Its a good foot for their Garage program to start off. I don't think you could ask for a better start to the program (though STEAM is part of that program too... let's just forget about it, like the rest of the world!), sort of like how NLG was a great starting point of their re-entry into finding Western devs (poor NLG and Fed Forces :/).
I think this is a point from which we'll see more of these types of experimental pet-projects of up and coming talent without "and Mario". It really does give you peak into the way Nintendo has, for the better part of the last decade, regressed in its ability trust itself without slapping on "and Mario". Recently we've seen some older IP surge to prominence (AC, FE) and now new ones are starting to push where it counts: attracting new audiences and moving hardware. The "and Mario" approach was/is as doomed as the "and Final Fantasy" approach. Mario has his audience, but you can't depend on only it.
Of course, you could use "and Mario" in a new creative way to give it new life: Super Mario Maker, which works to attract that Minecraft/Terraria demographic.