Yeah, came to think that as well after recalling Route 104 theme from an onetime glance-through gameplay and give the whole thing a listen. (Grew up on Gen 1 and 2).
For one, it doesn't sound like scary mischievous brain torture music, but welcoming and easy-listen. I mean, battle themes are nice, but stuff like Union Cave, Silph Co, Lavender Town etc. is just schizo and the rest sounds often - despite having nice melodies and motifs - kind of 1D and constricting.
And you can't just blame it on wider hardware capabilities. I guess the whole creative process was restricted due to focus on the GB soundchip framework.
https://youtu.be/EMrTgSQsLkIhttps://youtu.be/ceIK4AfDJ8khttps://youtu.be/cA7K-rZyMlQ 
