the Physical Cartridge is $50 on amazon for some reason. Preordered it btw. I am your better. Ordered it before you. In that sense I will have won the gen relative to you. You sat on Dead Hardware for a year.
If you join the gen late when a console gets a slow start then you won more than an early adopter
like an early PS1 adopter just got screwed. paid $300 for Ridge Racer and some other bullshit. In 1997 it was $150 and had FF7 et al.
Early 32X adopters Lost. Late adopters @ $20 were shrewd.
It can go the other way. Being a late Dreamcast adopter was ignominious. Early-adopting Dreamcast was a victory all its own even if it Lost its Gen. PS2 had No Games its first year sooooo yeah.