Definition
An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of) the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like (and appears to be) the first system.
Overview
Playing through an emulator varies from the original experience because the emulator is designed to execute on hardware that is radically different from the original platform and corresponding system architecture. Emulators are designed to utilize the original executable code from the original videogame. For most emulation systems, this involves extracting and providing a copy of the native cartridge ROM or videogame CD-ROM.
Source
- This page uses material licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license from Jerome McDonough et al., "Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report" (Aug. 31, 2010).