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Notable accuracy-centric emulators include [[Nintendo_Entertainment_System_emulators#Emulators|Mesen2]] (NES), [[ares]] (SNES, N64, NGP, WonderSwan), and [[BlastEm]] (Sega Mega Drive) among others.
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An 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)
====Full cycle-accuracy====
This aims to mimic every aspect of the CPU's timing and behavior, including internal operations and interactions with other components like memory and I/O devices. This demands the highest processing power for accurate emulation.
:[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/vy8cg7/ares_v129_has_been_released_crossplatform/ig4da06/ Example of full cycle-accurate emulator: higan or ares(SNES, N64, NGP, WonderSwan)].
===Subcycle accuracy===