. Despite this, Hayes still uploads to his YouTube channel, creating comical videos poking fun at modern Paper Mario games and Eggman’s walking animation.
Not much is known about the future of Super Mario Bros. Z, but this new 3D intro will reignite the nostalgia in the hearts of viewers who loved the original series.
