You people are amazing.

I'm sitting here proud of the fact that I got scrolling working in a game, or collision detection working properly, and I see these wonderful "technical advancements" and games that are so awesome that you all can seem to just make effortlessly. I'm jealous, honestly. I wish that someday I will be able to achieve the things you people do. You are awesome.

To be honest, it's amazing how much the people here are getting done. Finding small Easter eggs within the environment, stretching the hardware to its limits, and cheating in more space.
At most, I'm between your category and theirs, as I've made a few small projects.

With enough time and effort, you'll get there.

Yea it's all about the cheating really.
Seriously though, do try it out! Lua, the programming language used in Pico-8 is a pretty simple one. Then you can start finding small programming tricks to make everything you mentioned (and more) work!