if the 90’s were defined by classic retro videogames with pixel and “old” graphics, then why was music and images so high quality?? for example, in 1995 radiohead released “the bends”, a cool album!! but it doesn’t sound like it was made in 1995, because in 1995 videogames were pixelated and had blurry graphics, shouldn’t it have been that way too?? if technology was that way in 1995?? why does that album sound so high quality and modern if it was made around the same time old retro games were made?? thank you!?
With old games, it was a case of the quality of processing and speed of processing on consumer grade devices. Look at Toy Story, released in the 90s. It looks dated and less well animated than a current video game. Each frame took hours to process and a current video game does it on the fly.
Analogue sound can and has been recorded for many decades. The mp3 codec existed in the 90s as did other formats. Recording high quality video and sound was very doable. Mixing was less easy than now, but still possible. Images could also be stored lossless. Video was broadcast at low definition. Many of the recording were only made in that low definition format. That’s why old video looks dated. Some were recorded in better quality for the dvd or bluray market. They appear better.