Just think about it:

- Playing older console games on PC (SNES, Atari, Mega Drive, N64, PS1...) - Impossible.

- Playing older games in current-gen (PS1 in PS4 or SNES on Switch) - Not possible at all, incompatible.

What would happen in this situation?

Not impossible at all, I still play my SNES, Megadrive, Atari 2600, PS1, N64...

I'm dumb, I forgot to add "On PC".

I play most my older games on original hardware plus there is FPGA consoles that don't software emulate but hardware emulate.

Home console and handheld markets would probably look somewhat different since around 2000, although it's hard to say how exactly. PS2 would be in a weaker position, possibly with substantial impact even today. There's a chance there could've been more innovation due to not being able to rely on backwards compatibility for having a larger library in the early years of a generation. The handheld market would probably be facing a lot of pressure from smartphones just like it is right now, but perhaps Nintendo would have been less dominant due to not having the advantage of backwards compatibility.

Of course I don't remember whether hardware 'emulation' was used for backwards compatibility, but if it was, much of what I said was moot, because as far as I know, hardware emulation is more or less just putting the original hardware alongside the new hardware, so it couldn't really be impossible. At least with software emulation it doesn't seem like an unreasonable thought experiment to consider a scenario where emulation is computationally infeasible.

Besides that, we'd probably be in largely the same situation as we're currently in, which is old games getting 'remastered' every now and then with minimal improvements.

It would suck for not being able to play arcade games that never made it to consoles or PC.

My experiences in gaming would be totally different.

Like my top 5, I probably wouldnt have another top 5

Also I would have gotten into RPGs much later and the FF series in general as well.

It was thanks to Emulation I got into Pokemon and Final Fantasy.

It would make older games far less accessible. Titles would be lost to the aether over time. A very sad thing.

Emulation is not a factor for modern Xbox and PS consoles, Switch 1 was one of the last instances were a new system was easily hacked and emulated, from now on its more and more likely that emulation will play a small role when it comes to future consoles, and if they are ever hacked it will only be years after those consoles have stopped being relevant.

The solution would be what I've been doing since the turn of the century: buy old consoles and games and amass a collection. Shocking solution, I know. But it works.