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MAME - Relive the Arcade Classics

By: tyshock

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Did you find yourself feeding quarters into the great arcade machines of the '80s and '90s? Do you miss the nostalgia of these games? Would you like to, for instance, play frogger in all of its original glory? If you're reading this article on a computer manufactured since the year 2000, then you have the hardware to relive those great arcade moments in the comfort of your own home.

It's all possible thanks to arcade machine emulators. Emulators are pieces of software designed to perfectly imitate a particular arrangement of hardware and software. There are emulators for just about any sort of hardware or software you can imagine. However, when it comes to arcade games, one emulator reigns supreme: the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, or MAME for short. The MAME project originally started in 1997 as an attempt to emulate just five classic games. However, it has continually grown to the point today where it emulates just under four thousand unique games. The project is an open source community effort. Hundreds of code contributors over the years have given their time and effort to the project, and the user community is in the millions.

The purpose of MAME is to preserve old arcade games. As time goes on, the parts which make up these classic machines are becoming obsolete. The MAME project's goal is to capture a snapshot of these games, including full emulation, before they go 'extinct'. Most arcade games consisted of a central processor chip and multiple static ROM chips. In addition, there were a few games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace that ran on laserdiscs. You might also run into an arcade game that relies on some other form of storage device, but for the most part, the code that makes your favorite arcade games tick exists on physical chips attached directly to a circuit board inside the machine.

The MAME software perfectly emulates the original machine's hardware, including the arcade machine's memory, processors or central processing unit (CPU) and input/output (I/O) spaces. When paired with an arcade game ROM (an acronym for read-only memory) and perhaps a selection of sound samples, MAME can imitate that game. To explain in another way, you have the ROM chips which contain the instructions, artwork, and in some cases even the sounds that make up the game. Then, you have the CPU, the engine which crunches all these instructions and enables the game to be played. One final analogy.....if the CPU represents a TV, then the ROMs represent the TV shows. Both are dependent on each other, but they are also fundamentally different.

The MAME software is able to emulate thousands of different arcade games. This is possible due to its modular design. For example, many classic arcade games were based on the Motorola 6502 CPU, including the Atart hits Battlezone, Asteroids and Missile Command (interestingly enough, the original Nintendo NES also contained a 6502). So, if one were to perfectly emulate the 6502 CPU, then that block of code could be reused when trying to emulate any game which used the 6502. Since there are a finite number of hardware components used in the majority of arcade games, each of these has been emulated and designed for reuse. In general, provided both platforms have the same processing power, emulated code will perform slower than code written for the original hardware. However, modern hardware is exponentially faster than the hardware that these games were written on, so perfect performance is usually attainable for all but the latest arcade machines. Even those will eventually be run perfectly as hardware continues to advance.

As previously mentioned, the MAME program supports thousands of ROMs. However, while MAME is free and easily available, you won't find any ROMs with it when you download a copy. That's because most arcade games -- even those made by companies that have since closed -- are protected by copyright. Unless you own a copy of the physical hardware for a particular arcade game, it's technically against the law to download and own a ROM. However, let's assume you have a big pile of arcade game chips sitting in a box at home. You've purchased each and every one legitimately, but you lack the hardware to run them or the games themselves have deteriorated. In that case, it's perfectly legal for you to seek out the ROMs for the games you own and download them. Lots of sites on the Web host ROMs -- they aren't hard to find. Remember, Google is your friend.

If you would like to get started using MAME, then the best place to start is at the official MAME development site (http://mamedev.org/). If you are running a Microsoft Windows based PC, then I advise you begin by download MAME32. This is a fully graphically driven version of MAME and will allow you to get started while avoiding some of the commandline options that are there for the more experienced users. As mentioned, you will also need some ROMs to play with MAME. To get those, you can just use Google and search for the name of your favorite game along with 'ROM'. After a few searches, you will probably find a permanent source that you can use to download a large set of ROMs. Most of these ROMs, especially games pre 1990, are 1MB or less. Games like Donkey Kong and PacMan are less than the size of a typical image on the web.

The MAME software project gives fans of classic arcade gaming a chance to relive the nostalgic times of the arcade experience. While local arcades have died off, it is still possible with MAME to enjoy the arcade experience in one's own home. I hope I have given a brief tutorial on the basics of MAME's purpose and inner workings. I also hope to have provided a couple of resources so you are able to get started enjoying MAME if you are interested. Finally, I hope that those who wish to enjoy MAME have a wonderful time, and I hope you appreciate the hard work and effort put in by the wonderful MAME community members.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Ty Shock is a self professed 'geek' and enjoys researching and playing classic games. Whether new or old, he always enjoys fun games regardless of the platform.

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