The argument that Super NES was aimed at families rather than teens/kids is interesting. I think you may be right, but it's interesting in particular because the big turnaround for Super NES in North America came after the company kind of kicked Mario to the side in favour of Donkey Kong, added Killer Instinct to the lineup, and started marketing with the Play It Loud ads. The Play it Loud campaign actually received an award for its success.
In the end, Nintendo abandoned the family friendly image and overtook Sega by beating it at its own game...why? I think perhaps the reason is that Super NES was already getting away from the simplistic controls that made NES so approachable. Anecdotally speaking, my dad gave up on videogames because Super NES had too many buttons, and games like Super Mario World were getting too complex.
I'd also argue that that generation was unique in that Nintendo was largely seen as a toy for kids. There were definitely adults playing, but kids were the driving force. I think Sega made a clever move by marketing Genesis towards an aging Nintendo fanbase that was "outgrowing" Mario.
Today, Wii is arguably marketed towards those same kids - we're older and many of us have families and we don't necessarilly have the time for 80 hour RPGs anymore. If we're going to play video games, it may be with the whole family, and Wii is well-designed for that.
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