MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with an arcade game's data files (ROM's), MAME will more or less faithfully reproduce that game on a PC. MAME can currently emulate over 10000 classic arcade video games from the three decades of video games - '70s, '80s and '90s, and even some from the '00 era (hey is that Y2K bug?!). The ROM images that MAME utilizes are "dumped" from arcade games' original circuit-board ROM chips. MAME becomes the "hardware" for the games, taking the place of their original CPUs and support chips. Therefore, these games are NOT simulations, but the actual, original games that appeared in arcades.

MAME's purpose is to preserve these decades of video-game history. As gaming technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents these important "vintage" games from being lost and forgotten. This is achieved by documenting the hardware and how it functions, thanks to the talent of programmers from the MAME team and from other contributors. Being able to play the games is just a nice side-effect, which doesn't happen all the time. MAME strives for emulating the games faithfully.

MAME144 is the latest version and is available as a free download from the official MAME website at Mame.Net or you can download the Windows MAMEUI Frontend from http://www.mameui.info (The one I recommend and use). The ROM files may also be downloaded via the internet for free, but are much harder to find due to the sheer size and volume of the collection, over 10000 games and over 260 Gigabytes in size! Even with high-speed broadband it would take considerable time to locate, download and merge all the files to complete the ROM's database. Not all sources provide complete ROM's and may be missing individual files. Some games in the collection do not currently work as the ROM's are not entirely available. As new versions are released and updated, the collection will grow and hopefully find the missing ROM's. I supply a 100% up-to-date collection with all the currently available ROM's and CHD's

For your convenience, DVD's containing the MAME ROM files are available to purchase rather than download. The cost of the collection is purely to cover the expenses for providing the burning service associated in labour, locating and downloading the ROM files, supply of media, DVD printing, and distribution costs. You are not actually paying for the ROM's themselves as they are free for personal use, and as long as they are not used for commercial purposes.

Two versions of MAME are available. The standard ROM collection and the full collection with the extended CHD files. Approximately 200 addition games in the CHD collection complete the set. Most of the CHD games are not easily playable unless you have an extremely powerful machine. ie. Quad Core based CPU's, 4 Gig RAM, SLI Video Cards etc. The machines that these games are based on are multi-processor super-computers, so a standard home machine will struggle to provide the frame-rate and quality required to play them successfully.

The full version with the CHD's, due to the sheer size is provided on a USB External Hard Drive, pre-installed, ready to run. Just connect it to any PC with a USB port and it's ready to run.

Why not consider the best joystick controller for MAME? The X-Arcade joysticks are built like tanks and provide the final touch to a realistic arcade machine setup. These are imported directly from the USA and come with a life-time warranty. Check out the details here.

Get MAME now and relive the olden days down at the fish'n'chip shop with all your classic favourites like Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Pacman, Gauntlet, Street Fighter and thousands more. Best of all, it won't cost you 20 cents each time you want to play either! Impress your friends, annoy your wife, and get the kids out of your hair with MAME. Remember, with MAME, it's GAME NOT OVER!