MSX easier to emulate than C64?

Regarding the relative slowness VRAM speed of the MSX, in that situation is not a big penalty: those games works in a RAM backbuffer, then copy a ram block from RAM to VRAM; there is no much difference between an OTIR or LDIR.
The big problem is that you can't use OTIR on MSX1 if you're in the display area. If you are, you need to have 28 Z80 cycles between each out to the VDP. Thats a big problem. Not only does it slow down the copy. You're also wasting CPU cycles on nops.

This sound strange to me; on an Sony HP10P this trick (OTIR) work fine to me, especially during vblank...

Take a look of a zx->msx1 speccy convertion of one of the last Batman title. It's a very quick z80 scroll

unfortunately only during vblank. If you use otir during the display area you get corruption on many MSX1 models.
Yes, and I suppose it happens on all MSX models (at least all MSX1 models). The same thing happens on SMS.

Well, a few years ago I had a totally accidental but spicy discussion on a "heavy metal forum" (of all places).

One guy with decent technical background kept defending Commodore vs MSX 1, yet he'd never seen games like Nemesis 3 (or Astro Marine Corps, for that matter). The most fancy thing he had ever seen on MSX was Eggerland.

Sure, the sound of the C64 was better in certain (sound sampling) ways, and maybe it was even just a tad better in graphic-processing than the MSX 1, but hell, we all know the games we like, and we tend to like the ones we grow up with, right?

But yeah, it must be jealousy. MSX is still, despite the odds, pretty much alive, so to see, and technically, it looks to me, it must be indeed be harder to emulate a C64.
I've read the more in-deep technical stories of people here with great interest!

Anyway, I always stand in awe of any given emulator. Really, I truly admire those who can make something like that.

There used to be some o.k. games on C64 as well. But they were never like MSX. And that can't be just out of prejudice that I think so...

Sorry that I don't really add much to this discussion but my 2 cents worth.

Having owned MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+, C64 and a bunch of Amiga's:

technically, C64 beats the crap out of MSX, both graphic & sounds wise.
technically, Amiga beats the crap out of MSX 2(+), both graphis & sounds wise.

But, where MSX wins is gameplay. For some reason, most games on MSX had way better gameplay compared to games on the commodore machines. Of course both C64 and Amiga had some great games to, which were technically more andvanced, but most of the time they lacked something.

As for the emulation quality, both MSX and C64 have some pretty good emulators. But as for Amiga emulators: Well, it's just about OK....

In case you do not know who Jeff Minter is:
CiH and Jeff Minter @ ALT Party 2003 ;)