Your counterexample make me think you've misunderstood the point from the start.
Devs design games to look good on the target platform. Obviously you can achieve gradient effects with a CRT and 16-bit color that are very different from a four-tone LCD. Both things can be true.
Edit: And some of them did that very deliberately and documented it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41134689