Video Game Characters that portray Anthropomorphism

Throughout video games, there are lots of main characters that portray anthropomorphism. Why is this? I feel that the game would be able to convey the ability of the animal that makes it unique(such as a monkey's ability to climb and hang on trees - as seen with Donkey Kong) but still allow us to relate to the human characteristics that they show, such as talking and expressing emotions easily. It adds a sense of independence to the game making it unique from other ones. For example, in the Super Mario Brothers video games, there's a talking dinosaur that can jump, run, and breathe fire named Yoshi. If a human being breathed fire, it would lead us to go away from that video game because we prefer to see as much human characteristics being exposed as possible(of course if it was a mutant superpower or there was a logical explanation - mutation is a part of a human trait and explanations that are logical provide reason, so we wouldn't go away from those games).