I'll never figure out what possesed Nintendo to get rid of their creativity and tone down what could have been a rather interesting continuity in the series to a rather scripted and "samish" feeling to the series. Also, the addition of frustraiting card or sticker gameplay mechanics made a mundane task tedious and boring. It's as if they think that only the ideas seen in the classic mario realm will work, and creating anything outside of it isn't worth risking because it will seem too unorthodox, and drive people away, when in all actuallity, THAT is what we were asking for. It's the reason why I think Waluigi (and Wario to a lesser extent) havn't really had much relavance in the Mario games as of late. They don't belive the characters will do well for the games sales, because people won't find them as familiar or memorable as their mainstream characters, and as a result, they don't give themselves room for improvemnt, or extend the mario universe beyond what it already contains.

Pretty much. I mean, look at even their older non-RPG games:

Super Mario Land introduced a new land, enemies, princess and antagonist

Super Mario Land 2 introduced Wario who ended being a fan fave

WarioWare reimagined Wario completely and was a success

DKC1-3 made DK a protagonist and expanded the DK universe and was a smash hit

KI: Uprising completely changed the world of Kid Icarus

It sucks that Miyamoto is playing it WAY to safe and strict these days, though apparently it's something he has been doing in the past as well (see Dinosaur Planet change and his criticism on DKC) so it just seems that his voice is just getting louder and more influence.