May I refer you to jan Misali's videos on "what is a Super Mario game?" Kinda funny on what people think is mainline can be a lot more subjective than you'd think. (there's two videos, because he did another one three years later to cover the newer games)

Could always be both? Use one colour for highlights or something?

Kinda funny that the most unbelievable bit here is the Bluetooth cross-country connection

Just messing around to see what worked and what didn't, I suppose? Trying to look around for secrets was neat too.

A quick image search on each one more or less confirmed it, yeah.

The lower right image is of a shark biting an undersea Internet cable, I believe?

In Japan, 11/11 is Pocky Day.

I caught the meaning just fine, but I can see how someone unfamiliar with them and/or some other reason I didn't think of might read it as something else.