Probably, you have already heard about emulators, special programs that allow you to play console games on PC or any other device. This article will be devoted to MAME, or the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator whose main mission is to emulate arcade and console games and help you recall the happy moments of playing your favorite games on an old good console.
Indeed, the present generation seems to be completely indifferent to home gaming consoles which were devastatingly popular several decades ago. It seems that the present generation of Smartphone gaming addicts are genetically incapable of appreciating playing on a video gaming console. They even vaguely realize what a joystick is.
Nevertheless, there remains a caste of connoisseurs of gaming consoles who are nostalgic for good old times where such games Pong, Asteroids, and Galaxian were at the top of gaming technology.
There is great news for those eager to relive their childhood experience and play their favorite console games on PC. Meet MAME one of the most popular and effective arcade and console emulators available on the market. Besides, this wonderful program is good at emulating calculators and even chess machines.
How to Play Games with the Help of MAME
If you start looking for a cool emulator of arcade games, you won’t be able to find anything even close to being as efficient as MAME. The given emulator is capable of supporting a plethora of arcade and console games.
You will need to get MAME binaries, first. After that, it will be necessary to extract the downloaded files to a folder of your choice. You may use C:\mame.
Unfortunately, finding appropriate games for MAME, which, by the way, is the next step, can be quite a tricky process. The point is that emulator’s developers refrain from providing users with games due to some legal nuances. But you are free to take the initiative and search for MAME ROMs on the Internet. There are plenty of websites offering their assistance with getting MAME ROM files. But stay vigilant and make sure that the site from where you plan to download some software is reliable and does not offer malware in disguise.
Once you are done with downloading the necessary ROM files that will most likely have a .zip extension, you may proceed to the next step.
You can leave the files zipped, as MAME can deal with archived files. Then, place them in the appropriate folder. It will look something like this: C:\mame\roms.
You will surely want to avail yourself of a DOS command prompt. To bring it up, you will need to press “Start” and then select “Run.” After that you should type “CMD.”
Thus, by typing “cd\” you will be able to navigate to the root directory, while “cd mame” will take you to the “C:\mame” folder.
To launch your MAME you will need to type “mame” follow by a space and the game file you intend to use. For instance – mame Pong.
Once you find the necessary game, double-click on it, skip the game information by pressing the spacebar, and you can start playing.
Keep the following keyboard commands in mind:
Press 1 for 1 player.
Press 2 for 2 players.
If you want to pause your ROM, press “P.”
Press 2-4 to start a new game.
Use arrow keys to make corresponding moves in-game.
The left Control and Alt are likely to help you pull such tricks as throwing fire balls and invoking hyper-drive.
