Actually, I think the cost of the Super NT is more comparable to someone who wants to use their original gaming hardware on a Modern TV at the best quality with the least lag. That part in bold is important. You can still easily use the composite AV cables on a lot of newer TVs, but the picture quality is horrible. While you can go out of your way to get a hold of a $20 AV to HDMI converter for those TVs who don't have the AV inputs, but the problem with those converters are that they introduce lag. Sometimes the native post-processing on many modern TVs is bad enough to make a lot of original SNES games unplayable. The cost that goes into being able to play original hardware in the best quality with the least lag, can involve high-quality converters and scalers, possible console mods, and the appropriate cabling to implement the use of those components completely eclipses the price of a used console and a handful of games at a garage sale.
So what type of cost are we looking at? If needed, the RGB mod on the console (about $70 from most reputable places), RGB cables ($25 for high quality cables at most reputable shops), and high-quality converter/scaler (ranging anywhere from $200 to $450 depending on if you got a OSSC or Framemeister). So you are probably looking at $225 to $545 on average to get an original SNES console working on a Modern TV at the best quality with the least lag.
That in mind, definitely not anything a casual consumer will even ever consider. But for $180 for a new console that is as close as possible (and closer than the grand majority of emulators out there with the exception of one emulator - Higan) that will allow you to play original game media without 30+ years of shelf age isn't too bad in comparison.