Nintendo kiddiness = profits?
Simple if it's too cutesy, its kiddy. :D
Witness the outrage at Celda's first unveiling to US audiences.
People (older generations in thier 20s upwards) were scared of playing as a 4 yr old kid. They were more drawn to the grown up Link of the more darker n64 games to pay attention to the creative decision to make the game like a cartoon coming to life.
Anything with too much fantasy, (as opposed to realism) furry animals (as opposed to humans people), or bright colours (n64 Zeldas had moody shadows = not bright) automatically qualifies as cutesy to most people.
Think about this: games with furry animals and bright colours seem to always stand out the most: Pikmin, Pokemon, StarFox, Donkey Kong, I would even say sonic, but I reckon he has attitude which makes him more appealing to a slightly older crowd than mario. Nintendo = disney.
Occasionally a neutral game like F-Zero, pilotwings, or metroid is made but imo people don't recognise those because of the lack of 'mascot' to represent the company. Recognisable characters is how nintendo grab instant attention with kids. Seeing as parents buy the kids the games/toys, it is important to make the game instantly recognisable. Parents don't like buying kids violent video games, anything with sexual content or drugs and alcohal so I would say nintendo are purposely defining themselves as kiddy (whether fans want to admit this or not) through the way they use mascots in everything they release and thier avoidance of adult content in thier own games.
You could say celda is kiddy because it looks cutesy (by the average joe's definition) while something like Jet Set Radio isn't kiddy (by the average joe's definition) even though it looks 'cartoonish'. Cutesy-looking games as I said may be combinations of furry animals, bright colours etc while neutral ones are F-Zero and wipeout.
"Perception" of what is kiddy, by the target audience is more important than actual truth. If people THINK something is kiddy then it IS kiddy ..to them. (regardless of whether the person who created it thinks so or not.)
The people who buy the game (parents) for thier kid will automatically use thier own perception of what's safe for kids to play, and think, "well nintendo (disney) is usually family friendly so I'll buy this", and there is instant sale right there.
It's obvious why a game like Rare's conker's bad fur day was made, (in protest of the limited nature of the 'mature' content in nintendo releases by the adult gamers) because people knew nintendo had to have a title to counterbalance the others. Parents do not like games like goldeneye because of the guns. I say nintendo's decision with mascots is strategic.
It's like if they were to make a new aliens movie or something. If they made it R-rated and as scary for fans of the original movie, it might alienate (heh) teens from the "franchise", and lessen profit. So they take out stuff to get lower rating and possibly leave the complete thing in for dvd release. why do they do this? Profit. Nintendo would also do this (there are mature games created by third parties) and people see it is obvious that they are more family-friendly-conscious (or *try to be* on the outside, while secretly wanting to please the adult audience on the inside) than other companies out there.
It has nothing to do with gameplay, but the cutesy content of the games and what people percieve as being cute. (the usual disney formula of furry animal, bright colour, happy atmoshpere, light hearted slapstick humour etc)
Most people keep using the tired argument of: "it's not designed just for kids dummy! Can't you see it's a complex game that adults can ALSO enjoy?"
Sorry that isn't good enough for the mainstream who will automatically look at it, and judge it's look and decide it's just too cutesy for them, and they will buy something else that appeals to thier taste. This is not an attack on nintendo in any way because I love thier games, (I'm labelled as a nintendo fanboy on some other forums I go to, with predominately sony and xbox members who can still give an intelligent debate) I'm merely explaining the truth based on my own experience of observing the reasons people make certain purchases over others in shops, and the general buying habits of others I know.
Keep in mind the internet is not necessarily an accurate indicater of what joe average thinks. Most will see this as an attack and kill the messenger out of anger. It's just that 'kiddy' is a label that adult gamers are justified in giving to companies whose majority of releases composes of mostly to them, kiddy themes, and so it will never go away. Nintendo are mostly out to make profits through the buying habits of parents through thier kids because in reality they seem to want to distance themselves and thier console as mainly being toys aimed for children rather than just another game system competing for the adult gamer market. (sony, ms. You won't see handles on thier machines.)
If nintendo applied a more neutral attitude to their systems (like the GBASP) people who are not normally so discriminative based on image amoungst friends will get interested.
This is not BS because people who buy entertainment equipment do not want a bright purple toy with a handle sticking out in thier living rooms, they want something to blend with thier other stuff. This is one factor as to why sony continue to dominate because one thing they've been able to do is they keep themselves pretty neutral in thier image, not making things look too childish or looking like a toy and this affects buying habits and perceptions of the company. (the new sony handheld looks very sleek for eg. Image is very important to growing amount of people)