Odyssey doesn't really feel like an evolution of "Mario" tbh.

The ways it and most mario games are creative are completely unrelated to the mario brand, mario games are still very stagnant and corporate feeling.. mario wonder takes place in a "new" kingdom but it still fully embraces and accepts most parts of the wii u era mario brand.. the new npc race in this "new and exciting" kingdom is literally just slightly different toads in the same style houses.

The resistance to creating new and interesting characters in mario games is so baffling. The last time Nintendo made a new and interesting character in galaxy they were so popular they were immediately added to every single spin off series, multiple 3d mario games, and also was instantly added to smash bros. Dunno why they wouldn't want to ever have that happen again