In your title you do mention “good games” were absent for a period, while you probably mean: “Mario games with the classic style”, that’s where a lot of miscommunication is coming from.
Nintendo pricing (especially further removed from launch) is pretty much space-magic.
I can relate tot odyssey graphics being more ‘hollywood’, but after I was a bit disappointed with sunshine (and have since come around to love it), I immediately fell in love with galaxy. Then galaxy 2 came around, wow. While it’s style is more modern then SM64, it does not feel as out of place as odyssey graphics to me. It felt too easy, but all Mario games feel too easy, I’m just a better platform-player nowadays.