If the color pallete is reminding you of something retro, then it's working as intended. Thank you!
I'm not sure what retro means to you. It seems to mean something different for every generation. But it reminds me of games from the early 2000's that were trying to be callbacks to the 90's. It's not so much retro for me as it is familiar in a very good way. I really like the palette but I rarely see it used in games these days.
All that said retro for me is 8-bit. So if 16-bit is your definition of retro then you nailed it :)
"It's not so much retro for me as it is familiar in a very good way."
But... isn't that what retro is? The definition of retro doesn't change with each generation, the thing that's considered retro changes.
You consider 8-bit retro, while I consider the GBA retro, but what we both have in common is that we're both familiar with those things and we both have nostalgia for them.