I like ald games becouse they where fun. Fast gameplay, chealanging, simple controles. Developers had more creative ( but not hardware ) freedom. Becouse they where working in small teams they could comunicate more efectivly with each other.
Anyway, even if it`s is not that easy to make decent pixelart, it`s obviesly easier to make it looking good then hi-res picture. Just look at the RPG Maker Comunity. The amount of custom gfx for rm they making is just massive.
What i would like to see, are games with good hi-res gfx, that have the fill of the old ones. SotC and ICO are such a games. I loved metroid prime hunters when i played it for the first time couse it reminded me of quake 2 fast piced gameplay. Of course it doesn't have to be 3d game but i agree that modern harware alowes creators to do gfx better than ever before, and in this the direction they should go altho remebering that the base of every game they are making should be gameplay.
edit: btw. CHECK THIS OUT -> Pole's Big Adventure - Japanese Trailer 2 - new original game for wiiware by SEGA. After seing this i rapidly started looking for any information how to get a wii development kit and thats what i find out Apply to be nintendo dev rules. In my opinion it`s outrages - companies like sage can aford it , and sell crap they made for $5 per user.