I think I'm the only one saddened by this. Instead of making a new car, with better features and maybe better gas mileage, this hobby has got to be the only one in which trotting out the old Model T is praised.
Gamers hate change. This is what threads like this tells me.
If it's not how was back in the day, it's crap.
And see, I totally disagree with what seem to be your assumptions that new is automatically better.
Games are NOT technology... they change to suit fads and tastes and the company need to create cash flow/new product... but there's absolutely no reason to assume that I'm going to like a game created today better than one created in the 70s... or visa versa.
Old games still work just the same as they always did, don't require special fuels or antiquated replacement parts. You might change, your tastes may shift... but the game doesn't.
I've played LOTS of different systems. Some I like, some I don't. But if I find one I like I'm not going to feel guilty about returning to it. It's not 'nostalgia'... it's not like some guy who won't listen to any music that came out after he left High School.
It's more like food... if you try eating steak and like it, why stop eating steak? Not that you have to have steak at every meal, but why write it off just because you were eating steak as a kid?
And if you don't like steak why force yourself to eat it in the name of some ersatz 'progress'?