Super Mario Bros. Z was way ahead of its time. It has got to be one of the best, I repeat, THE BEST crossover fan series of all time between Super Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog and Dragon Ball Z, with many wicked battles, funny moments and callbacks to Dragon Ball. I really gotta hand it out to Alvin Earthworm (Mark Haynes), he is a legend for making this fan series. Here are 3 reasons why I love Super Mario Bros. Z:
1. The story: While it is based on the episodes of Dragon Ball Z, it gives the story a different taste with the inclusion of Mario and Sonic characters. The story mainly follows Sonic and Shadow as they must find the 7 Chaos Emeralds to defeat this mysterious war machine called Mecha Sonic (or Metallix, Turbo Mecha Sonic), who has a crazy amount of power and is thirsty to catch the Chaos Emeralds to become the most dangerous eternal robot of the universe. With the help of the Mario Bros, the 4 heroes (along with Yoshi) embarks on a fantastic adventure to help Sonic and Shadow get themselves home safely while dealing with MEcha Sonic and many other several villains who seek to get the emeralds along the way too.
2. The battles: The action gets a freaking 10/10. The battles feels WAAAAYYYYY more faster than Dragon Ball Z's. Sure, DBZ may have fast battles, BUT NOT AS FAST AS THIS ONE! Some of the battles have so many features. 3D dynamics, which makes the fight look even more amazing with the camera moving in 3D, giving the battle a good view; Quick action, giving characters some fast movement and attacks; And lastly, the transformations. Mario turning into Fire Mario was so epic! Him using his fire abilities and enhancing his combat experience was so cool and terrific. But with Fire Sonic? BADASS AS F%#K! He's like an unstoppable force! I bet someday in a future episode, he might actually beat Mecha Sonic with everything he got.
3. The characters: You got your favorite characters in the mix such as Mario, the hero plumber of the Mushroom Kingdom, Luigi, the cowardly hero plumber and Mario's younger brother, Yoshi, the former babysitter of the Mario Bros and a clan of the Yoshi Clan of Yoshi Island, Sonic, the hero of Mobius who proclaims himself to be "the fastest thing alive" and Shadow, the "ultimate life-form" who is a anti-hero and Sonic's frenemy, with the sudden change of pace with Dragon Ball Z traits into their own character where Mario is treated as Goku, Sonic is treated as Gohan and Shadow treated as Vegeta. I've gotta hand it out to the enemies too. Mecha Sonic is a beast, the Koopa Bros are like tryhards but does a good job at trying to do their mission and their combat, the Axem Rangers X... omg... I seriously didn't recognize these guys until I noticed that they are a callback to the original Axem Rangers from Super Mario RPG! Mind blowing! Bowser is fearsome as he really wanted to take down Mario and the gang for good, Dr. Eggman (NOT THE MYSTERIOUS PERSON, KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR HIS BODY SHAPE AND MUSTACHE!) may haven't appear much, but he does things to help Bowser and BASILISX, this guy over here! He look like he has more potential than Mecha Sonic!
So that's the 3 reasons why I absolutely love Super Mario Bros. Z. The classic Dragon Ball Z-esque flash series gets... S/S. Like I said, the series was way ahead of its time, but to this day, it is still loved by many fans, including me. Let's hope for the best of the reboot series.