In the Zero Punctuation review, Yahtzee said "Bowser came riding in on a Dark Souls boss". He also pointed out how weird it was to have a world with realistic human beings (Ala 2006 Sonic), which just raises the question that if Mario isn't a human, then what is he? He finished off talking about how Mario is just a "brand" that can be slapped next to any other concept more than anything consistent or recognizable in its own right, so sure, throw some Rabbids in next to him and let's play X-Com, because that totally doesn't sound like something that came out of a Mad Libs game pitch!