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|source = [https://github.com/mamedev/mame GitHub]}}'''[[wikipedia:MAME|MAME]]''' (an acronym for '''<u>M</u>ultiple <u>A</u>rcade <u>M</u>achine <u>E</u>mulator''') is a cross multi-platform , open-source, [[Multi-System Emulatorssystem 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 many alternative front-ends 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 similar project called [[MESS]] was made to do essentially the same thing for home consoles and other esoteric devices that never got emulated, but it has since been merged into MAMEby the end of May 2015 in version 0.162, and now it supports ''a whole lot more'' than arcade machines.

*[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html '''Official release''']* [http://ashura.mameworld.info/nightlybuilds/builds.html Nightly builds] (compiled by Ashura-X)*[http://www.emucr.com/search/label/MAME-SVN SVN BuildsNightly builds](up to November 27, 2015)*[http://www.t2e.pl/pl/466/134/466/Automatyczne-edycje?tsearch=mame,svn,not|plus,not|mameui,not|mewui T2E SVN BUILDSbuilds](Polish, up to March 2015)

*[http://sdlmame.lngn.net/ Unofficial SDLMAME buildport](64-bit, provided by lngn.net)* [http://ashura.mameworld.info/nightlybuilds/sdl_builds.html Nightly builds] (compiled by Ashura-X)

MAME was first put out in on February 5, 1997 by Nicola Salmoria as a Pac-Man emulator,<ref name="worldofstuart">[http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/mameover.htmMAME 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 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 application.

However... don't expect support for more recent boards like atomiswaveAtomiswave; 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 isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world for users who only have traditional desktops, and the same goes for anyone with the actual arcade boards. Something as popular as Pac-Man will probably never need newer dumps beyond the current ones because it's been continually researched, 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 may not have everything implemented. The native interface will tell you about the emulation status of the chosen romset, and whether the one you're using is even emulated at the current time.

Also see the incomplete [[MAME compatibility list]] internally here. And the latest in-progress [http://mameinfo.mameworld.info/ changelog update].

It is highly recommended to use a ROM management tool such as RomCenter or clrmameproClrMamePro. Without all the required files and file versions, the game simply will not work.

* [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.

MAME uses has many third-party front ends. Please help expand this section.

QMC2 is a multi-platform MAME/MESS /UME frontend.

Also known as '''GroovyUME'''. It's a fork of MAME /UME made to support arcade CRT monitorsfor AMD cards.