>>26499310>While still being a kids gameHave a Pokemon follow you around and NPCs sometimes refer to them by name when you talk to them
Minigames that make you give a personality in your mind to your mon, something like contests but not as restrictive with movesets so you can just have your favorite pokemon prove it's the cutest/bravest/smartest
Pokemon get sick, they get back to health by themselves in an hour or two but you have to make do without them til then
>Making it a game for teensAll said before + Pokemon die permanently if they faint in wild encounters. Ramp up the difficulty and have this make traveling from town to town for the first time a challenge, making the player choose between using scarce and expensive healing items (make this the most viable choice), taking a long trip back to the last town, or risking his Pokemon dying, like in a dungeon crawling game. I think anyone would end up caring about their mons this way, at least those he clears the game with.
