>>24640195... Fuck it, I'll take the bait.
If you seriously believe that every single fucking kid who played Pokemon when it came out knew what they were doing, or that all of them should have been able to do it, you're expecting a fucking lot. Is it impossible to beat the games? No.
But you could make the same argument of "Oh why the fuck couldn't these casuals beat it as kids?" for any game.
And hell, even that idea is fucking stupid, because guess what? The reason developers cater to a more casual crowd is because people are starting to become not used to the challenge that old games offered, a challenge which only existed out of marketing concern and necessity for the period, and rarely an actual desire to make a challenging experience.
Look at Castlevania or Metroid for examples of old, difficult games, and you'll notice a theme: Both are hard games (At least to kids), with lots of potential backtracking. Some games like BattleToads were even unfair. This was so people would play them longer, and feel like they got their money's worth when they beat the game.
The reason behind this was that competition wasn't very steep; developers could get away with being one of a few accessible people and still selling an enjoyable albeit tough experience. Nowadays, though?
Fucking everyone has a smart phone, PC, or handheld which can play cheap or free games that offer the same entertainment value as more expensive ones. Yeah, okay, Fruit Ninja isn't fucking Pokemon. But you don't need an expensive, exclusive system to play Fruit Ninja.
That's what it comes down to: Nintendo didn't make the games easier because of idiots being unable to beat the games back then. They made the games easier because otherwise, people unaccustomed to the challenge due to the amount of developers offering NON-frustrating, or easily-accessible, experiences would be turned off and driven away.
If you think Nintendo would turn away from profit, you've got another thing coming.
