Mors' Sprites

[Shade]

Yes. Be inspired by the NES, but don't let it's arbitrary restrictions hold back your art.

Shovel Knight broke NES restrictions left and right but did that make the game any worse?

This has nothing to do with gameplay. It makes no difference if an existent game got away with the flaw. You can make "old-timey" styled sprites, that's fine, but if you categorize them as NES styled sprites, the rules that were present in that "30-year-old piece of hardware" apply, there's no ignoring that. As an artist, you work with what you have to make something to the best of your abilities.