This is true. The story goes that when developing Mario, the first thing they did was make sure it felt good just to run and jump around. That does not seem to be the case here, as it really does not feel good to control; it feels like a low-effort ripoff.
That’s clear, and they are similar, but it’s like in an uncanny valley of Mario physics. Like, Mario has a lot more momentum, and Bernie stops much more quickly, for instance.
