Shadow of the Beast. Native platform: Amiga 500. Year of release: 1989. Developer: Reflections (two 19 year old demoscene guys apparently) for Psygnosis

Category: quintessential frustrating run-and-puncher that sold millions of Amigas.
All these are Amiga screenshots. The game has been ported to many platforms, we will use the Genesis port for the related Commercial Critique Challenge. All these were made in deluxe paint or some equivalent program, so you should keep in mind Lighten/Darken tools seem to have been aplied pretty liberarly, on some cutscene screenshots very apparently. Yet this isn't blurred to death so no soften brushes. Remarkable consistency in design, even if it's marred by several proto-pixel art flaws (pillow shading, clean ramps) but I'll let you guys dissect for that's what we do!
Remember, the point of this activity is to study commercial pixel art closely, outline the good and the bad both on an individual artistic piece level, and on the whole. It would be best if the participants play the game a little (genesis version is easier to emulate, naturally, and moderately faithful) or
watch the
youtube videos at least, so you can see how a lot of this works in-game. It's remarkable how things like multiparalax at the time pulled you in to the point where you didn't mind spraycan trees as much

Let us commence!
When you're done with the dissecting of the art, it's time to participate on the
Commercial Critique Challenge!