“Imitators” that did it better than the standard-bearers

[Leynos]

Tober said:

Oh this might be controversial, but on the NES, Ducktales was my favorite platformer. Even over the Mario ones.

But how is it imitating Mario? It's mechanics are entirely different, where Gianna Sisters is imitating Mario. Same genre is a not imitation unless it's copying mechanics. Doom and CoD are the same genre but neither are alike.