Let's also remember one important piece of information ...
In the earlier days, the definition of a Mario game had not been fully formed. They could fearlessly experiment.
These days, especially with the nature of "fans" on the internet, changes have to be made in drips and drabs. If there were ANY sweeping changes made to the franchise? *rage photo*
From my experience, that's only been the reaction when the changes have been blatantly
bad. Even Other M, a game that is fairly widely derided now for the things that it did, did not receive such a reaction until people had played the game and saw that the new elements were
badly implemented. But as I've constantly said, I'm glad they
tried to change things up, and I'd be quite open to them making another,
better attempt in the future. I'd rather companies tried new ideas with their franchises and
failed than keep a series stagnant because they fear the risks.
Not changing things because you're petrified that people will revolt at the slightest provocation is why we have still regurgitated **** like the Dynasty Warriors games, which (apparently) have not substantially changed in over a decade. To me, throwing new ideas into spin-off series instead of revamping the core experience is cowardly and shows a distinct lack of faith in your game designers.