MAME

A wild MAME 0.215 appears! Yes, another month has gone by, and it’s time to check out what’s new. On the arcade side, Taito’s incredibly rare 4-screen top-down racer Super Dead Heat is now playable! Joining its ranks are ... [More] other rarities, such as the European release of Capcom‘s 19XX: The War Against Destiny, and a bootleg of Jaleco’s P-47 – The Freedom Fighter using a different sound system. We’ve got three newly supported Game & Watch titles: Lion, Manhole, and Spitball Sparky, as well as the crystal screen version of Super Mario Bros. Two new JAKKS Pacific TV games, Capcom 3-in-1 and Disney Princesses, have also been added. Other improvements include several more protection microcontrollers dumped and emulated, the NCR Decision Mate V working (now including hard disk controllers), graphics fixes for the 68k-based SNK and Alpha Denshi games, and some graphical updates to the Super A'Can driver. We’ve updated bgfx, adding preliminary Vulkan support. There are some issues we’re aware of, so if you run into issues, check our GitHub issues page to see if it’s already known, and report it if it isn’t. We’ve also improved support for building and running on Linux systems without X11. You can read about everything that’s been updated in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

The upcoming MAME 0.215 release will be the last version that can be compiled with GCC 5 or GCC 6. Going forward, the minimum supported compiler will be GCC 7.2 or clang 5. The Windows development tools have included GCC 7.4 ... [More] for some time already, so you won’t need to update update unless you haven’t in a very long time. MAME 0.217 will be the last release with pre-built 32-bit Windows binaries supplied. Starting in 2020, you’ll need to compile MAME yourself if you want a 32-bit version. We’ll still support building for 32-bit architectures, but optimisation for 32-bit x86 will not be a priority. [Less]

The upcoming MAME 0.215 release will be the last version that can be compiled with GCC 5 or GCC 6. Going forward, the minimum supported compiler will be GCC 7.2 or clang 5. The Windows development tools have included GCC 7.4 ... [More] for some time already, so you won’t need to update unless you haven’t in a very long time. MAME 0.217 will be the last release with pre-built 32-bit Windows binaries supplied. Starting in 2020, you’ll need to compile MAME yourself if you want a 32-bit version. We’ll still support building for 32-bit architectures, but optimisation for 32-bit x86 will not be a priority. [Less]

With the end of September almost here, it’s time to see what goodies MAME 0.214 delivers. This month, we’ve got support for five more Nintendo Game & Watch titles (Fire, Flagman, Helmet, Judge and Vermin), four Chinese ... [More] computers from the 1980s, and three Motorola CPU evaluation kits. Cassette support has been added or fixed for a number of systems, the Dragon Speech Synthesis module has been emulated, and the Dragon Sound Extension module has been fixed. Acorn Archimedes video, sound and joystick support has been greatly improved. On the arcade side, remaining issues in Capcom CPS-3 video emulation have been resolved and CD images have been upgraded to CHD version 5, Sega versus cabinet billboard support has been added to relevant games, and long-standing issues with music tempo in Data East games have been worked around. Of course there’s much more, and you can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

It's really about time we released MAME 0.213, with more of everything we know you all love. First of all, we’re proud to present support for the first Hegener + Glaser product: the “brikett” chess computers, Mephisto ... [More] , Mephisto II and Mephisto III. As you can probably guess, there’s an addition from Nintendo’s Game & Watch line. This month it’s Mario’s Bombs Away. On a related note, we’ve also added Elektronika’s Kosmicheskiy Most, exported as Space Bridge, which is an unlicensed total conversion of the Game & Watch title Fire. If you haven’t played any of the handheld LCD games in MAME, you’re missing something special – they look superb with external scanned and traced artwork. On the arcade side, we’ve added The Destroyer From Jail (a rare Philko game), and alternate regional versions of Block Out and Super Shanghai Dragon’s Eye. The CD for Simpsons Bowling has been re-dumped, resolving some long-standing issues. With its protection microcontroller dumped and emulated, Birdie Try is now fully playable. Protection microcontrollers for The Deep and Last Mission have also been dumped and emulated. Improvements to Seibu hardware emulation mean Banpresto’s SD Gundam Sangokushi Rainbow Tairiku Senki is now playable, and sprite priorities in Seibu Cup Soccer have been improved. In computer emulation, two interesting DOS compatible machines based on the Intel 80186 CPU are now working: the Mindset Personal Computer, and the Dulmont Magnum. The Apple II software lists have been updated to include almost all known clean cracks and original flux dumps, and the Apple II gameport ComputerEyes frame grabber is now emulated. We’ve received a series of submissions that greatly improve emulation of the SWTPC S/09 and SS-30 bus cards. On the SGI front, the 4D/20 now has fully-working IRIX 4.0.5 via serial console, and a whole host of improvements have gone into the Indy “Newport” graphics board emulation. Finally, MAME now supports HDI, 2MG and raw hard disk image files. You can read all about all the improvements and bug fixes in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

It’s the moment you’ve surely been waiting for: the release of MAME 0.212! A huge amount of work has gone into this release in a number of different areas. Starting with the software lists, you’ll find hundreds more clean ... [More] cracks for Apple II, the Rainbow on Disk collection for Tandy Color Computer, all the latest Game Boy Advance dumps, and thousands more ZX Spectrum cassette images. Chess computers now support chess piece simulation using the built-in artwork, support has been added for several more chess computers from Hegener & Glaser, Novag and Saitek, and the Tasc ChessSystem R30 is now working. Three Game & Watch titles, Bomb Sweeper, Gold Cliff and Safe Buster, have been added for this release. Protection microcontrollers continue to fall, with Rainbow Islands – Extra Version, Choplifter, Wyvern F-0, 1943: The Battle of Midway and Bionic Commando no longer needing simulation, hacks or patches. In some cases, the dumps have confirmed that the protection had been reverse-engineered correctly and the simulation was correct, but it's still important to preserve these programs. It’s also important for people repairing these systems if the original microcontrollers have failed. There are three important sound-related fixes in this release: FM Towns CD audio playback positions have been fixed, Konami System 573 digital audio synchronisation has been improved, and a special low latency mode has been added for the PortAudio sound module. For more advanced users and developers, more functionality has been exposed to Lua scripts and plugins. The layout file format has been overhauled to better support systems that make creative use of LEDs and LCDs. Disassembler support has been added for the Fujitsu F2MC-16 and National Semiconductor CompactRISC CR16B architectures. And if you've been following along, you might notice that we’ve waved goodbye to a little more of our C legacy with the removal of the MACHINE_CONFIG_START macro and its associated crud. Of course, there’s plenty more that we don’t have time to mention here. You can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

As we pass the half-way point of 2019, it’s time for MAME 0.211, with all the excitement that brings. In this release, SGI Indy and MIPS RC2030 workstations have been promoted to working. This is a major milestone in RISC ... [More] workstation emulation. If you’re feeling nostalgic, why not try one of them out, and install IRIX or RISC/os, respectively? This release also includes better support for the China Education Computer Apple II derivatives, along with a preliminary software list. This opens a window to Chinese classroom technology in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Speaking of software lists, we’ve added over five hundred cleanly cracked Apple II software titles, and imported a whole lot of ZX Spectrum cassette images. Looking away from computer emulation for a moment, Game & Watch preservation keeps progressing, with the addition of Ball (the earliest Game & Watch release) and the panorama screen version of Donkey Kong Jr. The Gaelco/Salter Pro Cycle Tele Cardioline exercise system has been promoted to working, and the Pro Stepper system has been added. System 573 MP3 audio has been greatly improved in this release, and support has been added for more Bally pinball sound boards. ClawGrip added example programs from the V.R. Technologies VT03 software development kit. Gemcrush, a rare brick breaking arcade game, has been added in this release. There are lots of other improvements, including a fix for the fatal error when switching away from MAME in Direct3D full-screen mode. You can read about all the changes in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

It’s time for the delayed release of MAME 0.210, marking the end of May. This month, we’ve got lots of fixes for issues with supported systems, as well as some interesting additions. Newly added hand-held and tabletop games ... [More] include Tronica’s Shuttle Voyage and Space Rescue, Mattel’s Computer Chess, and Parker Brothers’ Talking Baseball and Talking Football. On the arcade side, we’ve added high-level emulation of Gradius on Bubble System hardware and a prototype of the Neo Geo game Viewpoint. For this release, Jack Li has contributed an auto-fire plugin, providing additional functionality over the built-in auto-fire feature. A number of systems have had been promoted to working, or had critical issues fixed, including the Heathkit H8, Lola 8A, COSMAC Microkit, the Soviet PC clone EC-1840, Zorba, and COMX 35. MMU issues affecting Apollo and Mac operating systems have been addressed. Other notable improvements include star field emulation in Tutankham, further progress on SGI emulation, Sega Saturn video improvements, write support for the CoCo OS-9 disk image format, and preliminary emulation for MP3 audio on Konami System 573 games. There are lots of software list additions this month. Possibly most notable is the first dump of a Hanimex Pencil II cartridge, thanks to the silicium.org team. Another batch of cleanly cracked and original Apple II software has been added, along with more ZX Spectrum +3 software, and a number of Colour Genie cassette titles. That’s all we’ve got space for here, but there are lots more bug fixes, alternate versions of supported arcade games, and general code quality improvements that you can read about in the whatsnew.txt file. As always, you can get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

With another month over, it’s time for another release, and MAME 0.209 is sure to have something to interest everyone. We’ve cracked the encryption on the Fun World CPU blocks, making Fun World Quiz, Joker Card, Mega Card ... [More] , Power Card, Multi Win, Saloon and Nevada playable. Regular contributor shattered has added Кузьмич-Егорыч (Kuzmich-Egorych), a Russian Mario Brothers bootleg running on heavily modified Apple II hardware. In other Apple II news, CD-ROM drives now work with the Apple II SCSI card, and another batch of cleanly cracked floppies has been added to the software list. The NES SimCity prototype has been added to the software list, along with MMC5 improvements to support it, and better emulation for Famicom cartridges with on-board sound chips. Henrik Algestam has continued his Game & Watch work, bringing Popeye (wide screen) and Zelda to MAME. Chess computer support has been expanded with Fidelity Chess Challenger 3, and additional versions of Applied Concepts Boris, and Novag Super Expert and Super Forte. Newly supported arcade games include Akka Arrh (an Atari title that failed location testing), Little Casino II, a French version of Empire City: 1931, and additional versions of Dock Man and Street Heat. A better LM3900 op-amp model means Money Money and Jack Rabbit are no longer missing the cassa (bass drum) channel, and mixing between music and speech is improved. Bug fixes include the Rockwell AIM 65 being returned to working order, working support for multiple light guns on Linux from Kiall, corrected screen freeze behaviour on Deniam hardware from cam900, and better flashing characters on the Sinclair QL from vilcans. You can read about all the important changes in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]

Today we’re proud to bring you MAME 0.208. There are some big improvements to SunPlus SPG240/SPG280 audio emulation. Not only does this greatly improve the enjoyability of the JAKKS Pacific TV games, it’s also timed perfectly ... [More] for the addition of the Fisher-Price I Can Play Piano music teaching system. That’s not the only newly supported music system this month: we’ve added Jumping Popira, and Popira 2 has been promoted to working. Continuing with the audio theme, moralrecordings fixed BSMT 2000 4-bit ADPCM sample playback, cam900 added support for the VRC7 as a separate device with its unique instrument patches, and schnitzeltony improved Atari POKEY performance substantially. Newly supported TV games include Disney, Disney and Friends, Justice League and SpongeBob SquarePants – The Fry Cook Games from JAKKS Pacific, and XaviX titles Geigeki Go Go Shooting, Gururin World and MX Dirt Rebel. You’ll be able to enjoy the XaviX-based games even more now with improvements to the colour palette. The Nintendo Game & Watch progress has continued with the addition of Balloon Fight (new wide screen), Fire Attack, Octopus, Parachute and Turtle Bridge. You’ll notice some big software list updates this month. The TOSEC Spectrum Plus 3 disk images have been imported, Spectrum Opus support has been added with software from World of Spectrum, and SDX floppy controller support has been added to the Memotech MTX along with a corresponding software list. The PlayStation, PC-98 and Saturn software lists have been updated with testing results and new dumps, original Apple II disk images have been added as they’ve been made available, another batch of Japanese e-kara cartridges has landed, and coverage of Spanish V.Smile releases has been improved. Speaking of software, AmatCoder has fixed a number of issues affecting Amstrad CPC software. The long-neglected Bally Astrocade home system has had tape and lightpen support added in this release. On the arcade side, we’ve added Atari’s TTL-based Rebound, early English releases of Karate Champ, an earlier version of Nihon System’s Omega, and world releases of DJ Boy and Gemini Wing. In changes you probably won’t notice, we’ve switched the toolchain used for building official Windows binary releases from GCC 7 to GCC 8, and a new tools package has been made available. That’s all we’ve got space for here, but you can read about the rest of the updates in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page. [Less]