> only new code would benefit from it.
Not only new code. Old code in an high-level language would benefit, too, if the language compiler was updated and the code recompiled.
> only new code would benefit from it.
Not only new code. Old code in an high-level language would benefit, too, if the language compiler was updated and the code recompiled.
Not everyone has that sort of luxury of access to source etc., people want their existing binaries to run faster.
Also, if you need to recompile to get a performance boost, why not recompile for a cleaner modern architecture? You can always use an emulator for legacy code, if it isn't going to run fast on a modern CPU either way...
Or sometimes, binary pached.
This. Don't underestimate the amount of M68K code written in assembly language.