EA has never been good, and I'm not trying to start something, that's just a fact. If you are looking for the best in their genres in the 8 and 16 bit eras you look to companies like Sega and Nintendo, Konami and Capcom.
See - the problem here is that you're comparing games made in the early to mid 80's to games you played in the late 80's to mid 90's. I will say it again -
gamers didn't have time machines. Do you think they sat there and just "dealt with" mediocre games for 10 years? Do you play your games and sigh because they may be better a decade from now?
Also, I hate to break it to you but the N64 games held up just as bad. It was just a time when everything HAD TO BE in 3-D but graphically, we were still short and when you look and play them, it's a bit jarring compared to what we have now. Doesn't mean that they're not still fun sometimes - Blast Corps, Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Ocarina of Time - still solid games. But ugly. Yet, at the time, they were some of the best.
You're arguing apples to oranges here.
Vigo: I kind of liked EA's logo back then. When you were loading their games, that logo would change colors one line at a time from middle to bottom to top and then all at once when it was almost done. It was pretty amusing.