What if you look at game franchises like... sports franchises? Every so often, a franchise moves cities, and if you have a big enough city you can get more than one franchise, and although few ever die, every franchise goes through its ups and downs. Crash is stuck in a sort of limbo right now... we're not going to see much out of him for a while, but that doesn't mean that a lucky lottery pick later, he can't be a serious playoff contender. You're always going to have your Yankees, where a mediocre season is a failure (Mario), and you're going to have your Marlins, where they win it all one year, and go below 500 the next (Spyro), and of course, everything in between. But, like any sports team, what's important is the name, more than who's on the roster, or what city they happen to be in at the time.
