Hopefully the 8088 machine code will be slightly more efficient per cycle than 6502 (well, 2A03) code is. That means even if the CPU takes a lot of clock cycles, perhaps it gets more done without shuffling registers and accumulators back and forth. An IBM PC also runs at 4.77 MHz compared to a NES at 1.78 MHz, so what takes 4 clock cycles on a 8088 may not take more than 1.5 cycles on a 6502.the 8088 needs 4 cycles per memory access and CGA video memory requires a wait state -- the end result would be unusably slow.
Hopefully the 8088 machine code will be slightly more efficient per cycle than 6502 (well, 2A03) code is. That means even if the CPU takes a lot of clock cycles, perhaps it gets more done without shuffling registers and accumulators back and forth. An IBM PC also runs at 4.77 MHz compared to a NES at 1.78 MHz, so what takes 4 clock cycles on a 8088 may not take more than 1.5 cycles on a 6502.
Unfortunately, it's a bit worse than that. A C64 and a 4.77MHz 8088 are roughly the same overall speed because most instructions on 8088 take an average of 8 cycles to execute (4 for the opcode fetch, 2-4 to execute). Memory taking 4 cycles per byte really blows. Compare that to the c64 in which most instructions and memory accesses are, what, 1 or 2 cycles?
The only advantage an 8088 has over a C64 (in terms of processing speed) are a real MUL, DIV, and 16-bit registers.
However, I'd LOVE to see someone try and emulate an NES on a CGA 8088 computer, the graphics sprites are could very well be possible being as the NES uses only 4 "colors" for each sprite out of the total pallet. The problem lies more in graphics speed and the ability to process multiple streams of data at once that create the "virtual machine" so to speak. A NES Emulator does more than just run code, it converts the I/O to work with standard PC Peripherals, changes the video to look as accurate as possible, controls all NES-type memory operations, plays back sound, and all the other things. That's why an 8088 based emulator is at least next to impossible in practice.
lol.. and the winner for the most confused technology picture goes to.. ;-) (IBM PC with 5.25" drive with 3.5" floppy and CDs sitting on it, running an NES game on an LCD screen!)
An HD set top box on the market from a company that shall remain nameless had a port of FCEU with a Legend of Zelda ROM ported by me. It was triggered by a debug menu and ran on a 300 MHz MIPS R4Ke. Was in software releases for nearly a full year before I finally removed it fearing legal issues. It ran at roughly 80% CPU and supported the NES/Famicom USB type game pads.