This wouldn't be everything, either. Eventually, I'd want guides for those wanting proper wallwart power, to help them create different versions and models of it. (This would all be a key item, not some afterthought.)

So, for a precocious sort with a bit of awareness of the components, this is super doable. (Like kids. Even kids who don't have tons of money, but can get 3d printed shells, or at least electronics access.)

Print your own console: #PYOC (rhymes with 'snoke').

The best part is that if you're the type who just wants to build a larger model with a bigger screen and more powerful features and hell extra buttons? Tons of ways to fork this concept off. Which, I love. More forkable is more accessible.

We have basic guides about specific hardware aspects, and hopefully the same for at least a few of the specified game engines; this makes deeper learning to mod it optional, which is the physical design version of "more forkable" kinda?

The carts aren't ...

... NES large, but instead have them about twice the volume of the OG Gameboy's carts. Room for all sorts of fun stuff to pack into a weird, fun game.

The real beauty, and I suppose my 'wish' in this case, is that if people want to artisanally create small run games and release only physical carts? Get on with yourself! Go for it. You sell your art, you get money, and that's awesome. Great.

It ALSO means they'll usually not Nintendo up, partly because no attorneys, also because fewer asswipes.

WHICH MEANS! If someone doing this (or some group! groups making games deserve money too dammit, it's the AAA studios that are fucking everything up with overmanagement and underpayment and we all know it) makes a really cool, complex cart?

(And yes: CAPITALISM IS BAD. I KNOW. But we still have to survive it ending. So money is a factor here.)

Then they get a boost in sales down the road.

This encourages cart makers to be willing to do "re-releases", but also might get the emu folk to tinker.

I think something like the #PYOC I propose could potentially lead us closer to the best of all three bad situations: Help smaller studios and microstudios still trying to get off the ground to find an audience beyond PC gamers, help a gajillion awesome indie ROM files eventually happen, and subvert the entire "release is everything" paradigm of humans in general but gamers in particular. Release is Such! A! Thing!

I get it. Novelty drives the world sometimes. We're neophiles, largely.

But we're seeing many ripples now of how nostalgia drives the older, casual, and disaffected* gamers; remakes of the entire Mega Man series. Remakes of all the Street Fighter games.

They're built on emulators.

Imagine REAL remakes, like five years after a game comes out, the way a few PC games have done entire "alternate art" packs that just come with the deluxe version -- only maybe it's huge additions, complete art overhauls. Amazing stuff.

The sales I imagine are "game", "chip" and "cart".

'Game' sale is digital download as we know it. That's what we call buying a game, right? I know we don't own shit that's in the cloud, but that's what we call it, so we're going with that.

'Chip' is offering game-loaded chips ready to snap into the standard case (or a specced out custom case, more later). This is for the collector sorts or the ones who know it might get dropped and such. ;P

'Cart' is the printed shell snapped on and sent to the customer, in a bubble wrap envelope for safety.