It looks like this:

It costs ~35-50$ depending on where you live and shops prices.
Its not that power hungry (3-4watts), and its powerfull enough to run alot of differnt emulators (GC,SNES,NES,PS1, ect)

you can buy small coolers for them:

and differnt caseings for them:

So you just need to hook up a Controller + MicroSD card, and plug it into the tv, and install retropie for it.
And you have the perfect little emulator box for when you want to play those really old gen games.

I think people like the idea of haveing a "all in one" little machine, that can house all their favorite old games.
So they dont need to keep snes,nes,gc,ps1,ps2 ect (or play around with wires when they feel like playing one of their games).

exsample of it in use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzbCyOSJhho

Because of several reasons....

1) PS1 is not at the same level as NES or SNES, much more advanced, and many years newer.

2) The games are MUCH larger, 10-100 times as a matter of fact, so bundling the NES classic style is not an option.

3) Just like you can have ps1 games on various platforms, you can virtually have ALL NES and SNES games literally free. People still buy it though because it is a matter of convenience.

4) There are MANY people who would be interested in a large ps1 game library from the luxury of a tiny console that is attached to an HDMI port. Of course we would like to see HD upcsaling (modern emulation style).

However, it might also be a good idea to bundle a couple of classic games such as Tekken 1 and Crash. A $100 PS tiny console bundled with Tekken 1 and Crash 1 would make miracles.

3) Why would a PS1 Classic without any games pre-installed be more convenient than a PlayStation TV? The process of buying and downloading additional games from the PS Store would be the same.

4) The PlayStation TV was a tiny console that is attached to an HDMI port with a large ps1 game library. With several upscaling modes. For less than $100. With additional PSP compatibility. With additional Vita compatibility. Didn't sell very well. 

https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/09/22/playstation-tv-release-date-price-full-list-compatible-games-2/

Those 2D games would of looked worse on the PS1 than if it was than if on a pure 2D PS1. The reason being Sony blew all the hardware power budget on the 3d hardware, if instead of doing that they put it into a beefier 2d blitter they could of ran their games at 640x480 instead of the 320x240 mess that most ended up being

Those ROMs are not legal, which also is a reason for some to buy the official product instead btw.

@Topic: Sony didn't have much in terms of first party back then, so they will have o pay more in licensing fees than Nintendo for the same amount of games. But apart from it getting more expensive than the Nintendo counterpart I don't see why not

And it would probably have been a commercial failure if they had offered a pure 2D console while Nintendo and Sega were offering consoles who can handle 2D and 3D games. Especially as a newcomer in the console sector. Most gamers wanted polygon-based 3D games in the mid-nineties, which also allowed new perspectives and gameplay due to the flexible camera.

2D in native 640 x 480 also needed a lot of performance back then, so the pure 2D console wouldn't even have a price advantage.

Nobody knew about it and it was hardly ever advertised. Also the game availability along with execution was terrible. It is a neat idea but with TERRIBLE execution. Obviously Sony did not want to cannibalize its own PSN or PS Vita markets.  This is also why PSP was not as successful as it deserved and Vita was a failure. EXECUTION.

In the case of Vita, I knew it was gonna fail long before it was released because it wanted to be a full-fledged console without the consequences and preconditions of such a device. People want simpler, easier, shorter games on the go on a conveniently sized light machine with a lasting battery, with easy access to a large inexpensive library of games. It is all about CONVENIENCE, PRICE, INSTANT GRATIFICATION, and AVAILABILITY. Vita did not meet the criteria while DS did (at least after the first backlash).

The game availability was terrible? Day One availability:

Yes it probably would of been a commercial failure because 3d was the new hot thing, but I would of like to of seen a pure 2d console though back then

640x480 @ 16 million colors @ 60fps in 2D this console

320x240 @ 32 thousand colors @ 30fps in 3D  PS1,N64

I know which one would of stood the test of time for the better graphics today, but you're right, everyone wanted 3d in the mid 90s

Damn, that's a lot of games. It's a shake that doesn't include Birth by Sleep or Crisis Core.