/vr/ - Retro Games

While rewatching Dragonball (note, the original, not "Z") I noticed this scene in episode 2. It instantly made me think of the artwork of Mario 2 and enemies like Shy Guys. The Dragonball manga and Arale manga have similar artwork, that could pass for a setting in Super Mario 2 (USA). I've noticed the look before but the similarities didn't really register before.

Dragonball came out in 1986. Doki Doki Panic came out in 1987, while Super Mario 2 (USA version) came out in 1988.

Was DDP/SMB2USA inspired by the artwork of Dragonball? Was it just a "style" or "school" of animation that looked similar? Did some of the same people work on the two? Did Nintendo just straight rip a popular style of art?

I'm just curious if anyone has done any research in this before. It would make sense for a group of animators to be trained in the "Dragonball style" and naturally they would get other gigs eventually. This would result in the Dragonball style cross pollinating in other forms of media.

Well, what do you think?