Episode One: Fierce Battle Between Fierce Rivals

Fierce Battle Between Fierce Rivals!
'''Fierce Battle Between Fierce Rivals! '''is the first episode of the Super Mario Bros. Z remake. This episode was released on January 5, 2016 to Patreon donators and January 8, 2016 to YouTube and Newgrounds. This episode began production in 2013, having a preview of the first scene being released to Mark's DeviantArt page. After a two year break, the rest of the episode began production in August of 2015. This remade episode is the combination of the original Super Mario Bros. Z episodes one and two, which aired April 22, 2006 and May 22, 2006 on Newgrounds respectively.

The Arrival of Metallix
The episode opens on an open field within the Mushroom Kingdom, as a lone Goomba is taking a stroll through the Donut Plains. The Goomba stumbles upon a deep blue gem, later revealed to be a Chaos Emerald, and picks it up thinking it would make a great gift for Goombella. Suddenly, the sky dims and a strange light appears in front of the Goomba. Out of the light, a mass of energy forms creating a forceful wind which blows against the Goomba. An intimidating robot appears out of this energy and turns towards the Goomba, demanding for him to hand over the Chaos Emerald. The Goomba is confused and terrified, but before the Goomba could hand over the emerald, the robot destroys the Goomba with an energy blast.

The Smash Tournament - Mario v.s. Wario
Elsewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom, a Smash Tournament is underway with Mario and Wario as contestants battling against each other. A massive crowd of Toads have gathered together in rafters surrounding the tournaments arena, with two Lakitu reporters and Rawk Hawk narrating and commentating over the brawl, as well as Princess Peach and Toadsworth overseeing the fight as the tournaments benefactor. As Mario and Wario duke it out, Waluigi joins the battle to aid Wario, eventually blasting Mario with a devastating fart explosion. With the crowd thinking that Mario is down for the count, it is revealed that Luigi had tossed a Power Star and Mario at the last second and saved Mario from the explosive blow. As Luigi and Mario are about to take on the Wario Bros., a massive Bulky-Bob-Omb falls from the sky and destroys the ring, blasting Wario and Waluigi into the distance.

Bowser's Arrival - Mario v.s. Bowser
As the crowd gasps and wonders what just occurred, Mario lands seemingly unscathed, while Luigi plummets face first into the ground. Out of the corner of Mario's eyes, Bowser is spotted in his Clown Copter. Both Bowser and his loyal henchman, Kamek make their grand debut as the crowd boos. Bowser informs Mario of his plans of kidnapping Princess Peach while simultaneously "beating the everliving tar" out of him in front of his fans. Mario doesn't take Bowser's threat seriously, and the two engage in a brutal battle while Luigi cowers. As the battle between Mario and Bowser rages on, Bowser unleashes a fury of fireball attacks, to which Mario powers up as Fire Mario to combat Bowser's fire. The battle seems to end as Mario blasts Bowser into the ground with a fully charged fireball, but Kamek comes to Bowser's aid to give Bowser a Metal Mushroom - transforming him into Metal Bowser.

Metal Bowser v.s. Mario
The battle takes a turn for the worse for Mario, as Mario realizes none of his attacks make any sort of impact on Metal Bowser. Eventually, Bowser charges up a massive fire blast attack, knocking Mario out. Before Bowser could make a finishing blow, Luigi jumps to his brother's aid and stands by his side to help defend him. All seems hopeless as Bowser charges up for one final fire blast, when a large metal capsule falls from the sky directly onto Bowser, shattering his metal form.

Mario's Comeback - Cape Mario v.s. Bowser
Luigi realizes that Bowser has been weakened, and gives Mario a 1-Up Mushroom, restoring him to full health. Bowser is shocked by Mario's recovery, and is quickly pummeled into the sky as Mario uses a Feather to transform himself into Cape Mario. Before Mario can land the final blow, Kamek takes Princess Peach hostage, threatening to transform her into a Goomba. Mario, realizing he cannot carry out his attack, submits to Kamek's demands and waits for Bowser to make his final strike. In the distance, the capsule that fell onto Bowser opens and two shadowy figures emerge - one leaping forth and kicking Kamek into the sky away from the arena. Mario takes this opportunity to finish Bowser off and hurls Bowser out of the arena as well. As Mario and Luigi celebrate their victory, Luigi notices two strangers, a blue and black hedgehog. Mario stares at the two hedgehogs suspiciously as Luigi cowers behind him. The blue hedgehog asks for Mario's identity, with Mario nodding that he is indeed who the blue hedgehog thinks he is. The blue hedgehog smiles towards the black hedgehog, exclaiming that "they must be in the right place".

Reception
Fan reception towards the release of the first episode of the reboot has been overwhelmingly positive. Within the first 24 hours, viewers had watched the first episode 70,000+ times on YouTube and 27,000+ times on Newgrounds. Since its release, several viewers have posted positive reviews and reaction videos, fan made translations in other languages, and Newgrounds gave the episode a spot on its front page.

Differences from the Original Series

 * In the original 2006 series, this episode was divided into two separate episodes: Bowser's Return and Fierce Battle Between Fierce Rivals. According to Mark, these two episodes were initially supposed to be one full episode.
 * Toadsworth makes his debut in this episode, alongside Rawk Hawk, who never appeared in the original series.
 * In the original series, Mario and Luigi faced off against Wario and Waluigi in a kart race as opposed to a tournament.
 * Bowser's dialogue gives more exposition as to why he's enraged with Mario, as well as showing a training montage.
 * Luigi comes to defend Mario after he's been defeated instead of cowering in the sidelines.
 * Additionally, in the original series, Luigi was the one to give Mario the feather to power up into Cape Mario. Now Mario appears to have already had the feather.