It's a big step up from Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman. Sure, you can't make minifigures exlope like you could in those titles, but it's better in every other way. I've yet to encounter any Nintendo references, but there's no shortage of cultural allusions. The voice acting is pretty good as well.
EDIT: Is there a way to revert one's characters back to the default appearance after customizing them? I messed around with Chase's appearance a little, but when I went to change him back, his face wasn't an option. Now he's completely silent and expresisonless because the game thinks he's a custom character.
EDIT 2: Turns out Chase can be reselcted from a disguise booth.
EDIT 2.1: I love the brawl music.