>>44495947For what it's worth, Virtual Console is still emulation, just officially developed/commissioned and distributed by Nintendo. I'd say it's a step above other emulators lest you value things like shaders, but to my knowledge GB emulators nowadays are accurate enough to be largely indistinguishable besides input and audio lag.
Also, fuck the haters, Red is still a fun game; I actually like it more than the remake. Yeah, it's a buggy mess and has some very odd design choices, but that makes it so fun to break apart and mess around in. I'm not saying you should play it over Crystal, but maybe sometime down the line check it out, you might derive more enjoyment out of it than you anticipated.