How can emulators effectively speed up their gameplay to 5-10x speed?

Question

I understand that emulators have to convert “console-language” to “emulator language” which causes stutters and otherwise poor performance.

But how can that same emulator play the game at 5-10x the speed using speed up features without sacrificing gameplay, loading screens, or resolution?

I just played through an emulated gamecube version of Twilight Princess with a 4K texture pack, which had its fair share of stutters. But I could also hold the speed-up button during loading zones and while saving my file and the game would handle it just fine.

If it requires extra processing power to emulate, how come emulators can speed the game up to such high speeds?

In: 15

Answer 1

If whatever PC you’re using is modern enough, it will be fast enough to handle the extra emulation processing as well as speed the game up. A quick skim of the Dolphin emulator site suggests anything better than around a 4th gen i5 is capable of running it, which is 10 years old now.