When it comes to Mario lore, I feel like people have said “Mario is like Mickey Mouse” so much that it doesn’t register and allot of people can’t see it anyway so I got a better one…
Sometimes it branches out into its own continuity.
But that doesn’t mean the entire franchise is continuous.
Sometimes it likes to be meta or reference its own history for fun.
That doesn’t automatically create a timeline, cuz then they wouldn’t be allowed to make references, which would just be boring.
Sometimes our main character has extra careers.
Sometimes there’s multiple of them. Sometimes they are one person.
Sometimes it changes the rules of its universe.
There’s no right or wrong version of their story. You can do what you want with their world because the point of these characters is to PLAY with them.
(Actually I think the real reason people cant see Mario as an episodic franchise is because for the most part it’s setting stays the same) like being in a brand new location every time makes it easier to think “oh this is its own thing”)