Game emulation is nothing new, but never before has there been such a coverage of games reaching as far back as the early days of arcade boxes, which have become endangered species or even extinct in some parts of the globe. Technologically speaking, all the pieces to make this possible have already been in place. MAME, the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator, has long been in existence. It gave birth to MESS, the Multi Engine Super System, which in turn lead to JSMESS, a Javascript-based implementation of MESS that worked in web browsers which, almost coming full circle, includes JSMAME, which powers the Internet Arcade.
Of course, some might question the worth of such an endeavor beyond mere nostalgia. Actually, this effort might be more important than ever before. Modern society is moving, albeit sometimes slowly, towards seeing games as more than just entertainment but even as expressions of art. And like the rest of art, having a clear memory of its history can help not only understand the past but even help shape the future. Unfortunately, we haven't been good curators of that piece of gaming history, so it's efforts like this that will help the gaming community remember its past well, even and especially beyond this current generation.
