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'''[[wikipedia:MAME|MAME]]''' (originally an acronym for '''<u>M</u>ultiple <u>A</u>rcade <u>M</u>achine <u>E</u>mulator''') is a multi-platform, open-source, [[Multi-system emulators|multi-system emulator]] written in C++. The philosophy behind the project is to recreate the workings of machines through emulation, and thus the ability to actually play the games is "a nice side effect". MAME is incredibly large, [[MAME compatibility list|supporting thousands of machines and ROM sets]], though what is supported is not what's playable; your mileage may vary. In the event you don't like MAME's own interface, there are [[Frontends#MAME|many alternative front-ends frontends]] available.

Much like the name says, MAME was supposed to be for arcade machines like Pac-Man back when it was released in 1997. A Over time, MAME has incorporated similar projects out of a necessity to keep development active and prevent duplication of work (as some arcade machines often shared hardware with consoles to ease development of games); the first project called to be merged was [[MESS]] was made to do essentially at the same thing end of May 2015 starting with version 0.162 and it functioned almost exactly like MAME but for home consoles and other esoteric devices that never got emulatedelsewhere. MAME also had a policy against emulating gambling machines, but it that decision has since been merged into reversed and the project that aimed to get them working, <abbr title="Arcade Gambling Extensions for MAME by the end of May 2015 in version 0.162">AGEMAME</abbr>, and now it supports ''a whole lot more'' than arcade machineshas also been merged.

MAME was first put out on February 5, 1997 by Nicola Salmoria as is the prime example of a Pac-Man emulator,<ref name="worldofstuart">jack of all trades; it can technically emulate consoles like the [[http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/mameover.htm MAME OVERPlayStation emulators|PlayStation]] (0.99)</ref><ref name="History">{{cite weband [[Nintendo 64 emulators|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJF18Pm7MANintendo 64]], but for those consoles you're better off going with our [[Recommended Emulators|title=A Brief History of Emulation: recommended emulators]] as they may be more performant or more compatible than MAME|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=2018-09-14|date=2017-12-02}}</ref> but before he could do any more work on the project, he handed it over to Mirko Buffoni in April 1997 after requiring to do National Service in the Italian army.<ref name="worldofstuart"/> Since then, even as early as 2003, the emulator has become very extensive, with the majority of arcade system boards from the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's supported. On February 2016 in version 0.171, a new GUI was integrated into MAME which allowed users to launch games in it without the need for a third-party GUI applicationown drivers.

However... don't expect support for more recent boards like Atomiswave; the The project and its team focuses on [[Emulation Accuracy|accuracy]] (preferably cycle-accuracy) and preservation, which often puts usability at a much lower priority for end users. The program is also '''very strict''' about what components of a ROM dump it needs to even function, and it may tell you if something is wrong with the files (i.e. a failed checksum); once developers know more about a system, they'll often have to dump more components like ROMs and BIOSes if necessary, and obtaining newer dumps from the boards isnso don't exactly the easiest thing in the world expect support for users who only have traditional desktops, and the same goes for anyone with the actual arcade more recent boardslike Atomiswave. Something as popular as Pac-Man will probably never need newer dumps beyond the current ones because it's been continually researchedFor some systems, and the dumps have been pretty widespread, but other machines you've probably only seen once at an arcade will probably need new dumps for a reason. Only ROM dumps with all the newest information will work in new versions of MAME. Even then, programmers developers may not have everything implemented. The native interface will tell you about the emulation status of the chosen romsetdriver, and whether the one you're using is even emulated at the current timewhat components are considered lacking.

Also see the incomplete We have an outdated compatibility list [[MAME compatibility list|here]] internally here. And You can see the latest in-progress upcoming version's changelog [http://mameinfo.mameworld.info/ changelog updatehere]. Other compatibility lists: * [http://unmamed.mameworld.info/ List of arcade games that DON'T work] Last updated February 2014. Don't expect the most recent games (like [[Sega NAOMI and variants|Sega Naomi]] ones) to run at full speed, MAME is very resource intensive.* [http://nonmame.retrogames.com/ NonMAME] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20150306213522/http://consume.retrogames.com/ 2015 Mirror]) This is a list of arcade systems that currently are not emulated by MAME or are emulated better by other emulators.

MAME either has lots of standardization on how When developers know more about a system, they often have to dump more components like ROMs and BIOSes if necessary. It's highly recommended to use a ROM management tool such as RomCenter or ClrMamePro. Without these programs, it'll take you a lot longer to organize find the ROM necessary files for a game. Something as popular as Pac-Man will probably never need newer dumpsbeyond the current ones because it's been continually researched from the beginning, or it has and the ROMs have been pretty widespread, but for very littlerare machines, and sometimes MAME will see continuous changes in the given files it needs as more information is discovered about the system. You can be vague and confusingexpect these ROMs to surface online in some form, but you may as well never get them directly from the developers themselves. A single game may need lots  MAME is '''very strict''' about what components of files for the a ROM dump it needs to even registerfunction, and separate folders for it may tell you if something is wrong with the BIOS files (i.e. a failed checksum); only a ROMset with all the newest information will work in recent versions of consolesMAME. For machines that use stuff like hard drives and optical disks to store its data, MAME has a special its own format called Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) which uses a number of compression methods to reduce the size of a raw image file. This format also allows MAME to use 7-Zip archives for ROMsets in place of Zip files. ===Frontends===MAME used to be a command line application that was launched by a separately licensed frontend. However, with MAME relicensing as open source in 2016, the developers have since incorporated MEWUI as its built-in interface. However, it still accepts command-line parameters, allowing most frontends to keep working. You can see a list of them '''[[Frontends#MAME|here]]'''. ===History===MAME was first released on February 5, 1997 by Nicola Salmoria as a Pac-Man emulator,<ref name="worldofstuart">[http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/mameover.htm MAME OVER] (0.99)</ref><ref name="History">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJF18Pm7MA|title=A Brief History of Emulation: MAME|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=2018-09-14|date=2017-12-02}}</ref> but before he could do any more work on the project he handed it over to Mirko Buffoni in April 1997 after being required to do National Service in the Italian army.<ref name="worldofstuart"/> Since then, even as early as 2003, the emulator has become very extensive, with the majority of arcade system boards from the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's supported.

It is highly recommended MAME originally used a custom BSD license that prohibited commercial use in a few ways. This was mainly used to use deter arcade operators from monetizing an emulated version of a ROM management tool such as RomCenter or ClrMameProwidely available commercial title like Pac-Man. Without all However, the MAME team didn't have the required files and file versionsfunds to afford prosecutors, so this was never effectively enforced. Through an extensive relicensing process in 2016, the game simply will not workproject completely changed to a combination of GPL/BSD where applicable. This allowed them to merge the codebase for the MEWUI frontend into the main application starting with version 0.171.

==List of Arcade systems emulatedForks==* [http://unmamed.mameworld.info/ List of arcade games that DON'T work] Last updated February 2014. Don't expect the most recent games (like [[Sega NAOMI and variants|Sega Naomi]] ones) to run at full speed, MAME is very resource intensive.* [http://nonmame.retrogames.com/ NonMAME] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20150306213522/http://consume.retrogames.com/ 2015 Mirror]) This is a list of arcade systems that currently are not emulated by MAME or are emulated better by other emulators. ==Frontends=MAMEUI64=MAME has many third-party front ends. {{Main|Frontends#MAME}} ==List of forks==;MAMEUI64:

;===[[GroovyMAME:]]==={{Main|GroovyMAME}}Also known as '''(or GroovyUME'''. It's ) is a fork of MAME/UME made primarily to support arcade CRT monitors for AMD cards. It also includes input lag reductions that can be taken advantage of on CRTs or LCDs.

;AGEMAME:Years ago MAME used to exclude gambling games, this lead to a fork called ''Arcade Gambling Extensions for MAME (AGEMAME)'' being created for this specific purpose. Nowadays, it's since long integrated into MAME. ;MESS:{{Main|MESS}}For many years, MESS was a separate project from MAME that emulated consoles, computers, and calculators using MAME's architecture and much of it's code. As of MAME 0.162, MESS merged with MAME. MAME now includes all MESS romsets and software lists and separate MESS builds are no longer distributed, although they can still be compiled from source. ;===PinMAME:===

;===ARCADE:===[http://arcade.mameworld.info/ ARCADE]ARCADE is a continuation (maintenance -only) continuation of the MAMEUIFX project, which was in turn forked from MAMEUI/MAME32. MAMEUIFX included unique drivers and games compared to mainline MAME, but these are now integrated into [[HBMAME]] instead.