It’s a more subtle but powerful difference, which is recompiling creates native code, which is more expansible and efficient (usually).
Emulation can appear similar but the code remains unchanged, so the system itself has to be emulated to run the non-native code, which (unless the emulator is very efficient) will usually be more limited and slower.
I think the replies about “Emulation is not a port” misses your point. That’s why you put it in quotes as ‘ported’.
But besides that, some official “ports” from game companies are also just emulation. They do not port the game code, but they port the game over this way, in the sense of making it playable.
werent they already ‘ported’ to pc with rpcs3 and the like
It’s a more subtle but powerful difference, which is recompiling creates native code, which is more expansible and efficient (usually).
Emulation can appear similar but the code remains unchanged, so the system itself has to be emulated to run the non-native code, which (unless the emulator is very efficient) will usually be more limited and slower.
if i remember correctly rpcs3 actually does recompilation on the fly
The on the fly translation hit might be a major bottleneck
https://deepwiki.com/RPCS3/rpcs3/2.2.3-jit-compilation-and-recompilation
Rpcs3 never ran well for me anyway tbf.
I’ve had success with RPCS3 even on Steam Deck, seems to work way better on Linux from what I’ve seen. Its been greatly improved over the years.
I am on linux. Tbf, I did try it a while ago, so maybe I need to give it another chance.
I think the replies about “Emulation is not a port” misses your point. That’s why you put it in quotes as ‘ported’.
But besides that, some official “ports” from game companies are also just emulation. They do not port the game code, but they port the game over this way, in the sense of making it playable.