I know for a fact Peach did not hover in Super Paper Mario, she merely slow-falled with her parasol (and since NSMBWii has the propeller suit for aerial stunts, she doesn't need any of her own). Not sure about Super Princess Peach.
She did Float in that game (when she was all Joyful).
Somebody ALWAYS bitches about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. You cannot honestly tell me that the people who care whether or not Peach hovers are more than negligible. If every other character is a Mario clone then the fact that she would be could hardly be seen as unusual.
You'd be surprised, is all I'll say.
There are somethings that may come up, where people may be more than willing to look the other way. Zero's Saber Holster in TvC being "wrong" is an example of this. It doesn't really impact all but the most anal of people. Luigi going back to being a clone of Mario is what I would think is yet another example of this.
But then there are the things that could only be described as the stuff that describes anal-retentive to the max. And yet, it can't be ignored, because those who care about such things can actually be QUITE numerous, or at least, proportionate enough so that it can stand to cause significant problems. Case in point, SNK's own KOFXI, and ESPECIALLY KOFXII. For whatever reason, SNK thought that they could some how skate by, and neglect certain things. To say the least, everybody's favorite "bouncy" ninja, Mai Shiranui. Wasn't in the arcade version of XI, and was a complete NO-SHOW in XII, to a lot of people's surprise.
And well, the writing has been on the wall, again, especially when it comes to KOFXII. You can only play with people's expectations but so much, before they'll bite back. And with Nintendo's demographic being as wide, "passionate" and yet, also down-right stubborn (if not outright "spoiled") when it comes to certain things? I think that Nintendo, in the end, probably made the better decision. Better to have no Peach, than to have a Peach that likely would have pissed off a great deal of people in that respect, one way or the other. Especially when it's more or less an established part of her character to have a float/hover mechanic of SOME degree, in every platforming-type game she's appeared in.
http://www.nesmaps.com/images/Titles/SuperMarioBrothers2jTitle.png
"Classic style" has nothing to do with it.
In your example, the one game is one player (much like its "American" counterpart) and was also conducive to having the differing characters play differently. The other games (the original versions of SMB1, 3 and World), were able to support 2 player, and had Mario and Luigi play exactly the same.
That, was what I was intending, when I was referring to the classic style. NSMBWii is an evolution of that concept of how the two players played together, with basically the same character. The only real difference is that 2-4 are playing at the same time.
I'm just saying, they were negligent on a few points.
I'm not contesting that much either. But to me, it's either a thing of "it is what it is" one hand, and at least doing a good deal to avoid some unnecessary flak on another.
Because again, I say that one should not underestimate the fans, and what could happen when their ire is irked too much for its own good...