>>44532447None of those franchises (and I really do mean NONE) of them were made with kids as sole/primary audience like Pokémon was. Sakurai was too much of a gamer to make a pure kid's game (Kirby's Dream World kicked my ass as a nipper for example) and Miyamoto invented Mario as a reusable MC, depending on the style of game he was making (which were arcade-based efforts, starting off with Donkey Kong as everyone should know at this stage).
Pokémon was created as Tajiri wanted to share with kids a kind of experience he'd had as a child. Not because he was looking to make the next Pac-Man, not because he wanted to make a game with crossover potential to boost sales. Because he'd had an idea and decided he wanted to make a kid's game to portray that idea.
24 years on the only franchise still holding true to its initial vision's Pokémon, because it still sees itself as a coming of age story for children and not what the adults of the world want it to be, because they can't let go of their childhood and can't accept they grew up..
