It could be any of us.
Even me. Or you.
Probably strestre
Well we know it's not you because I'm still demanding my Eternal Darkness.
'Course dude. E. Gadd should absolutely get what I'm now referring too as the Pauline Treatment-wherein a side character is included in a mainline game, then gets added to even more side games outside their original side series.
I'd love to see mainline Mario start including more side series content in the mainline games. Bring back old locations reimagined for the modern day, and just generally strengthen the Mario continuity. As I said, we got that with Pauline and New Donk City in Odyssey-I want them to go even further!
Also, I prefer to call it the Donkey Kong Extended Universe (DKEU)
Pauline is definitely another character who should remain a Mario staple, even if the only consistent manner is through Mario Kart.
The D'Karioverse originated when I thought to refer to the wider Donkey Kong universe but realized many people might not realize Mario spun off from it. However, being as I advocate for not deferring to the lowest known information, this is fairly hypocritical of me -- me, benevolent overlord that I am! -- and I might revert to attributing this wider universe to Donkey Kong.
The Donkey Kong Extended Universe is a fine name for that, indeed.
It might be arbitrary but to me there's a pretty big difference between a spinoff in an established franchise with a strong foundation such as Mario and something like what's being proposed with Star Fox. I always got the feeling that people were asking for these "space opera adventures" and "furry Mass Effects" to supplant the main series. It reminds me of the Syndicate FPS and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (before we thankfully got the Firaxis games).
I definitely get that, and many of these propositions do seem to be attempts to supplant the series as we know it. I do think there's no harm in experimenting in that way, but some amount of the series' DNA should be inherited. You refer to Uprising and the dichotomy between your stance that it fits with the Kid Icarus series identity and the beliefs of others that it does not. Clearly this subject is wibbly and wobbly and fairly nebulous, and even those in agreement that new takes should retain elements of the series' DNA will often disagree whether that has been accomplished.
As for Star Fox, Adventures is the perfect example of something I don't want. My feelings on its merits as a game aside, it was so far removed from the previous games even young me was wondering why this was a Star Fox game in the first place. It wasn't until later that I found out that it started as something completely different and I don't think turning it into a Star Fox game was a huge benefit. I obviously get the appeal of using the characters, worlds and iconography of these Nintendo franchises in different ways but I'm not a fan of divorcing them from the gameplay of their progenitors. At that point, why not just make a new IP entirely (like Dinosaur Planet would have been)?
I do think this played a role in that decision:
Nintendo was prototyping a Star Fox action-adventure game before Rare's Star Fox Adventures.
Unfortunately, Adventures didn't quite thread the Star Fox DNA into its own sequencing well enough to avoid causing a split. It's a shame, as I do think there are ways it could have adhered a bit more strongly to that while still following its own action-adventure path.
(Just as an aside, as someone who never had a 3DS to play it but loves what he's seen regarding the game and would savor the opportunity to experience it, what elements did you think Uprising brought over well from previous games to connect it to their legacy? Are there ways you might see to bring these or other elements into future Kid Icarus games which might not fall into the same genre?)
