I think this is very cool. For projects like these one should release the project online before talking too much about it though. Nintendo is famously very strict about stuff like this.
Really neat, though Nintendo has a reputation for being very Cease and Desist prone. Wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo makes him take it all down.
I think that using Mario as part of the sponsor read is possibly even worse from a legal/Nintendo perspective: you can't even try to make a good faith transformative use argument there. I also subjectively found it very icky. The project itself is very cool though.