I mean Banjo-Kazooie is good and all but it was dormant for over a decade following Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts which (in the nicest way I can put it) wasn't exactly what the fans wanted out of the series. Banjo & Kazooie really only got in Smash because they were heavily requested in the ballot among other things. I see their inclusion more like the inclusion of Mr. Game & Watch or Duck Hunt, a dead character from a dead franchise that was made playable because they had a big legacy.
King K. Rool also went missing for over a decade, I'd argue, and he also got in not because he's relevant at the time, but also from fan demand. But King K. Rool is from an IP whose owner has a good track record (unlike Banjo's owner), so he's more likely to be shown in a game again. I think it'll be strange to see him in a Mario spinoff though. The days of seeing Kritters as goalies and Tiny Kong batting against Baby Donkey Kong, I think they're past now.
Banjo's still pretty unique though. If he didn't have early connections with Nintendo, he'd fail to stand out among the other third party characters (aside maybe Joker who's too recent to have the same clout as Hero or Simon?) or at least he'd be difficult to justify over Crash or Rayman.
personally i think the whole point of a review is to convey the reviewer's opinion on the game in question, there's no need to go into "objectivity" except to explain the premise/gameplay I suppose, but as soon as you use "good" or "bad" descriptors you start becoming subjective.
Seadrings are another species that should come back. And apologies for bringing this back to Paper Jam, but yet again I'm reminded how there was plenty of material to work with from both sides of the coin, but even if AlphaDream stuck to their side it would've been better than the whitewashed, safe & sterile game. Like, even the REMAKES found places to include characters that had been introduced since their original release, but PJ somehow couldn't.
Somehow I feel like writing an original plot makes it easier to write characters into it than a plot that had already been finalized? Further supports my headcanon that PJ is not the same world the other M&L games are, it's more or less the main series Mushroom Kingdom. Because even the M&L Mushroom Kingdom has those AlphaDream characters, such as Kylie & Broque, and of course Elite Trio, who are staples of M&L Bowser's army at this point (alongside the four Captains now, but they weren't created when PJ came out). Feels weird that everything established in this continuity just vanished for one game and we're expected to be totally understanding of it. Especially since it turned out to be the final 'original' game in the series, before AlphaDream went under and their characters may just be in total purgatory now
A review's more or less a thesis. A synthesis of facts and then applying your opinion to them. It's what makes media interesting I think. Opinion isn't a bad thing, and everyone has one. Just that, again, you need to know what words mean and try to apply appropriate lenses and context to things you're arguing.
Anyhow I know you want species to come back while new species are made, but what kind of vessel do we have right now? AlphaDream's long gone, who knows if Mario & Luigi is still around, who knows what the next developer will be. A studio closing doesn't mean the end of a series; Hudson Soft, the developer of Mario Parties up until DS, went under but we got new leadership under ND Cube and we then got Mario Party games afterward. Luigi's Mansion just introduced a bunch of new characters though, and every new Mario platformer we've gotten have technically gave us new characters and new locations. Just that they're usually restricted to the games they're introduced in. Like Cluckboom.
I don't know who came up with the idea of Paper Mario joining Mario & Luigi especially if you're not going to follow-through with it as fans expect. AlphaDream probably found the idea of two Bowsers, two Marios, two Peachs, two Magikoopas, a whopping two kinds of Toads, and so on, more interesting and feasible than a clash of worlds. I can't really say for sure if AlphaDream was just strapped for cash; they still somehow made sprites for all the characters that didn't have sprites before such as Broozer and Biddy.
I'm not sure what you mean by "original" plot. Even if AlphaDream can somehow conjure two worlds clashing better, you already know what to expect. Two sides, first bickering, joining to beat a big side. Or good sides joining to beat the bad sides, with wacky differences causing mayhem at first. What else can you really do?
You call it mainstream Mushroom Kingdom + Paper Mario, but I think you can say it's more of mainstream Mushroom Kingdom + Paper Mario Sticker Star but Bowser and Luigi talk. Oh, and there's Starlow, that little crap.
