I don't understand why people deal with absolutes when it comes to playing video games. I have original hardware, flash carts, real carts, a crt, an hd tv, emulation on consoles, pcs. It's all good
I have my preferences when it comes to configuration though. I rather emulate on an hd tv due to input lag and not so great picture/scaling. At the same time, I have a nvidia gtx 760 bussed into a vga to composite converter that plugs into my 27 inch CRT! I play rage and other "current" games via big picture. I love it, looks great. I use coin ops a lot for emulating games sometimes if I'm too lazy to dig out a controller or adapter for obscure_system_x. Also, I like to use DOLPHIN VR to emulate gamecube games (specifically Zelda Wind Waker) on my oculus rift DK 1