IIRC, this can run on real hardware. Maybe at least the UMK3+ hack (I think the security chip on that board has been hacked). I remember because I toyed with the idea of making a similar hack for WWF WrestleMania (which I have & runs on the same hardware). I really wanted to give each character a Fatality like the Undertaker, or do something fun with the Adam Bomb assets already in the game, but then I remembered I have no idea what I'm doing with regards to debugging or writing ASM code!

One of the devs streams his work on YT and it might be informative, but it's impossible to use as a reference...