eli5: Why do we need emulators to play old games? why can’t we just make the games work without the emulator?

Question

eli5: Why do we need emulators to play old games? why can’t we just make the games work without the emulator?

In: 409

Answer 1

Imagine it like a standard card game. The game is just the instructions for how to play, the emulator is the deck of cards.

You *can* package the emulator together with the game, and sometimes it gets sold like that. But it’s a ton more work.