You can't talk about Pokemon without someone claiming that it's so totally a kid's game. These people are stupid and insecure; Pokemon has great appeal to people of all ages and besides…these people say it with such disdain or aversion, as if there's something wrong with a game that kids can enjoy. What are you, 12, that you're worried someone might think you're playing something 'kiddie?'
Nonetheless the image persists and has plagued Nintendo. In an article over at Joystiq, Game Freak spoke to this common concern and revealed that upcoming Pokemon games want to eschew that image a bit.
"When we set out, we had many who thought [Pokemon] was too much of a kid's game. We wanted to expand our audience, and in doing that, we decided to enrich the story"
The way they're doing that expansion is by continuing where the first Black and White left off. This gives Pokemon Black and White 2 a sense of progression, where choices and happenings mattered. Vaguely 'mature,' right? They continue to explain:
"After Black and White wrapped, we realized that we had a deeper story than usual. The conclusion, for example, was very open-ended. I thought that it was enough for the story to end where it did, but the rest of the team wanted to expand on what happened next."
It'll be interesting to see them flesh out what was already the start of a 'deep' story–for Pokemon, anyway. Your enemy wanting to liberate Pokemon so we stop using them like slaves? A compelling, sophisticated premise! The execution left something to be desired, but still.
We'll be able to see how well Pokemon shakes off its 'kiddie image' later this fall.