At the time, I would have said, "Hell yeah, those are damn fine graphics." Now I look at today's technology and I laugh in the face of what was. We have come along ways from graphics in the olden days. With Vector-graphic technology, the images became a lot smoother (back in the '80s). But you can't help but look back at all those days and think "those were the good ol' days."
I love retro! I love to play those extremely old games, because I really like to know what the graphics / gameplay was like back then. Its funny to know that the plot for most of the games was not really thought out due to the lack of ability of the consoles at the time. I'm pretty sure this is why the plot was always lacking.
When the game systems upgraded, and better and better graphics became available, with more powerful processors to run the consoles, then the gaming companies of the day were able to think broader and broader in terms of roleplay. This I like.