3D Mario platformers and Zelda regulary shake things up. Can't really change much about kart racing games or a fighting game though. Change Smash too much and it isn't Smash anymore. Fans would complain (just look at the Melee fanboys).

Splatoon shakes things up and will hopefully be awesome. I agree that I want to see more projects like this from Nintendo in the future. I still want my "safe" games like Mario Kart though.

I wouldn't mind if Nintendo stopped making those bland 2D Mario platformers though.

Stagnant relative to what, it's predecessor? DKCR and DKCTF are clearly not the exact same game, there are changes and differences, not so much in the core gameplay, but to level designs, visuals, mechanics, etc.

Rest of your post is irrelevant filler as I never said I expected anything, just pointing out a flaw in logic.

Nope as indicated by the examples given. If they want to "shake things up", do it in a new franchise or IP, please don't taint existing ones with innovation for the sake of innovation nonsense.

2D platrformers have been around for decades. Quite a while longer than the CoD franchise. And gameplay haven't evolved much since the SNES days. The last few games in the CoD franchises managed to introduce novel ideas even for its ganre. I don,t like CoD games much. Mind you. But that's the concensus among reviewers, from what I have read. 

And DKC isn't 2.5D. The graphics are 3D, but the movements are all in a 2D plane, even when the camera moves around.

At the end of the day, why do you guys care that much about those scores? Why do you care so much about how Nintendo games don't score as high as other games you have never played, cared about, or just dislike? What if, as console sales indicate, people in general just don't really like Nintendo games as much as other games on non-nintendo consoles? It's not like those Nintendo games score poorly to begin with. But it seems like some of you guys can never accept when people don't see the games you love to death in the same way you see them.  Even worse, some of you complain about a Nintendo game you have never played scoring lower than an other game you have never played from an other console... ¬_¬

Why then bother making new games at all? Just remake Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, etc... with a new coating of polish and call it a day. Or make one game of each franchise and then sell DLCs until the next gen... -__-

I'm gonna nitpick here; there are parts of Tropical Freeze where movements are 3D, like hopping between mine cart tracks in High Tide Ride, or some of the barrel blasting in Cannon Canyon.

Point taken. But at its core, it's not a 2.5D platformer. :P

That's actually what they're doing with Mario Kart and Smash lol. The obvious answer is to make money, and people obviously aren't gonna buy the same game forever. And no, Mario Kart 8, 3D World, etc. are not the same as previous installments, I would think you'd know better than to imply such a thing.

Cutest franchise ever. Period.  :P

That's what 2.5D means.

I don't care so much about the scores, but about the reasons given to lower the scores. I'm one of those guys that actually reads reviews instead of just looking at the score. And yes, the GS review of DKC: TF pisses me off because it's terribly written and has blatant lies in it. I wish it didn't bother me, but it does sadly.

As for CoD, I have played the recent games. Not much mind you, but enough to know they're not that different from each other in most cases.

I do plan on buying a PS4 game mind you, it's not like I only like Nintendo games. I'm currently interested in TW3, Arkham Knight and MGS5.