I'd say the main reason is that it's now that generation's time where these would be the games that new adults with disposable income are buying. These games came out in the early 2000s. People who were kids then are now in their twenties and out of college and in the workforce. They've got money to spend, and with nostalgia being as it is, they want to recollect the games of their childhoods and possibly also the games they never got to play back then. And with so much shut down because of corona, it acts as a further incentive to get the games now because it's something to do inside.
I'd also say that a big reason why Xbox isn't jumping up as fast as PS2 and GCN is because Microsoft's made many of the classics accessible in one form or another for the later systems. And to the casual gamer, they'd rather just spend a few bucks for a digital copy than hunting down a physical copy and paying a lot more. The loss of Xbox Live for the original Xbox also hurts a bit as since online multiplayer was one of the system's best strengths, not having that denies a large chunk of nostalgia for some of the major games.
How about xbox classic not having that many interesting games in comparison
Yea sure there where some sega dreamcast games but otherwise poor pickings. it has a pretty small library. it has no mascots aside from halo. Multiplayer on xbox was pretty much only good for shooters and racing games, name me games that are simular to mario party smash bros or some karting game etc. it pales in terms of multiplayer unless you really like certain genre's in wich you could just go to ps2 instead if where talking consoles with lesser multiplayer options. you probably have a better shot at interesting non shooter racing games on ps2.
Zero rpg's (1 or2 mediocre ones) zero shoot em ups (maybe 1 or 2), just few horror games. let alone that most classics on xbox are fairly common. why would those increase in price if the supply is plentyfull and if most of those options where dollar options from the start.
Also a whole there is not much reason for tons of people withouth nostalgia to go after xbox aside from it being relatively cheap. in terms of gameplay the other 2 options are superior in almost every way. the extra power didnt help just like nowadays in wich xbox exclusives are a meme for how few there are. Sony and nintendo have exclusives, xbox has few of them even in the OG xbox era. Why would you pick up xbox for those few games of genre's that you like when you can pick any other console wich has tons of them and are considered to be some of the best. that's why xbox isn't popular.
Still I'm pretty suprised how few people use dolphin for gamecube or ps2 games.
@jdkw50
Xenosaga could be a combination of covid plus the release of the xenoblade DE on switch wich was released 1 or 2 months ago being part of the series.
And if where talking path of radiance, when the secret fighter Byleth in januray 2020 of fire emblem tree houses was released in smash bros. Quite allot of memes on the internet. Even though it was hated it got a hell lot of popularity, withouth that it would have increased less I'd say.
