>>535378202
If you ask me, the existence of a mandate within Nintendo IPs, specially Mario, sounds reasonable; though I doubt the real thing is the same as most people think it is.
If you know anything about Graphic Design, you know there's this thing call "Brand Guidelines", which is basically a guidebook on how a brand's image should and should not be handled. I wager there is one thing like that for the Nintendo IPs, handed by anyone on the higher positions (the directors, maybe?) that dev teams use to work within greenlit parameters. You know, like a FaQ, something for teams to consult what can and cannot be done for the sake productivity.
...either that, or it all gets handled by a hierarchy-based approval system and the reason why certain elements are either taken or discarded is because there are special circumstances surrounding them.

Not a "mandatefag", btw, I'm just invoking my common sense as a designer myself; certain rules must be stated for a brand to keep it's image where it should be and the lesser a team wanders around technicalities, the better.