[bitwize]

If it's a good idea for a Mario game, it's probably a good idea for a game that does not use the Mario IP.

I suddenly realized, when working on my mobile platform game, that adult me was developing the Mario game 12-year-old me always wanted to make. It just didn't have Mario in it or use the mechanics like specific power-ups unique to that series. But the platforming itself and, it turns out, things like how level layouts are stored, were pretty similar to Mario.

Kid me would be stoked for that bit of my future.

[autoexec]

Sometimes it's the character itself that makes the difference though. Especially in cases where you're dealing with satire involving a figure from our shared culture, but also in the case of works where the artist is drawing from the history of the character and fictional universe they exist in. Sometimes the artist can't just swap out the IP with a generic character and still have the effect they were going for.