Use something more realistic and detailed for your first hue/saturation example. That mockup is so abstract and loose that the first version has actually some qualities that make it superior to the second.

Also, you should make some bad straight ramps, like green to dark green, brown to dark brown, and then add some hue shifting in the second version. Do something that has grass, dirt, and sky--i.e. the generic forest RPG tileset--as that's what many new pixelers attempt.

Make a separate low contrast and low saturation example. You can have bad contrast and lots of saturation, and vice versa.

There was a wiki at one time, don't think it ever really took off.

No.

I dunno, Capcom/SNK have tried to bring 2D gameplay into a 3D engine on several occasions, but the results have always been lackluster and generally panned by gamers. Why won't the homies just keep it real?

I'd rather have them reinvent the gameplay for SF4 into something that takes advantage of 3D, rather than 2D gameplay + sidestep.

Why do they have Fred Flintstone faces?

Why are they fighting in ink?

Why do I even care? It's gonna be 3D, and it's gonna be bad. I'd rather play a game where you drown a box full of puppies over and over again than play another Street Fighter EX.

This is looking good, the face especially. Biggest issue I see is the shading on the clothing. There really isn't any directional lightsource to speak of, and it's making the clothing look rather pillowy. Also, the dithering is for the most part excessive and unattractive. Make better use of buffers and get a well defined light source, and this'll look great.