This is something I'm really interested in. The NES and other machines from back then are beautiful to me because of what they can do with such weak specs. It seems to me that we haven't really advanced at all since then. We have hi res graphics and realistic sound, but it's only because we have big bloated computers that take up the slack for us. If we really pushed the hardware the same way the NES was pushed, we would be far more advanced
To me, it's all about the work that was put into something. You can feel when something is high quality, just like you can tell the difference between a shoddy old trinket and a beautiful antique, even though the methods used back then were primitive. An old CGA game that was lovingly crafted is much nicer to look at than hi res graphics that were slopped together uncreatively. I mean I have real life to look at if I want nice graphics
Now that I think about it, I wonder if games are starting to fall victim to mass production, just like everything in our world is turning to cheap plastic... hmm... and we pay the same amount for cheaper and cheaper products, and then inflation makes us turn toward yet cheaper products, but then even those get too expensive... so gradually, our quality of life falls further and further...
Or maybe I'm alone in these views