It's really not a cross compiler. IMO, the problem that our modern definition of "emulator" is overly opinionated. The strict definition requires that the emul

It's really not a cross compiler. IMO, the problem that our modern definition of "emulator" is overly opinionated. The strict definition requires that the emulator take the CPU's machine code at runtime and either interpret it, or dynamically recompile it. You could have an xbox emulator that dynamically recompiled x86 to x86 and everyone would agree that's an "emulator". But you make a few minor changes to that dynamic decompiler and turn it into a static decompiler and suddenly people start debating if it's still an emulator. If you go a step further and switch to using the CPU's virtualisation support or even just running the x86 code direction people will really put their foot down and say it's not an emulator. Despite the fact it's still emulating the GPU and Audio DSP and a bunch of other hardware. The CPU is usually one of the simpler parts to emulate, the real complexity is in emulating the rest of the hardware, so I find it really weird that our definition of "emulator" only cares about how the CPU is implemented. If we switch to a slightly less strict definition of "emulator" then there is nothing wrong with Paul Allen's 8080 emulator meeting the definition. It still emulates the behaviour of the 8080 cpu, so it is an emulator.