That's actually another interesting point. Is an emulator which comes "close enough" really good enough? I've seen some really damn good emulators that are works of art, but they're not perfect. Not perfect in the sense that the sounds still aren't quite right. The joystick emulation is a hair bit different. Even if you stuffed a PC inside an Apple case (or whatever classic box) you'd know. Personally, with really old games, you had to use your imagination a fair amount to begin with :) I consider this a logical extension. For me, a 5.5 lbs laptop that can emulate vintage Apples and a C64 is more than adequate. I'll play Choplifter with the cannon fire sound just a bit off, or a little scratchiness in the already scratchy music of a computer that had no tone generator to begin with and be happy.
You forgot the biggest giveaway of some emulators: No scanlines. When I first started playing with MAME half a decade ago I noticed how well it worked, but how non-authentic the graphics looked. Only when they started adding their "scanlines" options did it start to look like the arcade game (for me).
The only emu that came really really damn close was Vector Dream (I think that's the name). The author was an actual arcade operator for years, so he programmed in 60Hz hum, static and popping, sound of coin hitting the box, etc. and the best part was he also included BURN-IN. It was hilarious to see "INSERT COIN" and "HIGH SCORE" burnt into the screen! I made a 50-second sound loop of "arcade ambience" to be included as background noise and sent it to him, and while the emu was available, it came with my sound. If you turned the sound way up and the lights way down, and played the game standing up (or maybe sitting on a stool), it was *almost* like being in a 1980's arcade.
Update: You can read a bit about it here:
http://www.classicgaming.com/features/articles/vectordreams/
And download it (and my ambience file) here:
http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/emus/multi/vector_dream.shtml -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
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