Time and dedication are the key to developing any emulator. The creator of the system being emulated almost automatically becomes an adversary, but users have a very different opinion, and in fact they support this kind of project. The newer the system, the more difficult it is to emulate it satisfactorily, although that doesn't stop projects like Citra, which seeks to conquer the Nintendo 3DS.
The Legal Side of Emulation
Whenever we have the chance to talk about emulators, it's good to remember that their development is not illegal, as long as they don't contain software components linked to the original system, such as a "dump" of its BIOS or a copy of the firmware. Those of us who have spent a good while in front of screens perfectly remember the conflict between Sony and Bleem!. From a technical point of view, Bleem! didn't lose the lawsuit, but the associated costs forced the company to declare bankruptcy. In other words, Sony found a way to get rid of that rival; however, in the process, it confirmed the legality of emulators. The landscape becomes much grayer when it comes to running commercial software on them (read: games). In simple terms, if you have the original cartridge or disc, you can have a copy in the emulator. This reminds us of the constant clash between user rights (which allow a copy for personal use) and the brutal DRM that companies apply to their games and platforms.
Citra: An Ambitious Project
The latest news in emulation brings us to Citra, which aims to reproduce on Windows, Linux, and OS X all the virtues of the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo's latest handheld has been on the market for just over four years, and its XL variant debuted in mid-2012, making Citra a rather ambitious project. Its developers don't hesitate to emphasize the experimental nature of Citra, and even recommend waiting a year or two if the goal is to run specific games. There isn't even a recommended hardware configuration, since the 3DS CPU is emulated with an interpreter, graphics are rendered in software, and there is no sound.
What does Nintendo think of all this? As I said above, emulators are not illegal, but the distribution of dumps is, and that's where it has aimed its guns. Others who suffered the legal fury of the Japanese giant were the distributors of the famous R4 module and all subsequent clones. Compared to other consoles, what Citra has achieved so far is impressive. Believe it or not, the original Xbox turned out to be a real emulation nightmare (not to mention the lack of interest and documentation), while RPCS3 (PlayStation 3) will have to start from scratch. With that in mind, it's better for Citra to take all the time it needs.
