We all know that Pauline is in Mario Odyssey. What do you think the relation will be between Pauline, New "Donk" City, and Donkey Kong?

Also, Nintendo has been doing a lot of great moves lately that feel like a return to their beginnings, such as creating fresh games regardless of their origin (new IPs), bringing back local multiplayer, opening up possibilities within their franchises, making moody environments and thematic stories, pulling in the reigns on their franchises to create quality, unexpected, and epic experiences, etc. What has been your favorite strategic or creative choice so far and what do you see them doing in the future?

I wouldn't say "going back to their roots" per se, maybe more like "going back to the mid-late 1990s".

With Switch I think they are letting go of the Wii/Wii U era and going back a little bit more to the N64/GameCube era with things like more big, open-world type titles. Super Mario Odyessy is going back to the open world style of Super Mario Sunshine (hopefully it's a better game though).

Metroid Prime 4 is another nod to that audience. I'd say Nintendo's philosophy with Switch is to take their top IP and make them big/epic/pleasing to want the fans want, whereas with Wii/Wii U it was to try to simplify said franchises to try and cash in on casuals.

Mario is the clearest example of that ... Mario 3D World was trying to make 3D Mario easier to play and bridge to the 2D series, Mario Odyessy breaks completely from that and goes back to the Mario 64/Sunshine roots of 3D Mario. 

Now that Nintendo is not interested primarily in expanding the gaming population (due to smartphones allowing everyone to play), they have shifted over to making sure their popular IP are giving Nintendo fans the scope of experience they want.

Are you new to video games? The woman you rescue in Donkey Kong the 1981 arcade game.

In termsbof originality, there games are like they were decades ago. They feel much fresher now.

If they return to their root they will be making powerful console again and get 3rd party support. I know Nintendo is in a good position now, but that's not even close to their heyday.

As for Pauline, she's just an easter egg maybe, since she doesn't seems to recognize Mario, at least during e3 gameplay.

On the NES, there was nothing to do but create new IPs and creative experiences and when a game was given a sequel it was given near royalty treatment with every care taken to make sure it was a memorable experience. Much of that has gotten muddy over the last few generations.

Sure we have had stories that pretend to have feeling or theme and sometimes they actually pull it off, but most games create a shallow, detached experience that could simply have been made into a routine puzzle game or been any other number of games like it in the same genre. Many games in recent years, Nintendo's included, have felt like flat, rehashed experiences that borderline waste of time. The impressive atmosphere and artistic direction of BOTW and the zany treatment of Mario Odyssey are showing a care not seen in many game experiences since the Wii/PS2/GCN and before.

Local multiplayer hasn't left entirely, but the NES and SNES with their two controller setup was primed for two player game sessions. The industry has moved far from that now with online being the primary source for multiplayer. The Switch, however is the first true local multiplayer handheld with the flexibility of the joycon and the detachable screen. It is actually making local multiplayer cool and a focus again. Even unconventional freedoms such as splitting the control of Zelda BOTW by handing a friend a joycon is fun.

Wait til you discover Mrs Pac-Man.

Yeah, like Segata said, the original Donkey Kong game. The last games I think she was in however, was Mario vs. Donkey Kong series:

Excellent point. I have considered Nintendo using the mobile games to reach out to non traditional gamers and to increase brand awareness, but hadn't considered the freeing effect it might have on Nintendo's focus. I definitely think this is another key element in their mobile strategy.

I like how they are revisiting past franchises and modernizing their IPs without throwing Retro VC games at you all the time

I do like a lot of their old games, but playing new ones is better