My nephew aged 10 (and even his 12 year old sister) love playing the SNES mini which surprised me. It's a fair testament to how great the Super Nintendo was/is when it can still entertain kids for hours 25+ years later that were brought up on modern games an technology.Gaming also has a cross over between technology and imagination. Side scrollers like Mario Bros were revolutionary and at the limit of 1980s technology. Mario 64 was the first 3D version in 1996. Over the years the graphics have improved and there are new characters, items etc. but the basic structure of the games hasn't really changed. I played Gran Turismo 5 I think it was in Myer and the graphics were outstanding but after 5 minutes I was over it. Impressive as it was I've played 50 other racing car games before.
It's a constant battle by developers to come up with something new to pique people's interest. Nintendo hit a winner in the 2000s with the Wii gameplay with motion sensors and acceleromoters but that novelty wore off and now everyone has that tech in their stable. Wii was a hit, Wii-U not so much. Their latest point of difference with the Switch is having a console that is both portable and can be connected to a TV.