The "accuracy" in emulation

The whole “accuracy” debate comes up in emulation circles quite a lot. You are either on the side of accuracy is everything or the side I’m on which is play it for what it is.

Honestly, only the real “purists” seem to care about this stuff. I’ll probably cop flak for this but I feel like it’s the same who feel the need to collect every single title for every console ever made. Good on them, but that is not my vibe. :dogheh:

If I genuinely wanted 100% “accuracy” I would get the original hardware. Yeah yeah, the whole retro scene is stupid expensive these days for original stuff.

However these devices, the handhelds you’re using, the emulators, the projects we all mess around with… they are all about fun. They are about playing games you otherwise might not have access to, discovering hidden or unknown content, or just reliving those golden childhood memories without needing a second mortgage to fund it.

For me personally, “accuracy” is meaningless if I am sitting there grinning like an idiot while playing. That is the only benchmark that matters. I do not stress over whether the graphics have the exact right amount of blur, or if there is a theoretical half-second input delay. I am not preparing for an Olympic level competition here. I am just playing games.

Sure, some games are more time sensitive than others, okay that’s fair. But you adapt. You learn the quirks, just like we all did when we first picked up a controller back in the day. Your PC couldn’t run full frames, you played them anyway right, you enjoyed what you could?

What about speed runners? Well I mean surely they must use authentic hardware wherever they can. TAS? They lean on absolute monster setups to get frame perfect runs. None of that is happening on your average retro handheld anyway.

At the end of the day, if it’s fun, it’s good. Enjoy your games the way you like them.


Any opinion expressed here is simply my own view and does not represent muOS developers, the product, or the community.
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