Well the Amiga had 4096 colours. The colour palette was of course more flexibel. But if you compare the C64 palette with other 8 bit computers of the time, it

Well the Amiga had 4096 colours. The colour palette was of course more flexibel. But if you compare the C64 palette with other 8 bit computers of the time, it looks better for me. And as he explains in his article, it is easier to generate more realistic looking pictures with it than with a more vibrant colour palette.