“There was certainly a period of time for Nintendo, and even gaming in general, to have a more adult/cool factor. […] Having a game that was labeled ‘kiddie’ was really a curse. Nintendo still needed to focus on its kid audience, but there was a shift in trying to make its characters more broadly appealing to a wider audience. One example is the marketing for the Nintendo DS’ Kirby Super Star Ultra [in 2008]: The marketing focused on making Kirby a more appealing character, especially for boys, so the marketing tagline was ‘Super Tuff Pink Puff.’
“There was a conscious effort from the marketing side to make Kirby seem tougher and to focus more on the game’s combat so Kirby [wasn’t] seen as something just for young kids, it certainly was a bit of a departure from smiling happy cute Kirby, but it also didn’t seem totally out of place since Kirby games are very action-based!”