> seeing your code run on real retro hardware is more satisfying than running it on a 'fantasy console' on PC.
That’s a matter of pure (and, frankly, arbitrarily smug) opinion and one I don’t share. I lived through when retro hardware was just hardware and I’m done with it and all the clutter and dust and brown.
And even if you develop using emulators, seeing your code run on real retro hardware is more satisfying than running it on a 'fantasy console' on PC.