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;It's important to know that emulation accuracy and compatibility are two different things; while how closely an emulator mimics the original hardware is important, don't mistake that for compatibility. Whether games run properly is a separate concern, accuracy can sometimes influence it. See [[#Perfection.3F|"perfection"]] and [[#Controversy|"controversy"]] sections.
;In the world of computing, terms like "[[Hypervisors|hypervisors]]", "simulators", "[[Compatibility_layer|compatibility layers]]", "[[Wrappers|wrappers]]", and "emulators" are often used interchangeably, leading to confusion. While they share some similarities, each technology serves a distinct purpose and operates at different levels. An accurate emulator is '''accurate''' when an instruction given to both the program and the hardware results in both outputting the same result. That means accurate emulators produce much fewer audio and video glitches, usually at the cost of more processing power needed. It's often achieved by using tighter synchronization.
The more accurate an emulator is, the lesser deviations there is from real hardware behavior but the more demanding it is. Ironically, that aspect might at times be at odds with how authentic the experience is, when it introduces [[Input lag]]. A similar debate surrounds CRT shaders as well. Not to mention the hardware intensive nature of very accurate emulators for later consoles may be at odds with the emulator's usability, especially with the recent collapse of Moore's Law (in layman's terms, you can't just "buy a better PC" if semiconductor technology does not catch up fast enough with what it takes for accurate emulation that makes zero compromises for optimizing speed)
