yo if we’re mutuals add me on steam
they replaced my working memory with a looped playback recording of birds chirping and leaves rustling
Other cool aspects of sprite art seen through a CRT monitor: transparency REALLY looked transparent given the fuzz, as seen here on these palm trees from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (also note how much more harmonious the lighting on the palm trees look!)
The natural rounded “warping” of a CRT TV screen also was taken into account to make “trippy” levels in games extra trippy! You can see the optical illusion effect made by the coloring choices in this stage of Life Force no matter if you look at the raw pixels or the screen, but its definitely emphasized on the latter.
The fuzz and the more washed out coloring also served as what we’d call a “filter” today. It made relatively simple, “sharp” pixel art look much smoother, as if it the colors had been blended, achieving a distinctive faux 3D look seen here in Sonic & Knuckles and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I personally love how the bricks look in the second one. They truly turn into a gradient!
This same effect also made darker palettes look lighter! This one is Vagrant Story, for the PS1, for an example of how playing around with the “limitations” of CRT monitors effect was still in vogue even when 3D games became a thing.















