At what point does emulation make more sense than blowing on a cart and praying?

Recently I was bit by the Zelda bug – the urge to go back and once again attempt to tackle one of the great Zelda titles. Which one I would throw myself at was undecided – either the classic first one on the NES, the best game of all time on the SNES, or the not quite as epic, but still great one for the Gameboy color.
Eventually, I decided to give the second one in the series (Zelda II – The Adventure of Link) another go. It is one of two Zelda related titles that I have played, but not actually completed. I figured I should probably rectify this, and maybe get the Zelda bug out of my system at the same time.
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