I do like the acknowledgement that pixel art wasn’t always designed specifically due to the limitations of CRT monitors- I don’t doubt it sometimes was and there are some games that take soecific advantage of the scanlines torender things certain ways, but yeah; it’s worth noting that that effect, too, was sinply an unintended bonus.
Either way, it’s more fascinating to me how not just the styles talked about here, but how ANY form of retro graphics that were the way they were because of limitations have evolved to become aesthetics of their own. And not always for the sake of a message tied to their use somehow, either; quite a lot of games make use of it simply for the joy of using an older visual style, or to enhance other aspects or otherwise get the player thinking about things in different contexts. I think that’s really goddamn cool, frankly; that we’re in an age where “Low Poly 3D”, as one example, is its own artistic medium rather then a consequence of limited processing power, and the same is true of pixel art styles that draw from differing console eras.
“… all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided.”
I was hoping someone would add that quote; I can’t believe I forgot it was Brian Eno thatsaid it for a sec there!
I had to explain to my spouse the othe day that people younger than us probably *have* heard of MIDI, because the chiptune music genre uses the sound.
Mooncustafer 