I don't know if I'd describe the difference as "love" or "warmth." But older consoles' design decisions were definitely more varied and developers had to tailor

I don't know if I'd describe the difference as "love" or "warmth." But older consoles' design decisions were definitely more varied and developers had to tailor to those limitations and features. Sure, now the Switch has less power than a PS5 and is portable, but that doesn't matter much when it comes to game development unless you need to push graphical boundaries. Very different than old systems with unique input methods, controllers, capabilities, etc. As you said, hardware used to matter. Which is why I find the Playdate a neat system. Large expensive games need to appeal to the lowest common denominator and feel like they are designed by committee, much more so than they used to due to the huge increase in development costs. But I'm happy with the variety in the indie scene, which includes games that hearken back to older games (e.g, Ringlorn Saga, which takes old Japanese computer RPGs as its inspiration), and games that provide totally new experiences with plenty of creativity. Plus there are niche games that would have never sold back in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., ones with more serious emotional or more adult themes). Despite that, games tend to follow design trends, so it certainly makes sense that you might just prefer games made during a particular era. I love exploring older games too (I've spent way too much time messing around with old consoles on my MiSTer), but I still find plenty of interesting new experiences as well.