>>96350895
Yeah, I think you might have put your finger on it.
The whimsical, catoonish aspect, the fact that it's closer to the books... I think I got that too from the games on Gameboy Color where they added tons of silly stuff. It had more of a fantastical, whimsical, childish (but in a good way) aspect, rather than what followed.
It felt different, unlike when they tried to act serious and toned down the charming, colorful nonsensical world of it all.
Well, that and the art, nowadays, it feels good to come back and look at traditional stuff, even if some looks naive by today's standards.