They switch up on every IP except Mario.
Journalists actually bend the rules for Mario...Mario 64 had a worse camera than SA1&2 but you never hear about it.
I feel like Megaman deserves the criticism.
Capcom ruined Battle Network for no reason only to roll out StarForce.
killed the MMZero franchise, only to give us ZX (which has great gameplay but ZX1 & 2 are just MMZ5 & 6 truthfully).
Stopped making Legends game completely etc etc
I'd say zelda and mario get that lifelong pass from both fans and journalists.
While BotW is dope...had to when Nintendo tried to pass off that Open-Air bullshyt and I think a few stans and jouranlists ran with it...call it what it fukking is...it's an open world/gta like game.