[gauauu]

Nathan Tolbert here (the developer in the article).

It's true that it's not a huge market, but it's an interesting one. First, most of us involved are making these games because the old platforms themselves are what's interesting, so a modern engine just isn't any fun. So we're not remotely in tune with what's practical.

But beyond that, the community of players and buyers in this community is very engaged and supportive, which makes it very different from other indie dev. Indie games for a lot of other platforms have a long tail... if you get noticed, you'll make good money. If not, you'll make almost nothing and it will be crickets. In NES development, you're guaranteed to have a number of people that are engaging with you and supporting your work. It's still rare to make enough money to really make it a well-paying job, but it's a lot of fun as a money-making hobby.

[jsheard]

Yeah I certainly get the appeal, it's analogous to the way people are still making new FPS games using the actual Doom or Quake engines rather than something modern set up to imitate them. Though that also brings its own practical problems when trying to ship a commercial product, so you've really got to be in it for the love of the old school.