There is no need to add the AppStream metadata. They are recommended, but not required. They should be auto-generated from the desktop/icon files present in the package, but it does not happen for fs-uae for some reason. Possibly because there is "NoDisplay=true" in the desktop file. This is what this ticket is about.
Or is theĀ "NoDisplay=true" in fs-uae.desktop intentional and the fs-uae package should be used in combination with fs-uae-launcher (that is not currently available for the reasons you mentioned)? Thanks! Regards, Daniel