> I think there's an argument that pixel art was designed for CRT displays and thus optimized for it
In many cases there is no argument to be had.
https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/a/167807/6463
These sprites are terrible without CRT-ness (skeleton has pixels unbalanced, clearly placed for an antialiasing effect; beast is unshaded). Also, look at that waterfall, for which filters have a hard time, either inefficient or making the rest of the scene excessively blurry.
I think there's an argument that pixel art was designed for CRT displays and thus optimized for it. I think of it like Pointillism: the work is made of little dots, but the point is for you to see the entire work blend together. And for low resolution works like retro games, they often hold up well on CRT (especially real ones). However, I think modern games with the pixel art aesthetic look best crisp.
To each their own tastes, though.