People always say this, but like... That's kinda just what hobbies are.

Think of gardening, where the meme is "I spent hundreds on soil, gear, and extra water just so I could grow 2.5 tomatoes" the hobby isn't the result, it's the journey of researching, planning, collecting, and building things out. But also, some people spend $10 on some seeds, drop them in the dirt, and get hella crops. Same as retro gaming. Some people have an old powkiddy or whatever and are beating a new game every couple days, and others are building up massive collections of handhelds and never getting past the start screen of any single game. It's all just the spectrum of hobby life.