Pixels are not square.

[Pik]

I'm not sure a sticky is necessary, since it's an opinion thread and shouldn't be presented or implied as a rule.

Some people take advantage of the grid and make their pixel art based around it, others, like the retro games you cited, have the CRT display in mind first and foremost. Pixels aren't squares? LCD pixels are squares - the end result of graphics made for LCD screens take advantage of this.

I think a more relevant point is "well, we shouldn't judge old graphics by displays they weren't meant to be seen on" and I agree.

By the time crisp screens became the norm, the methods of showing detail changed. The evolution of pixel art has taken this into account, and even new things done in very limited colors use modern techniques because blurry, nonsquare displays are very rare. It would be nice if more people made stuff for old displays, but to claim modern pixel art is "missing something" because of this doesn't really go anywhere because the techniques serve two different eras. Modern pixel art isn't necessarily a revival of a retro artform, it's very much a new thing now.