>>531449943
There are arcade references, Pauline says Mario helped her back then, you get the arcade items for her and the citizens says the festival, which has 2D Mario playing through a version of the arcade, is the history of how the city was founded.

>>714480056
>New York City
Movie and cartoons aren't canon,
Mario never was from Brooklyn, he was born in the Mushroom Kingdom and worked in the Metro Kingdom where he saved Pauline before she became the mayor of New Donk City. If the city already existed or was a Metro Kingdom expansion funded is still up in the air.