> The music for example is good, although it is not the best that the Mega Drive has to offer as that would probably be Thunder Force IV.

I don't know if it is the best, but the music of S3&K absolutely slaps. I have yet to play Thunder Force 4 though.

> Can relate, but I wonder if what you are describing here is the excessively zoomed in trend that we had from the late 80s and throughout the 90s.

Ah, I had never considered that but now I realize that you are right. Many games of that era pushed huge sprites to show their graphical prowess, but that had the nasty side effect of reducing the FOV.