The snes version has very simple textures compared to the pce version...the pce one almost looks hand painted.
This is exactly how I look at it. Backgrounds like these from Tokimeki Memorial and games like Kabukiden remind me of backgrounds from Miyazaki films like Princess Mononoke and Totoro, which use a deceptively simple style of painting that looks more real than a regular photo.
I know where you're coming from and I think the make up of detail for the lack of shading in some screenshots looks cool (like the shadows of the trees here), but there are some painful shades that stick out. There is a shade of yellow and green (yack!) on the salmon color road due to lack of proper shades to fill in (I think I would've swapped the green with white). This shot shows some digital artifact looking blocks on the building's exterior, with shades of green taking over the grey in the window area, opposed to smooth grey shading of the SFC version. And here is another very appearent example of shading limitations when you take a look at the pink infested wall! Again, I do acknowledge the point you are making and love the more artistic look the PCE's limitations gives off, but sometimes improper color usage like that can annoy me.
In the case of the yellow and green on the road, other colors would've worked better, but it's not because of a lack of compatible colors in the PCE palette. The developer should've cleaned something like that up. What stands out more to me, are the bottom two shades that look like realistic colored shadows cast by a sunset. The bottom shade on the SFC shot looks stands out against the peach colors and looks greenish in comparison. Kinda like the bland equivalent of the bright mismatched colors in the PCE shot. Also, the SFC scene dithers green against maroon/purple and further back just splotches the two together. Like with the PCE version, It's not a shortcoming of the hardware, the pixel artist should've done a better job.
The green mixed with the gray is a plus for me, Whether it was meant to be artistic or is a result of a quick conversion, like other sections such as the green and raspberry mixed in with the brown on the wooden stage, it looks all the more like a real painting. But not a soulless photo-realistic painting. I don't know what the term is, but here's the best example I could find quickly-
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/images/wallpapers/illidan/illidan-800x.jpgI've probably talked about this with you before, but for the sake of discussion... Since all 16-bit console game graphics use very few colors per section, using shades or colors that are too similar can be a waste and not 'pop' like a select staggering. It really depends on how it's done, because many PCE games don't use they best colors just as many SFC games turned out too bland or dull looking at times.
But pictures like the backgrounds in Tokimeki are something different and look beautiful to me.
