I have seriously considered just getting a small pc to just run as an emulator with a a few thousand arcade and old school console games and call it done. It would be more fun.

There is no point to consoles anymore. It used to be that consoles were easy to use and cheaper while PCs were more expensive and complex. That is no longer the case. Computers are stupid easy now and consoles have become too expensive. Nintendo excluded they are the only ones doing old console case where it is for children.