I often choose to use a low-resolution art style when I design for digital games. I’m not trying to give my characters a retro feel; if you look at the art I create, there is nothing retro about it. My color pallets aren’t limited per sprite, or over an entire screen, nor are my characters limited to a particular resolution. Not only would what I’m making be virtually impossible on an older system, but stylistically it isn’t reminiscent of any game created during the reign of the sprite.
I haven’t used the word pixel yet. Both Mario and the Master Chief are made of pixels; one tries to hide them, while the other was forced to be more visibly made of them; pixels are the medium of the computer screen, and are inherent in any screen-based work. So why is it we still have games with low-resolution-sprite-based characters?