The problem with Yoshi is really just Artoon/Arzest. You can thank former Sega vets for the worst modern Nintendo platformers.
NSMB series overstayed it's welcome but the Wii and Wii U entries are still quite good. Kirby is consistently solid and underappreciated. Retro's DKC is solid gold, Mario Maker a slavish tribute and Good Feel's games are great. I don't really get the complaints with Nintendo platformers, they still dominate the genre. They always have really.
I have enjoyed almost all of those games. I'm a huge platformer fan.
At the same time, however, I do sort of understand where the DF dude is coming from when saying they left him feeling a bit cold. Sonic Mania has an intangible quality that those other games seem to lack. (Bear in mind I haven't played Retro's DK games, but I have played most recent Mario and Kirby titles).
The only other 2D platformer that leaves me with a similar feeling that Sonic Mania does is Shovel Knight. The stages are just so inventive... and I get the same feeling here, but even more so. Every moment in Sonic Mania is exhilarating. And there was a time in the 90s when that was
expected out of big-franchise platformers like Mario and Sonic. They used to be the "big AAA" titles of those years (if you can even use that phrase for 16bit games).
And even though Sonic Mania is a small indie-style release, you can see that there was real effort put into it that most 2D platformers have lacked in recent years.
Again, it's intangible. But there is both soul to this game and set-piece spectacle moments around every turn. And you really can't say the same for any NSMB game. Super Mario Bros 3 had that which is why it was so memorable. But NSMB games are afraid to invent new stuff and they continued to use the SMB3 formula for far too long.
I do also think the music and graphics play a huge part. And everything in Sonic Mania is just so gorgeous.