The Scene Portal - The Emulation Scene 

To make a long story short, emulation is the act of having one computer behave as another. For clarification; Wintels (PC's), Macs, video game consoles, calculators, and arcade machines all qualify as computers. This means that a computer can run the same software with the same appearance as the original hardware. This also allows a computer to use its own hardware to emulate the hardware of the original. This hardware includes keyboards, joysticks, monitors, speakers, and disk drives. Naturally, a computer must be technologically superior to the hardware that it attempts to emulate
Text taken from 'The Video Game & Emulation Emporium (Emulation Introduction)'

What is Emulation?

Vintage Gaming Network - One of the most popular emulation news sites active today
Arcade@Home - An extensive arcade and console news, roms, and resources
EP Emulation Portal - A large emulation portal with over 350 related links

  The Emulation Scene - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

  The Emulation Scene - News and Resources

  The Emulation Scene - Technical Resources

  The Emulation Scene - Roms

  The Emulation Scene - Computer Emulation

    Multi Emulator Super System
    M.E.S.S. - A free emulator which emulates a large variety of different systems

    Amiga
    The Fellow Project - A windows emulator which is considered very fast

    UAE - is a mostly complete software emulation of the hardware of the Commodore Amiga 500/1000/2000. A Commodore Amiga, for those who don't know, is a 16/32 bit computer system based on the Motorola 680x0 CPU and a few specially designed custom chips that provide very good graphics and sound capabilities

    DosUAE - DOS port
    WinUAE - Windows port
    MacUAE - Power Macintosh port
    BeUAE - BeOS port

    Amstrad
    Caprice 32 - Software simulating hardware
    CPCE - CPC emulator for DOS
    NO$CPC - simply the fastest CPC emulation ever, integrated hi-end debugger with breakpoints, online assembler, various keyboard drivers, popup-menues, full mouse control, supports arj/pkzip archievated DSK-files, full adlib sound support, video mode/color splitting, joystick support, disk copy protection emulation
    WinAPE32 - The windows Amstrad Plus Emulator

    Apple II
    Apple II Oasis for Windows - Emulates 128K+ //e, all video modes, 65c02 and Z80 microprocessors, Apple II speaker, Disk II and Hard disk images, realtime clock, serial interface, peripheral card swapping, etc
    Appler - A DOS-hosted Apple ][ Emulator, written entirely in 386 Assembler
    XGS/32 - XGS/32 is a windows-based Apple IIgs Emulator, based on the original XGS core

    Atari 8bit
    Atari800Win - A freeware Atari 8-bit computer emulator for Win9x/NT
    Xformer 2000 - Runs your Atari 400/800, 800XL and 130XE for DOS, Windows (9x,NT,2000) and OS/2
    Rainbow - Is the Atari 8-Bit Emulator for the Apple Mac and Windows 95/98/NT with Direct X, it offers very faithful emulation both graphics and sound

    Atari 16/32bit
    Echo - An Atari ST emulator for DOS
    Pacifist - One of the best Atari ST emulators for DOS
    TosBox - A system-level Atari ST emulator for DOS
    Winston - An Atari ST emulator for Windows 9x/NT

    Commodore 64
    C64S - A commercial emulator for DOS
    CCS64 - CCS64 is a Commdore 64 Emulator for PC and also in the future other platforms
    Versatile Commodore Emulator (VICE) - Is a Versatile Commodore Emulator, i.e. a program that runs on a Unix, MS-DOS, Win95/NT, OS/2 or RiscOS machine and executes programs intended for the old 8-bit Commodore computers. The current version emulates the C64, the C128 (80 column screen is included now), the VIC20, all the PET models (except the SuperPET 9000, which is out of line anyway) and the CBM-II (aka C610)
    Frodo - The free portable C64 emulator for BeOS, Unix, MacOS, AmigaOS, RiscOS, Windows, EPOC
    Come Back 64 - Come Back 64 is a software emulator for the Commodore 64 Computer running on various platforms

    MSX
    BRMSX - BRMSX will be the fastest and most accurate MSX emulator ever. To assure that, BRMSX is all written in 32-bit assembly, there will be not a single line of C code in this emulator
    RuMSX - RuMSX is a MSX-emulator for the Win32-platform that emulates the MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+ and the Turbo R
    fMSX - Is a portable emulator of MSX/MSX2/MSX2+ home computers, written in C. Because of its portability, fMSX runs on many different systems including Unix, MacOS, AmigaOS, MSDOS, and Windows
    NO$MSX - A fast DOS and Windows MSX emulator
    RuMSX Turbo-R - A fast Windows 32 emulator

    Macintosh
    Basilisk - An Open Source 68k Mac emulator for BeOS, Unix, AmigaOS and Windows
    ARDI - A commercial emulator for Windows 3.1/9x/NT/2000, DOS and OS
    Fusion - A commercial emulator of PCs
    VirtualMac - A commercial program running Mac software on Windows
    The vMac Project - A emulator that currently emulates a Motorola 68000 based Apple Macintosh Plus on Windows, DOS Unix, OS/2 and NeXT

    PC98
    Anex86 - A EPSON PC-286/PC-386/PC-486/PC-586 emulator for Windows
    PC98E - A PC-98x1 emulator for Linux/x86, FreeBSD and Windows

    Spectrum
    R80 - A Spectrum 16k, 48k, 128k, +2 ,+2A, Pentagon 128 and Scorpion 256 emulator
    Spec256
    X128 - A spectrum emulator for DOS
    Z80 Stealth - A spectrum emulator
    ZX Plus - ZX Plus is a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K and 128K emulator written for Windows 95 / 98 using Direct X

    Tandy
    Tandem - Tandy Personal Computer emulator

  The Emulation Scene - Console Emulation

    Multi Emulator Super System
    M.E.S.S. - A free emulator which emulates a large variety of different systems

    DarcNES
    DarcNES - A a multi-system emulator for DOS, Windows, Amiga, BeOS and Unix that currently emulates the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, NES, ColecoVision, Turbo Grafix 16 with CD Emulation and the Apple II

    Atari 2600
    PC Atari Emulator - Atari 2600 emulator for DOS
    Stella - A multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator fpr Acorn, Amiga, DOS, FreeBSD, IRX, Linux, OS/2, MACOS, OpenStep, Unix and Windows
    StellaX - The Atari 2600 emulator for Window 9x/NT/2000
    z26 - An emulator for DOS/Windows 95

    Atari 5200
    Atari800WIN - A freeware Atari 8bit computer emulator for Win9x/NT
    Rainbow - An Atari 5200 emulator for Windows 9x/NT and Apple Mac
    Virtual Super System - VSS is an Atari 5200 Super System emulator for MSDOS

    Atari 7800
    M.E.S.S. - A free emulator which emulates a large variety of different systems including the Atari 7800

    Coleco
    ADAMEm - A portable Coleco ADAM and ColecoVision emulator for Windows and DOS
    ColEm-DOS - A Coleco emulator for DOS and Macintosh
    The Virtual ColecoVision - A ColecoVision emulator for Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, and the Java Virtual Machine

    Intellivision
    Intellivision Lives! - A free emulator for the PC and Mac

    Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom
    DarcNES - A a multi-system emulator for DOS, Windows, Amiga, BeOS and Unix that currently emulates the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, NES, ColecoVision, Turbo Grafix 16 with CD Emulation and the Apple II
    DreamNes DX - A NES emulator for DOS
    FwNES98 - A DOS/Windows NES/Famicom emulator
    Jnes - A NES emulator for Windows32
    NESten - A NES emulator for Windows 9x/2000
    NESticle - A NES emulator for DOS/Win9x
    Pretendo - A NES flexible NES emulator for Windows 9x/NT/2000, BeOS and Linux
    RockNES - A NES emulator for DOS/Windows

    SNK NeoGeo
    MAME - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator that also emulates NeoGeo
    NeoGeo CD Emulator - A NeoGeo CD emulator for DOS
    NeoRAGE - A NeoGeo emulator for DOS and Windows

    Nintendo 64
    Corn - A N64 emulator for Windows
    Nemu64 - A N64 emulator for Windows
    UltraHLE - Ultra64 High Level Emulator for Windows
    TrueReality - A multi-platform N64 emulator for Unix, Windows, Windows w/ OpenGL and MacOS

    NEC PC Engine/Turbo Graphx 16/Core-GraphX
    HU-GO! - A PCE/TG/CG for DOS and linux
    Magic Engine - A PCE/TG for DOS, Win9x/NT and MacOS

    Sega Master System/SG1000/SC3000
    BrSMS - An emulator for DOS
    Meka - A shareware emulator for DOS
    Massage - A freeware emulator for DOS

    Sega Megadrive/Genesis
    DGen - A free Genesis/Megadrive emulator for Windows 95/98/2000 (and possibly NT) running under DirectX
    Virutal Genesis - A DOS based emulator for the Sega Genesis, it is written in C and Assembler using Djgpp and Nasm
    Genecyst - A Genesis emulator for DOS

    Sega 32X
    AGES - A Sega Genesis/32X emulator for Windows

    Sony Playstation/PSX
    AdriPSX - A free emulator for DOS and Windows
    bleem! - A commercial emulator for DOS and the Sega Dreamcast
    Virtual Game Station - A commercial emulator for Windows and MacOS

    Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)/SuperFamicom
    SNEmul - A DOS and Linux emulator and SPC ripper
    Snes9x - A freeware, very portable emulator for Solaris, Linux, Windows, DOS, BeOS, SunOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, RiscOS, Amiga, N64, OpenBSD and Irix
    ZSNES - An 100% assembler emulator for DOS and Windows

    Vectrex
    DOS Vectrex Emulator

  The Emulation Scene - Handheld Emulation

    Nintendo Gameboy/Super Gameboy/Gameboy Color
    Boycott - An emulator for Windows/DOS/Unix/Macintosh
    GameBoy 98 - An Gameboy/Gameboy Color emulator for DOS
    HelloGB - An GB/SGB/GBC emulator for Windows
    VGB - For DOS, X11, Unix/Linux

    Nintendo Virtual Boy
    Reality Boy - For Windows and Linux
    Virtual E - For Windows, OpenGL, Linux, Aix and DOS

    Sega Game Gear
    BrSMS - An emulator for DOS
    Meka - A shareware emulator for DOS
    Massage - A freeware emulator for DOS

    Atari Lynx
    Handy - A Free emulator for Windows9x/NT/2000, Macintosh, Linux, Amiga and Acorn

    NeoGeo Pocket
    Rape? - For Windows 9x

  The Emulation Scene - Arcade Emulation

    Juno First - (Discontinued)

    Sparcade - Is a multi-game arcade emulator with support for games based around the 6502, 6809, Z80, 8086 or 68000 processors. Unlike many other emulators, Sparcade's core is 100% assembly language, providing true arcade speed and smoothness even on low-specced machines

    HiVE (High Velocity Emulator) - HiVE is a Win32 program which emulates classic arcade games such as Galaga and PacMan. This project was formerly know as CAGE (Classic Arcade Game Emulator)

    Retrocade - Retrocade is a high-performance arcade emulation program that emulates a large number of classic arcade games from the late 1970's and the 1980's

    Callus - Callus is a Capcom Arcade Emulator released in 1998 It runs many of the classic Capcom games like Final Fight and Street Fighter 2

    Raine - (Discontinued) Emulates some M68000 and M68020 arcade games and is mainly focused on Taito and Jaleco games hardware

    Rage (Real Arcade Game Emulator) - Our main goal is to emulate as many SNK and Capcom games as possible in our RAGE emulator, and as many NeoGeo games in our NeoRAGE emulator

    System 16 Arcade Emulator - (Discontinued) Emulates the Sega's System 16/18 arcade boards and some extra dual 68000 boards like Out Run, Space Harrier and Hang-On series