Adarias: I for one really appreciate the input and am glad you feel as strongly about it as you do; it'll be a great dimension to add to a critique if DC gets selected.
they look like what a lot of other games were doing around the same time
Like sonic said, MLSS and MC look an awful lot like the celish-implied-detail-simplistic-flat-style that was popular at the time/now. Just because a game exemplifies a popular style or era shouldn't exclude it from critique, as for that reason we've given our nods to Square, SNK and most recently The Bitmap Brothers. Personally, I think it might be more productive to revisit games that might not be as fresh in our memories as games from the GBA era, especially when so many people are flocking to styles similar to those found in MLSS/MC/FFTA and such, and so many of them doing it for the wrong reasons. On that note:
also, simplicity is important because in pixelling, it transcends style, size, and palette.
If you're talking about avoiding meaningless complexity, then I agree not only in pixeling but in all life pursuits :p If you're talking about the kind of simplicity mediocre artists use as a crutch, then I don't. Since I have faith in your artistic competence I'll assume you meant the former.
Simplicity is a variable from piece to piece and is totally independent from the skill of the artist or the quality of an image's execution. Therefore, to say it transcends any other variable, like size, colors used, etc. is weird and incorrect and I will trade punches with anyone who disagrees and is also smaller than me.
We've all (and by we I mean all of us) seen amazing pixel art that used simple forms and conservative palettes, and we've seen amazing pixel art that dripped detail from every single pixel. We've seen crappy pixel art that crowded in too much detail (from artists who thought that the sheer quantity of detail would save it), and we've seen crappy pixel art that suffered from a lack of definition (from artists who thought that simplicity was a good enough excuse). We've seen everything in between.
And as a final note, I actually thought the graphics in SG&G were pretty clumsily made compared to their other titles of the time. Not bad, just stiff and uninspired. Plus, I just realized I totally just parroted what 3 other people said in previous replies. /shrug