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It's always been for kids. The focus was on pre-pubescent boys in Gen 1-2 because they were the perceived primary audience, though it was hardly exclusively male. What you're remembering as an edge was the result of technical limitations that left much of the experience up to the users' imagination, and the blanks you filled in were naturally what you wanted to see.
But you don't want a real answer, do you? This is lazy flame bait disguised as masculine nostalgia.
