High Level Emulation vs Low Level Emulation
What's the Difference? Why should I care?
There are two types of graphics emulation; High Level & Low Level.
What do they Mean?
High Level Emulation is like pretending to be a character in a play. Instead of copying every single move the character makes, you just act out the important parts. This makes it faster and easier, but sometimes you might miss some small details. So, the game might run really fast, but it might not look or feel exactly like it did on the old system.
Low Level Emulation is like copying a drawing exactly. You try to make every single line and color match the original. This takes a lot more time and effort, but the result is a picture that looks just like the original. So, the game will look and feel just like it did on the old system, but it might run slower and need more power from your computer.
Choosing between HLE and LLE is like deciding if you want to play a game quickly or if you want it to look exactly like it did before. If you want to play the game fast and don't mind if it looks a little different, HLE is the way to go. But if you want the game to look and feel just like it did on the old system, even if it runs slower, then LLE is better.
In simple terms, High Level Emulation is fast but not always perfect, while Low Level Emulation is slow but very accurate. That can help in deciding which one to use for playing your favorite games.
What about for more featureful consoles like the Nintendo Switch?
Nowadays, all modern consoles graphics emulation is done with High Level Emulation since there is simply too many operations to perform and the tradeoff of having to manually tweak each game is worth it, which is why you will see compatibility lists on modern emulators