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

The original games ran on very slow processors. If the processor the emulator is running on is fast enough, it can run the emulated game much faster than the original version.