What makes Nintendo games so good?

Recently, I've been thinking about Nintendo's recent success with it's games (not necessarily it's hardware) and I think all of their great games follow a very similar formula that make the games successful:  Simple and "cute" enough to be picked up by kids but deep and complex enough to be enjoyed by adults.  They work in a very similar way to Pixar movies, in my mind. At the surface you have a "cute" idea with simple characters and basic storylines or gameplay, but dig deep enough and there is real meat in both.

Three games I have been playing recently all fit into this category.  First, Pokemon Diamond.  Yes, I know any Pokemon game is a "kiddy" game, but at it's heart is a summoning based RPG.  The battles are simple with only a few basic actions, but there is some deep strategy to get the most out of your Pokemon.  Furthermore, you are always rewarded for leveling up your characters, so you can't just use one that you like.  I honestly believe that if you kept the same mechanics but added SquareEnix style summoned monsters instead of the Pokemon, you'd have a game that older gamers would really appreciate and like.  Nintendo, knowing that their main market is the under 13 group, keep the characters simple and lovable.

Second, Super Smash Brothers Brawl.  So much has been written on this game, and it's no different than Melee.  At first glance, it's a basic fighter with relatively simple controls (especially when compared to games like Virtua Fighter or DOA).  But play it long enough and each match becomes an extremely fast paced chess match between the four fighters.  I'm still learning all the strategies and how to get the most out of each character.  But that type of depth is wonderful and is a reason all the games in the Smash Brothers line have such staying power.

Finally, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is the last game I'll discuss.  Although the newest incarnation of this classic Nintendo series loses the cartoony characters, making it a much more "serious" game, the fact is that it still looks simple, but like the other two examples, it has very deep gameplay that really steps up the challenge in the later parts of the campaign. Out of all the games, this one probably isn't nearly as accessible as the previous two, but it also could be overlooked by hardcore games for looking to simple and cartoony.  I have found great challenge out of this game, and have enjoyed every moment of it so far.  But again, at it's core it's extremely simple.

Nintendo's ability to have deceptively simple but deep games make them popular for both kids and older gamers and is a reason they have been so successful throughout their history. I'm definitely excited to see what future games coming down the pike for the DS and Wii fit into this formula.