MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework.
MAME’s purpose is to preserve decades of software history. As electronic technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents this important "vintage" software from being lost and forgotten. This is achieved by documenting the hardware and how it functions. The source code to MAME serves as this documentation. The fact that the software is usable serves primarily to validate the accuracy of the documentation (how else can you prove that you have recreated the hardware faithfully?). Over time, MAME (originally stood for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) absorbed the sister-project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System), so MAME now documents a wide variety of (mostly vintage) computers, video game consoles and calculators, in addition to the arcade video games that were its initial focus.
The MAME project as a whole is distributed under the terms of theGNU General Public License, 2 (GPL-2.0), since it contains code made available under multiple GPL-compatible licenses.A great majority of files (over 90% including core files) are under theBSD-3-Clause License and we would encourage new contributors to distribute files under this license.
Please note that MAME is a registered trademark of Gregory Ember, and permission is required to use the "MAME" name, logo or wordmark.
MAME 0.276 has arrived just in time for the end of March, and it’sfull of emulation goodness! Remember that 64-bit ARMv8 recompiler weadded a few months ago? Well now it’seven faster! Thisrelease fixes graphical issues in Konami GX arcade games and PhilipsCD-i software. We’ve added several IGS gambling games, as well asChinese versions of some Dynax mahjong games. The LinnDrum percussionsynthesiser is now working with interactive controls and sound output.And speaking of sound, audio emulation issues in several arcade gameshave been fixed.
PC-88VA emulation is progressing, with fixes for multiple graphicsmodes. A few more peripherals for the TI-99 computer family are nowsupported. There have been a few CPU/DSP fixes that should improveSega 3D arcade game emulation. Psion hand-helds now correctly detectmore memory configurations and give better-looking video output. We’vealso fixed some issues with CHD creation, floppy disk image handling,and XML system information output. Windows users now get an option tohave debugger windows appear in the taskbar and window switcher.
As always, you can marvel at all the exciting development this monthwhen you read thewhatsnew.txtfile. The source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages can befound onthe downloadpage.
MAME 0.275 is out now! It’s been a short month, but there’s stillbeen plenty of interesting development. This release adds support forseveral arcade games on PlayStation-based hardware, a few PowerBook Duosub-notebook computers, some hand-held LCD games, and a couple of Casiomusic keyboards.
Support for the Zorro II bus used in the Amiga 2000 has beenimproved, including DMA support and a few more emulated cards. Somegraphical glitches in Konami arcade games have been fixed. The OberheimDMX drum machine is now fully emulated. We’ve even optimised therecompilers a little more this month.
You can read about all the work that’s gone into this release in thewhatsnew.txtfile, or get source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages fromthe downloadpage.
Today’s the day you get to experience MAME 0.274 for the first time!As previously mentioned, our Windows binary releases now require a CPUwith x86-64-v2 functionality. The most anticipated feature completedthis month is almost certainly the 64-bit ARMv8 recompiler back-end.It’s been tested on macOS, conventional Linux and Android, and providessome very welcome performance improvements when emulating systems withRISC CPUs, including MIPS III, PowerPC and SuperH. In addition to thenew back-end, we’ve fixed some bugs in the existing back-ends and madesome performance improvements for x86-64. Keep in mind that the actualperformance benefits you experience will vary substantially depending onyour CPU and the emulated system and software.
While that was happening, emulation work continued to progress. Thisrelease adds support for numerous digital pets, a couple more TronicaLCD games, and several synthesisers. Several CD-i graphics formats havebeen fixed, and speaking of Philips, video emulation for their Minitel 2terminal has been improved as well. Our NEC µPD17771C emulation hasbeen completely overhauled, which is particularly noticeable in StarSpeeder on the Epoch Super Cassette Vision.
Lots has been going on in computer emulation this month. We’ve takena few steps along the road to emulating the first-generation PowerMacintosh systems; the Heath/Zenith computers now have hard-sectoredfloppy formats and working joystick support; the JUKU E5104 now hasmouse support; the Silicon Graphics Professional IRIS 4D workstationsare now considered working. There’s also been some work on Amigagraphics emulation, although some of the improvements missed thisrelease.
As always, you can read about all of the month’s development work inthewhatsnew.txtfile. If you’re excited and want to try it out, head right over tothe download pagewhere you can find the source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages.See you all again next month for another thrilling MAME release!
If you’ve been following along, you’ll no doubt realise that MAMEdevelopment is off to a flying start in 2025. Perhaps the most excitingfeature coming in the next release is a native recompiler for 64-bitARMv8 systems. This includes Apple Silicon, recent Raspberry Pi models,and the most popular Android devices.
After several years, we’ve decided it’s time to start takingadvantage of features of newer (or at least slightly less outdated)CPUs. Starting with MAME 0.274, official Windows binary releases willrequire so-called x86-64-v2 features. These features have beenavailable in all popular x86-64 CPUs for close to a decade. They wereintroduced in the following CPU families:
If you still want to run up-to-date versions of MAME on older systemsrunning Windows, you’ll need to compile it from the source code.
It looks like MAME 0.273 has made it just in time for the end of2024! First of all, if you want to build MAME with Microsoft’s IDE,you’ll need to switch to Visual Studio 2022 and ensure you have anup-to-date version of the Visual C++ compiler. (There’s lots moreuseful information about building MAME from source code ontherelevant documentation page.)
Microcontrollers for Sun Electronics Kangaroo and Data East E.D.F.:Earth Defense Force have been dumped and emulated. This fixes severalissues where the simulation was incorrect for Kangaroo, affectinggameplay and sound. Speaking of which, there have been quite a fewfixes for sound issues in arcade games this month.
Regional variants of the Apple II computer line allowed the user toswitch between US English mode and local mode, affecting the displaycharacter set and the keyboard layout. This release greatly improvessupport for language selection and adds support for several EuropeanApple IIe and Apple IIc variants. In other Apple emulation news, the’030-based PowerBook series is coming to life: you might want to try outthe PowerBook 140, 160, 170 and 180 or variants thereof.
There’s lots more in this release, including more Amiga sound andvideo cards, CPU emulation fixes, and better DMA behaviour for emulatedSound Blaster cards. You can read about all the exciting developmentsin thewhatsnew.txtfile, or get the source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages fromthe downloadpage.
The end of the year is almost upon us, but before that happens, makesure you try MAME 0.272! We’re very happy to announce that the earlySNK game Tangram Q is now supported. This game was never widespread,and working examples are rarer than ever. MAME now gives you theunprecedented opportunity to experience this piece of gaming history.Another obscure system that’s starting to take shape is the EstonianEKTA Juku. This 8-bit educational computer was powered by a Soviet 8080clone and ran the CP/M-derived EKDOS operating system.
The French Thomson computers have been receiving some attentionlately, and software compatibility is starting to improve. Progress onthe NEC PC-98 family is still coming along nicely. Our CD-ROM driveemulation has been getting better, which has a positive impact onnumerous computers as well as game systems. The Epoch Super Cassettevision also got some nice fixes this month.
Numerous reported issues were fixed in this release, including somelong-standing issues that had eluded developers for years. There arelots of new working bootleg arcade games to try out. Several TV gameshave been promoted to working this month, too.
You can read about all the exciting work that went into this releasein thewhatsnew.txtfile. As always, the source code and 64-bit Windows binary packagesare available onthedownload page.
It’s the end of October, which means it must be time for MAME 0.271!It’s been another good month for gambling system emulation. A fewExcellent System games are now playable, including Miracle Seven andFever 13. Several more games from IGS were dumped and emulated. Aswell as mahjong games, there are a few card games, including severalvariants of adoudizhu game. Speaking of IGS, Mahjong Senpu is now fully playable.This game is interesting as it feels like a poor-quality imitation IGSmahjong game, although it runs on completely different hardware anddoesn’t appear to rely on stolen game code.
Numerous issues with NEC PC-98 emulation have been fixed, many ofthem affecting graphics. This has resulted in dozens of software listitems being promoted to working. The Research Machines LINK 480Z is nowemulated properly. This 8-bit computer from England could boot BASICfrom ROM or CP/M from floppy disks or a network file server. We’ve alsoadded support for a somewhat newer system built around one of the oldestintegrated CPUs: Dmitry Grinberg’sLinux/4004.This system emulates a MIPS I CPU on an Intel 4004 CPU, allowing Linuxto run from an SD Card. Using it is definitely an exercise inpatience.
As always, there’s far more in this release than we’ve got time totalk about here. There’s some very visible improvement to NamcoSystem 23 emulation, quite a few new chess computers, more JapaneseTV games, some progress on Thomson computer emulation, and lots ofadditions to the Apple and Sinclair software lists.
You can read about everything that changed this month in thewhatsnew.txtfile, and the source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages areavailable onthedownload page.