Quote: You've yet to define better... all you've done is say "x is better than y."
Does better = more features? Or does better = more accurate emulation? When it comes to consoles, there are two very defined groups. I'm guessing you lean more towards the first group.
Everyone here already agrees bsnes is the best emulator of any console emulator; no question there. But a lot of the code in MESS was also thanks to byuu.
Please explain how Kega does Genesis and SMS better than MESS. Not 32x or SegaCD, we know Kega does those better. Just Genesis and SMS.
Please explain how Ootake/Magic Engine does PC Engine better than MESS. Note that I paid for a Magic Engine key over ten years ago.
Please explain how VBA does GB/GBC better than MESS. Not GBA, just GB and GBC.
Please explain how Stella is better than MESS.
Be advised that these are all the emulators for each category that I also link to from my website; that's how highly I regard these (as you say you regard MESS). I'm simply asking you to explain how they are better, other than saying "they just are."
Note that I am simply interested in how accurate the emulation is. I despise fake graphic filters other than HLSL, and I don't record videos. I just like playing the games with my favorite controller.
All the emulators I mentioned are more compatible than MESS. Which means they are able to play/emulate alot more games for their given system than MESS.
Almost all the emulators I mentioned are more accurate.
All the emulators I mentioned have alot more features and options than MESS. I'm not going to name all of them as they are way too many to name (such as video filters, rewind support for Nestopia). But I know your knowledgeable enough in the matter to know what I'm talking about.
All the emulators I mentioned have fewer bugs and glitches in the games that they emulate than MESS.
All the emulators I mentioned are able to play more homebrews and pirates than MESS.
All the emulators I mentioned are better equipped and easier to do TAS video stuff such as recording gamplay videos, etc.
Almost all the emulators are better and easier to hack cheat codes.
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The above is more than enough to make them the prefered emulator of choice for their given system. That's why they are widely regarded as the best emulator at their given game system and rightfully so.
(NES, Nintendulator and Nestopia are more cycle accurate than MESS. And I know Bsnes is more accurate than MESS. The following I'm not positive... but I'm pretty sure Kega Fusion is more accurate too. MESS might be barely slightly more accurate for just a few classic games than the other emulators but the vast majority of games the other emulators are more accurate.)