People hate on Photoshop but then praise Paint. Photoshop has all of Paint's tools. Plus it has great color altering adjustment capabilities for fine-tuning palettes. If you don't need the 3D tools, just don't use them. Certainly don't buy PS for pixelling (Thomas Knoll still doesn't know what pixel art is), though.
Anyone that uses Photoshop for pixelling needs to be ready to do almost everything from scratch. I use PS for pixel art, and everything else, and we have a great time together. Just me and PS. Together. Happy.