Why was the 2D aesthetic so incredibly charming? Every single gen until 5 had its own unique visual appeal but all of the sudden it was completely gone when 3D came along. Now you can try and excuse gen 6 for being the first attempt but if you look at gen 7 which certainly has "better" graphics, it really didn't bring back any of the original magic.

Now you might say that it's just the lack of detail that lets your imagination go wild but if you look at something like zelda which also went from top down 2D to 3D, it did just fine in capturing the soul of the franchise with completely different graphics and its own spirit.