I have one indeed (it was lent by a friend who borrowed a money but then never showed up again) and it's still working with my dad's CRT TV.
When my kids visited my dad's house they sometimes they play Duck Hunt in it since Duck hunt and Super Mario Bros were pre-installed.So in a way, it's good such video games are still accessible even if it's on a knock-off machine.
I guess from the preservation perspective it's no use to depend on the game company since they're still a money-oriented company.
(Releasing old contents do still make money but aren't as big as releasing new games so the focus is where the money is)
I bet their reaction was like this every time they heard a complain about preservation :
Piracy did come handy in preservation purpose.
It does if done properly. I mean obviously if I pirate games like Sonic Frontiers it would be unfair to Sonic Team who put time and effort to make it and the money needed to pay their checks.
But for games like SegaSonic the Hedgehog for the Arcade or Waku Waku Sonic, those obscure games that hardly anyone will play, it's thanks to piracy that those games can be accessible and playable.
Heck rom hacking is a form of piracy and Sega are supportive of fan games made from rom hacking.
