Hmmm, I dont know about that, I'm a 90's kid and I can tell you there were a lot of cartoons from that time that were trying to break the mold be more than just a silly kids show. Batman TAS of course, but X-Men and Spiderman did not talk down to kids either and really aimed to be dramatic and weighty (even though Spiderman really got hampered by Avi Arad and Fox's censorship). But then you had other cartoons like Hey Arnold!, Ren and Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Gargoyles etc that were really trying to aim higher than their intended audience. The beauty of all those cartoons is they worked on a base level as kids shows but any adults watching them could catch and appreciate all of the adult oriented material and jokes.