ok @codl helped me realize i can use a loop and clip to pretend pico8 has scanlines and i made this https://computerfairi.es/media/WtiU5T1cEXdL_UH1cdA

i made it a little better
here's the cartridge because i don't have anywhere better to upload it https://pastebin.com/FizWZEf6
https://computerfairi.es/media/Jv1b50zFvTwW0zMLn-c

now it has a crappy palmtree and against my better judgement i put it on the bbs https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=30532 https://computerfairi.es/media/zAsM_QYgpjEQQ4mNswA

@squirrel so you've got the moving water, all you'd need to add is some wavy text, some music, and cram it into an arbitrary number of bytes and you've got a demo!