Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Since NeoFirst will be completely available to the masses, as well as all of its tiles, combos, and all graphics, etc, we'll want to make it completely rippable. Now, 256 color mode is a little bit ... what's the word ... ackward, I suppose, to use, since it's not as compatible with ripping as it could be.
Here, for example, ... try to make a single tile 256 colors, (Press "b" on it.) then grab any other tile from a screenshot onto it. See what happens. Yep, it goes back to 16 color mode. Thus, if any of our tiles uses 256 colors, how will anyone else rip it into their quest?