As for variety, have you played Super Mario Crossover? Which is just, SMB, but where you can play as Link/Samus/Megaman/etc..
I think I played an early build a couple years ago, and I beat World 1-1 with Simon Belmont, but I didn't realize they were still working on it. I just loaded it up and played it a bit when I read your comment, and yeah, that solves pretty much all my problems with variety.
Also, Shadow from FFVI with FFVI music and Ninja Gaiden mechanics in Super Mario Brothers put a huge grin on my face.
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I think I played an early build a couple years ago, and I beat World 1-1 with Simon Belmont, but I didn't realize they were still working on it. I just loaded it up and played it a bit when I read your comment, and yeah, that solves pretty much all my problems with variety.
Also, Shadow from FFVI with FFVI music and Ninja Gaiden mechanics in Super Mario Brothers put a huge grin on my face.
Oh, and side-thing, Mario Joke ^^
Hehe. That joke was referenced in Super Mario Bros 2 (book, not game), which I just read recently.