There are better and worse ways to make retro looking games, and there are ways to care about the look of your game without having it noticeably effect your bud

There are better and worse ways to make retro looking games, and there are ways to care about the look of your game without having it noticeably effect your budget. The most confusing part of the whole story is that his latest game looks noticeably worse than his two previous games. So there seems to be something more going on beyond that he just wants to go low budget and retro. The problem doesn't seem to primarily be the budget or the quality of the art per se, but a lack of care when it comes to art direction.