I'm not sure of the exact number but I think the Nes was only able to display 8 colors at a time out of a palette of 56. SOmething like that.
Anyway, the games of the earlier gens were awesome because people didn't know what made a great game. They were trying EVERYTHING. It was all so fresh and new. Sure, there were tons of Mario clones, Space Invaders clones, and Commando clones but there was always this feeling that we were pioneers in some unknown territory. Companies were trying all of these crazy gimmicks and peripherals on their way to making something special.....or shitty. We had a lot of shitty games back then. It was when somebody got it right that we knew we were looking at something special.
Games that give me that feeling are the games that are the leaders in their genre. Games that make me feel like I'm doing something new but not playing a gimmick. Those games are fewer and further between these days, though. My short list would be Dance Central, Fez, Heavy Rain, Gears of War 1, Dead Rising, Braid, Mighty Switch Force, Skyward Sword, Wii Sports, and anything from Twisted Pixel. Games that seem to go against the norm and stand out.
I'll add more but I want to see which way the conversation goes.
