Yes. Overused. This is one example of dozens from the Mario franchise that use this trope. Further, Nintento has pushd mario harder than most other franchises.

I really don't understand how you take issue because this game was the first, it seems disingenuous. It's like me saying "this is the first example of a digital computer. Digital computers changed, even revolutionized the world", and you saying "that was the first computer, it added some stuff it didn't revoultionize anything". Pure, unadulterated, disingenuous crap.