Smashinity, Super Mario Bros. DX and Plagiarism 

This guy would be so much better if he was part of an animation team doing what a writer/director told him to do. He doesn't have the creativity to lead a project himself.

Not defending him or anything, but I feel like that some of these are either just a stretch, or maybe a nod to the source material it was "copying". But I'll admit that the vast majority is a copy, can't deny that Also not crediting the artists cannot be defended though, and his overall behavior is pretty lame

Disappointing, but unsurprising. Inspiration will always be part of sprite animations given what they’re made up of, but there’s a difference between that and copying, especially from other sprite animations. Copying from a multi million dollar movie is one thing, nobody is really hurt by that, pretty much everyone knows the reference and you’re hardly stealing clout, but stealing from other members of the (relatively small) sprite animation community is something that absolutely should be condemned.

Update: Alvin-Earthworm's Twitter account is no longer suspended and is back a few days ago. You know who has been followed by Alvin, yet we're not sure if he's aware of Smashinity's behavior on Twitter/RU-vid. Even if he and Alvin are on 'good terms', it still doesn't feel right.

It’s really funny because when he first deleted his videos, he made an apology on Twitter saying that he would do better and be original. So that was a freakin lie.

The fact that Smashinity has been changing his names and continuing to do this even years later shows that Smash has no redemption, I haven't watched Smashblock for years but seeing this is just extremely lame.

It scares me how too close his Mario Bowser fight scene can be compared to Dragonball as it was a large percent of the fight, like does he ever try to be at least unique instead or put actual effort of seeing a fight scene and going “that would be cool”. There’s no effort and it’s unfortunate that his just getting fame of others work, thanks for making this video.

7:31 not only is this part blatanly traced, it also looks absolutely horrible imo Like, the way they move just doesn't fit the animation style He traced something and didn't even managed to make it look good

and this is why I plan to make series that dosen't involve mecha sonic. Instead I plan to have mario and luigi, chase down a few hundred asriel dremurre clones and have mario fight Gauro from an astriod field, and punch his face out. All jokes aside. Its pretty much at this point, any series that evolves Mecha/metal sonic being the main threat of the series is considered a Diet smbz series, and this guy is the main cause of the term Diet smbz. (granted diet smbz series can be good if done right, but its hard to pull off.) Listen to my words folks, if your still watching this phdasious animator, then set a breaking point for yourself. If he copys the entirety of episode 6 with a 3 way brawl, and exactly as the story line went from the og series, thats when you need to say now and turn your back from him, because if he really is trying to redeem himself and he goes ahead copys the episodes story line, thats when things will get ugly for him.

Wow, I hadn't even expected that smbdx is a monster Frankenstein. Thank for opening my eyes.

I remember watching the first two episodes of his series a long time ago as a kid. Back then I wasn't nearly as judgemental over someone's work as I am now. But even back then, I noticed some kind of pacing problem since nothing was really happening during a long fight scene and I was getting kind of bored. Back then I didn't even know these animations copied other people's work. Pretty sad ngl.

While one half is a huge stretch and can’t really be called copying at all. Others are clearly copied or outright traced. An odd mix bag to be sure

To any new people who just saw Episode 6, welcome. As of now, there's still discussion about the references and copying, and some of the "references" previously discussed seem to be false (like the alleged Dragon Ball Super bits). However, there IS still plagiarism in Episode 6 such as Smasher's idea of killing Rouge and Omega from Metal/Mecha Sonic's actions (something that has already been done from the original SMBZ Episode 8, big surprise). While Episode 6 has had some improvement in the writing thanks to a new writer introduced, now seems like a good opportunity to look at the video entirely (even sharing this around). We know some people claim he's like "Alvin-Earthworm levels of awesome" but there's one thing he and Smashinity do not share: respect. Something Smashinity caused harm to tons of people. He's done a lot of damage to the sprite community and is a good reminder to never meet your heroes, even online.

TL;DR, even as an outsider with no stakes in this community, I find it clear that Smashinity is liberally lifting from other material and outright stealing from others, even in spite of me not agreeing with every point of contention in the video. Sorry for the novel, I have a lot to say on this, it peaked my interest. Commenting as an outsider to this controversy and seeing a lot of these comparisons for the first time. I watched the first three episodes of DX, forgot about it and then saw the premier for episode 6 in my recommended and remembered this guy existed. I was going to catch up on the series, but I saw "Smashinity plagarism" as the second result on RU-vid and remembered "oh yeah, this guy got into some trouble with a previous show, I wonder what that was about," clicked it, watched this video and realized that this guy never really changed. The first two episodes, even without me being aware of the plagiarism controversy, were way too similar to SMBZ's remake for me not to take at least some issue with. I didn't really mind at the time since I was going into this with slightly lowered expectations seeing what fans of SMBZ would make in the relative absence of Mark, and I thought episode 3 was going down the right path of starting to deviate from SMBZ's plot and try its own thing. My initial reaction to seeing the comparisons to Dragon Ball Super was initially dismissive, as I thought he was just paying homage to a fight he really liked in the show that inspired SMBZ, but the sheer amount of fights he copies is kind of absurd. I don't think it fits into the literal definition of plagiarism, as he still had to reanimate the scenes with Mario sprites, but its definitely a lazy shortcut to mask his inability to plan and execute good fight scenes. Some of the comparisons are fairly nitpickey, though. I don't want to repeat other comments too much, but a good chunk of the smaller comparisons I feel are reasonably justified by either inspiration from and references back to the source material or coincidence. The story being so similar to SMBZ isn't a good thing, but I don't find it to be a cardinal sin here, so some scenes and establishing shots being similar isn't the end of the world, in my opinion. The blatant art theft is just inexcusable, though. I can understand lifting a sprite here and there to save time, but his refusal to give proper credit to other creators or respond to criticism has pretty much proven he hasn't changed much. I haven't seen episode 5 to judge it myself, but from what's here it's clear he's just gone back to lifting directly from the Z remake. I normally wouldn't have commented on a 10 month old video like this, but considering the next episode drops in like 2 days I thought it would be relevant. Smash seems like a really talented animator who keeps trying to take shortcuts to mask his poor abilities as a writer and creative director and doesn't really care who he hurts in the process. Keep calling out bad actors in your communities. If you don't call out things that harm its quality and reputation it won't be worth being a part of.

Just got done watching Episode 6 of SMBDX. It's a letdown. Posting my thoughts here because fuck Smashinity and his hostility to basic criticism. Rouge's death at the start of the episode felt incredibly empty. No genuine emotion, Shadow didn't even bother checking on Rouge in the scene, and him thinking back to killing Omega had no proper "weight" to add to the story, if you know what I mean. I'm studying emotion in animation for the future so that I can apply those elements to animations I want to make and I felt nothing during the Rouge and Omega death scenes. It was soulless. The episode was overflowing with dialogue that made the episode drag on very slowly. Sure, dialogue can help enhance a story, but there's a point where it gets to be too much and it starts to interfere with the pacing (seriously, that ENTIRE interaction between The Koopa Bros and Team Mario was the most painful interaction I've ever seen in a Sprite Animation. If I were to put it into words, it's like listening to two friend groups in elementary school bicker about who's better). It took several minutes to get to the point and it ended with a lazy cliffhanger. In the credits, the "close up art" section ONLY has Smashinity's name in it. I have seen one of the close-ups in the original SMBZ (it's around the point where Shadow eavesdrops on Sonic and Tails) and there was zero acknowledgement in the credits besides "special thanks" and "custom sprites". It does not count as credit for the close-up no matter how Smashinity tries to spin it. Mark not saying anything (whether it's because he doesn't want to destroy the community he started or if it's to avoid drama) is a problem, since his work is being stolen (and I think Smash's videos are still monetized) and used without credit. There's your simplified review of SMBDX episode 6. Excuse me while I go sleep off this cold I have at the time of writing this. TL;DR Smashinity's newest episode of SMBDX is soulless, has too much dialogue interfering with the pacing, has no proper emotion, and there's more plagiarism. It's not worth half an hour of your life. Update 6/26/2023: Smashinity just boldly announced in his community tab that leaks of his series are not going to stop him from completing the series. This pretty much confirms what I said 9 months ago that he had no plans to nuke his account and start over. But it also shrouds his true intentions besides plagiarism. I'll give him this: He's really good at confusing people because I'm honestly not sure what his real goal is anymore. I know that he's making a discount SMBZ clone, but what he really wants out of all of this is up in the air at this point.

I knew of this for years back when GT was still being developed but tbh, I dont see the "references" to other non-Sonic media to be a big deal. I honestly think the majority of the Dragon Ball comparisons are extremely stretched. Stealing sprites and animations from others in the sprite animation community is pretty shitty theres no doubt about that but everything else is honestly negligible to me. I can only speak for myself when I say this but I am hoping that Smashinity shares a similar sentiment to this, and its that I think people just want to see a Sonic and Mario sprite series that actually gets finished. This may sound extremely naive to those who are more educated on this topic and educated on who Smashinity is as a person, but in my eyes I think the fact that hes still going despite all the hate (albeit deserved), says infinitely more about his devotion to the genre than his morally wrong practices. As someone who is not super informed on this topic (Im asking to be proven wrong here btw), all I can really do is remain blissfully ignorant that he does get to finish his work this time, because even though it may not be 100% his, it is still art and a story that is worth telling despite many other more talented creators failing to do so, and he is doing it all without monetization (unless he has a patreon or something idk). To put it plainly, I see Smashinity as an extremely flawed person who is kinda tired of seeing sprite creators and their series come and go with no conclusion, so he decided to do it himself by making a big smorgishborg of everyones sprite animations to tell his own story. Its not a good practice, but despite it all i do think his intentions are coming from a good place. Still doesnt excuse the fact that it doesnt seem like it would be difficult to just ask for permission to use someone elses stuff though lol.

Just so new people aren't aware, he's currently working on Episode 6 and borrowing heavy "references" to Dragon Ball Super between Chaos Boost Shadow and Corrupted Omega. Especially since how people are leaking that one live stream he did weeks ago on RU-vid.

Hold on a sec, sprite Creators have a literal discord server? Also very brutal honest insights, this needs to be used as an example to newer sprite animators who are just going into or thinking about making sprite series of their own (such as myself) and to really stress how important it is to always credit the original source of stuff you’ve used, it saves you a lot of trouble in the future.

Update: This channel isn't dead. A follow up video to this is coming soon.

This guy seems like he's basically the MaStarmedia of Sprite animations.

copying from the broly movie is not bad, considering even alvin "copied" from dbz scenes, he still needed to do the animation. the exact mario poses copied from alvin (wich he custom made those) that is plagiarism in full

On the bright side, if you want to watch the DBS Broly movie for free, you can just turn on episodes 2 or 5 and enjoy!

Be aware of any death threats from this one user. We had to block and report the threats after they commented not long ago, but this is a head's up to anyone following.

Man, what a nerve, not only replicating cinematics from other media (whether it's the same pixel animation or anime) but also the dialogues of Mark Haynes. Disappointing.

I had no idea when I first noticed this video. I have just unsubscribed from him before watching it.

Not to defend him But using scenes from anime openings is rather common when making you're own Fan made anime like thing And in the description of Episode one he said the creator of SMBZ (I forgot the user name) had given him advice about the episode

Update: An email has been sent to IDW Comics regarding the tracing from the original artist, Thomas Rothlisberger, as seen in 8:19. Hopefully they'll get a word back.

There's a big difference between making references with permission and blatantly stealing and I swear that nobody knows the difference. Unfortunately, it looks like this time he isn't going to nuke his account and remake his series for the umpteenth time. I find it insane how even SpacePea is defending Smashinity. At this rate, SpacePea is going to learn the hard way what happens when you try to help him improve: you get verbally attacked and eventually blocked. Maplemation isn't getting involved anymore (and it better stay that way, from what I've seen a lot of them are entitled manchildren) so it's up to smaller folks to expose this guy until either he receives a cease and desist from Nintendo or he just quits animating. I'm hoping this video blows up cuz this is really well done. EDIT: Smashinity is going as far as copyright striking videos exposing him to hide evidence. That's right: He's copyright striking people exposing his series, which uses IP's that AREN'T his, to save himself. I'm pretty sure what he's doing violates copyright law. Makes me suspicious that this is the method he uses to force other popular animators to shine his series in a false light and staying silent about the plagiarism.

I was looking forward to Episode 6, but I change my mind. Because I feel like the upcoming episode going to have another scene from SMBZ. And not credit sprites creator is the nail in the coffin. So I started to unsubscribe him.

I have a hunch that the moment episode 6 goes live on his channel, there is going to be more evidence of him plagiarism more. He already uploaded previews on both his twitter and youtube, so people are gonna wonder how much he copied in episode 6.

Alright, I'd like to share some of my thoughts, now do I think Smashinity is plagiarising people? Yes, BUT, him recreating Dragon Ball fights isn't a problem at all in my opinion, because he'd still need to animate it all using the Mario sprites, same applies to the original intro and outro. -In fact I don't even think that some lines or shots being similair, to SMBZ is bad, once again he did need to animate it all, my real issue comes from when he doesn't do something similair, like some Mecha Sonic shots which you compared to Mecha vs Bowser, (I still think those are different enough), but instead my issue comes from when he does the exact same camera work and just re uses SMBZ unique animations -( Because, yeah in my opinion, him reusing audio from the original games, or animations that already exist in M&L isn't bad, if that was the case SMBZ was plagiarising them as well). -But still very disappointed to see how Smashinity is just stealing other's work, and all he had to do was credit them!Is it SO hard to admit that you can't do everything by yourself?

This guy never learns does he

Screw Smashinity for not only plagiarism but also for abusing the copyright system to remove any video that criticizes him

Not trying to defend the guy, but I think saying that the audio is part of the plagiarise is a little bit dumb. I mean, the audio comes from the games in the majority of cases. I don't think this should count. Unless the audio is created from the original animator. There I could understand it

And Haynes is still stuck in his doomscrolling habit on Twitter again, with no signs of Episode 3 coming out. If ever…

old habits die hard 💀💀 smasher will never change honestly at this point, what ZackAttack said about him before was right. years later, and he's STILL doing it? it's not a habit its a cheap way to lie to his viewers and manipulate them into thinking he's original i can understand and defend directly copying/tracing scenes from existing media if you are being vocal about the fact that they are copied/reanimated, an example being Weed la Weed, a parody animation of Kill la Kill that recreates the opening of that anime beautifully. but when you try to do it the slimy, deceitful way Smasher does by deliberately making your audience believe you originally came up with and animated those scenes, that's when I draw the line.

People do not know fair use... its only a direct copy if he legit stole the actual footage or assets like how Yandev does... Only a few of these I see that look like repainting of something. Everything else with anime openings, inspiration from the original, etc. is just plain bs. I wish this drama would end man, I agree, even some are too far like how he really copied alvins work too much. But anime openings, game fighting? Really? You guys really blowing this out of the water. Idk if he does. But does he cite his sources and credits them? (Sorry for not seeing it at first keeping what I said at first to those who do not watch full videos and skim over it.) Edit: Besides the mecha sonic thing, that was just stolen and even looks way to sim to metallic. What the hell man... I think I am starting to see it. Still, I agree some of these are blown out of the water but I guess you were right. I still do not see the purpose to like copyright strike him, etc. Most of it I agree is fair use till like episode 4 - 5. That's when its just... what the fuck mate... your actually copying it. Frankly... yeah, most of it was just too many references to the point of just painting over.

regardless of the copying, at least the fights aren't half bad, they are animated well even by smashinity

If anyone has anything archived in relation to Smasher (be it in videos or documents), please send them in here or through smbdxarchive@gmail.com.

Even though this comment is really late when I first watched the first like 2-3 minutes of this video I thought it wasn’t that much of a big deal because if I made a sprite animation series I would put some anime references too, to see if hard core anime fans recognized them but after like the 3-4 minute mark I realized how much anime (manly dragon ball super broly) clips he was “heavily inspired by” to the point where his animation was exactly the same from the anime clips. It’s sad because he has potential but he decided to just plagiarize anime clips. I will still watch his series to see if he comes up with any cool or hopefully some new ideas

Is it bad to get inspiration from a anime and try to do something similar? I dont find plagiarism doing boku no hero animation reference etc, I myself try always match that style and cgi animation XD, i would feel proud if i can get a little close to it ahaha.

Plagiarizes for the upteenth time then decides to go and ban anyone who tries to question him about stealing content from other animation works. Yea... Like that's totally gonna work buddy... Shit's gonna hit the fan real fast when he comes to realize that.

I seriously fail to understand how referencing other forms of media and fan media is plagiarism. I mean, it CLEARLY shows heavy signs of lack of creativity but still. I may be missing some other things tho. But him not crediting the original sprite artists and taking them as his own is fucked up, genuinely.

Tbh I honestly don't care that much for what he's doing now like the story itself is a 7/10 but I'm cool with references but the big problem I have is there too many references maybe that's the reason why this drama has started cause of too many references being put in every episode when you can't just put every references in a story like this that's the problem I do have and what many of you people have and I understand and I know this cause I'm creating my own story on Instagram it's all original but I do plan to put a few references in the couple of episodes to make it even more cool and exciting not a whole bunch but like 3 or 5 Ok I'm done with this an say Smashinity if your reading my Comment please cut back on the references and make them more original it's fun and more better that way otherwise you'll lose everything

Imma be honest, I didn’t know anything about this, I didn’t do by research, I just found his channel about a year ago & saw this series like smbz and was like, “Whoa, This is cool” all of this other stuff like, sending death threat, & copy & pasting and other things he was doing that I’m seeing now, I’m like what?💀. Really I just want one of these sprite series, any of them to finish and get to the grand final soon, Im waiting to see it.

8:01- 8:05 Tbh Smashinity version of Mecha Sonic raging demon animation is base of SFV version of akuma raging demon while the original Mecha Sonic raging demon animation is base of the classic akuma raging demon .

With how Episode 6 was released a month ago, and how there's been a lot that happened between Episodes 5 and 6, should there be a follow up video regarding this one? Some of the details have been given in the comments, but this is also in regards to things that have happened behind closed doors, even recently. This channel is not made for drama purposes, but any details you guys have to share from before and now would be appreciated. You can send details through email at smbdxarchive@gmail.com for anything related to Smashinity.

Smashinity is still plagiarizing everyone. Unsubscribe from his channel now!

Days has passen and he makes more progress at the animation, let's see if he still is plagiarizing others.

What you order online vs what you get

Honestly in SMBDX's case, I take it as a fan-remake of SMBZ and give it more leeway. Kinda like Mighty No 9 compared to Mega Man.

Commenting here for boosting the algorithm

Didn't know they used scenes from Dragon Ball Z (lol)

While im alr with seeing animators use stuff from anime ops cause that what basically every new animator who loves anime does but come on man, he just using entire segments from the broly movie. Like of course people are going to know where the source came from

i live in a cavern what this the line between plagia and reference? or difference because i cant understand some point where we can see dbsuper broly clip edit : I only talk about the dbs broly clip

Yes 1K let's gooooooo!

It's sad. They are an amazing animator too.

while most of these are valid and damning, i feel like some of these are just nitpicks, particularly some of the scenes copying traditional anime but the resemblance is only really subtle for some of them (and i mean you can't pretend mark hasn't done the same before), using the same noise for Mecha Sonic that SMBZ used, or the usage of the 'see you next time' mk64 voice clip at the end of every episode (i mean it's literally from mario kart 64)

Let's see the bright side of this guys At least we won't be left on a cliffhanger like on SMBZ Since Mark Haynes stopped working on it (because of Nintendo)

In my head for a while I was thinking maybe he got more original, but nope I recently rewatched ep 2 of the reboot, so seeing 7:03 was just so lame, I'm not watching an animation unless it deserves the attention

WHAAAATT, I thought it was just very heavy references, he's actually being a snake about it?

Well.im.not choosing sides or anything but i would say over all that sprite animations based on how people made it is a reference and watching this when i was younger makes me wanna learn about sprite animations. But ya

Excuse me for my lack of knowledge but is that part with Broly vs Gogeta just inspiration? Since in the comment section didn’t he heart a comment saying he took some inspiration in episode 2? Just want to know if it is plagiarism for those scenes. Sorry for my lack of knowledge on this.

I’m completely fine with it. I mean, it’s not like he’s making millions of dollars from it, and there’s clearly effort put into it.

Dang man, I thought he was trying to change. Guess I was wrong.

This sucks because he’s so obviously skilled and talented at sprite animation but he chooses to plagiarise

Being original too har d

He even traced the Sonic movie lol, mad depressing xD.

Fun fact 8:17 is actually stolen from vegeta vs broly

SmashinityArchive: Smashinity has started working on episode 7 of SMBDX (that episode will show the Hard boiled heavies maybe a Reference to the Axem Ranger X, the 4 Koopa Bros has the 2003 Ninja Turtles Voice and Dr. Eggman Sprite Half darkened is the same as SMBZ episode both 7 And 8 and Showing Bowser the Silver Chaos Emeralds same as the red Chaos Emeralds episode 2 reboot Sence.) Also Smashinity remove some characters Like: Captain basilisk Koopa, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao, Mecha Mario (Ver 1 Metallix's body) Shadow thief Popple (GT intro), and didn't even bother to put in: Midbus (to be with Fawful), Boshi, Emerl the Gizoid (with Team Mario and Sonic), and The Shake King (i saw his name in the livestream name Folder). But... I'm worry about Smashinity will Copy SMB: Minus Bowser when Bowser became Chaos Bowser (Red Color) same for future episodes That Bowser will the Silver Chao Emerald Which was Given by Dr. Eggman, and on the other hands Eggman and Bowser agree to help each other against Both Mario and Sonic during the future episodes i imagine that Dr. Eggman will gain his First Transformation (No Robot Mechsuit) Against only Team Sonic Just like Sonic Movie 2 reference Where Robotnik became Chaos Eggman with the Movie Master Emerald and in SMBDX Eggman Will somehow granted the Star Rod and make his first evil wish To become Super Eggman and become Immortality. And we need to find out on Why Fawful wants the 7/Seven Chaos Emeralds thats What Shadow was doing while in Mario's World. Everything on what He (Smashinity) Was doing is Seriously wrong for other Sprite Series Maker and If i was a Mario and Sonic Series Maker i would Make...Mario and Sonic: Calamity Heroes GX, with No Reference Stealing! Main Villains Bowser and Dr. Eggman, Finding 14 Gemstones 7 Crystal Stars and the 7 Chaos Emeralds, An additional Main Character will be Rayman from Ubisoft, Mario and Luigi Have Blue eye pupil, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and Waluigi will talk and Have there Own Text boxes, While in Mario's World Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream the Rabbit Will Obtain there First and New Manipulating Powers During They're Adventures, next Team Sonic will be Rewarded with Power-Up Orbs Made By Both Professor E. Gadd and Luigi Before Returning Back to Mobius With Dr. Eggman all tied up, And lastly takes place After Mario and Rabids SOH, And Sonic Forces (in a/An alternative Ending where Dr. Eggman goes to G.U.Ns Prison after getting beat up by Modern Dark Sonic in front of Sonic's allies, Gadget the Red Wolf, GUN Soliders, GUN Commander, and Classic Sonic. My Version is better inststead of keep Letting Eggman go and escape, He Wounded Sonic For Six months in the Death Egg Secret prison before being Banished into a deep void in Space). Things are going to happen in a Later Time and Date. I really Hope you Could Understand all of This... Sorry Thats it's really long but i really hope that you could understand it all. Thank you and Have an Awesome day!.

Ok but for the intro part doesn’t literally every sprite series uses that format to showcase the villains. And some of these are definitely stretches.

Man, I freaking loved this guy, but some of these are stretches

I thought the whole point of DX was to remaster SMBZ tho?

what encourages a person to constantly steal? Doesnt he see the fun in creating unique ideas? Im working on my own personal animation that is loosely based on a different animated fight, but its gonna have unique parts in it! sheesh, smashinity sucks

Stop deleting it lol, it's the same thing every time.

What is the ost

I knew there was something wrong with the Knuckles and Mecha Sonic battle, i realized the other episodes being almost copy-paste but with that one i was like: "Wait, why do i feel this so fking familiar?"

It could be reference instead of plagiarism

you have all reason

I can understand that for you, he is just copying scenes from other series. But just answer this question: Are you even able to do what he does? It's true that there are similarities, but he does an excellent job.

Wait did smashinity copy mark

i forgive him

Honestly. Hate me all you want but I don't give a fuck. It's good animation I like the series, the story is good. Its something I don't see regularly and if he got ideas from other people using them then sure. Its plagiarism. Still is good though. I still give the series a 10/10. Don't see why its a bad thing.