Moose O'Malley's Software Valley Established : July 1996 Please bookmark this location only : http://move.to/moose

Arcade Machine Emulation

Introduction : Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and some extremely clever people, it is now possible to play original, unmodified, unconverted, and unchanged arcade games right on your own PC. This is achieved by writing a program, called an emulator, which causes your PC to act like the CPU, sound, graphics, memory, and other hardware of the original arcade machine. Once you have the emulator, all you need are image files of the original ROMs of the machines and Bob's your Uncle !! (i.e. you are ready to go !!) But wait a second !! Who would want to play 10 or 15 year old arcade games any more ? Modern games are so much better, aren't they ? Surely, only a bunch of sad old gits would want to do this ? Well, you would be surprised ! A bunch of sad young gits also want to do it !! :)) Also, some people prefer the simplicity and playability of the early arcade games, and many people still enjoy playing the old games. By playing the old games, people can re-live some of the fond memories of their School or University days when, perhaps, life was simpler and happier, when people were friendlier, when the breeze blew a little less coldly, when .... (Oh shut up Moose !!!). Also, many believe that these old games *must* be preserved. Due to Bit Rot, ROM Decay, and general wear and tear, the older arcade machines themselves might not be around much longer. The original companies (Sega, Nintendo, Stern, etc) no longer sell or support these old games. So, emulation is the only sure way of preserving these games. This page is my tribute to the programers, developers, designers, and builders of the original arcade machines, and to the geniuses who have written the emulators. I do not have the knowledge (yet !) to write my own emulator, so these pages are my small contribution to ensuring that the classic arcade games are preserved. Below are details of all of the Arcade Machine Emulators that I know about. There have been exciting developments lately. Emulator authors are being approached by large companies to develop the emulators commercially !! So, now is definetely the time to write an emulator if you are thinking of it !! Please check back regularly, my hoofs are right on the pulse of the latest arcade emulators, and my pages are updated daily !! The How to Write an Arcade Emulator FAQ and Arcade Emulation for Newbies FAQ are now available for download below !! Moose

Arcade Emulation for Newbies FAQ Contains answers to many of the problems / questions that can crop up when running emulators. Please read *before* Emailing / posting questions.

Emulators Out Now for the IBM-PC Some of the emulators which are available now and enable you to turn your PC into a real Arcade Machine. There are many dozens of Arcade Machine Emulators out there, and things change so quickly, that this is a list of the major emulators.

Arcade Game Emulation Survey Which games would you most like to see emulated ? Which games should be emulated next ? Vote here !

Arcade Games Annecdotes Funny stories and interesting information about the huge impact Video Games had on peoples lives in the 1970s / 1980s.

Arcade Game Songs Along with the great arcade games, came a bunch of great songs - with great sound tracks and lyrics, and sound samples from one or more arcade machines.

Hall of Shame - Known Commercial Pirates The Hall of Shame lists details of people who have tried to sell copyrighted Arcade Machine Emulators and/or ROMs.

Arcade Emulator Mailing Lists Details of various Mailing Lists that are available for you to stay in touch with other emulator enthusiasts, and the latest developments.

Pamela Anderson Emulator : theTit-a-lator Read all about this amazing development ... ;))

Arcade Emulator Utilities The following are Arcade Emulator utilities that I have developed myself and are giving away FREE of charge : MAME 32 INI Tools MAME 32 Tools MAME Benchmarker MAME Screen Shot Organiser ROM Chopper ROM Zip Manager ROM Clone Zip Manager

Need ROMs ?? N.B. Arcade Emulation is 100% LEGAL if you own a license to the ROMs or own the original machines !! How to keep your Arcade Emulation 100% Legal : Buy the Arcade Machine or PCB If you love a particular game and want to run it in the emulators, then why not buy the arcade machine or the arcade machine's motherboard (PCB) that contained the game. I regularly scan arcade machine auction sales prices, and second hand motherboards (PCB's) can be had for as little as $5-$20 at auctions, and for as little as $10-$50 from private buyers - depending on the game - around the price of a recent Playstation 2 game !!! Second hand arcade machines sell for as little as $100-$300, or more. (More recent or more popular games may sell for 100's of dollars or more !!) Arcade operators usually have old / spare boards, and some of these they might not want, and may be willing to sell. I have even heard of people who are lucky enough to find stock piles of old boards thrown out in the garbage behind the arcade operator's wharehouse. (Some people are so darn lucky .... ;) Anyway, once you have the machine or the board containing the ROMs, then you can run the game in an emulator legally ! Buy Legal Commercial Arcade Emulators Always support (purchase) any legal commercial arcade emulators or legal ROM compilations you see in shops, etc. Williams Arcade Classics, Midway Hits, etc are examples of these. Keep an eye out in your local stores or computer magazines for details about these. Buy Legal ROM Compilations Arcade ROMs for MAME and other arcade emulators can be legally purchased / obtained from : If you already own a commercial arcade emulator, such as Williams Arcade Classics, Midway Greatest Hits, etc, then you can also use the ROMs, that these commercial emulators contain, with MAME and other arcade machine emulators. Hanaho Games Inc sells the "Capcom Coin-Op Classics" CD-ROM which contains 14 Capcom ROMS : 1941, Block Block, Commando, Exed Exes, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Magic Sword, Mercs, Sections Z, Side Arms, Son Son, Street Fighter (Hyper Fighting), Strider, U. N. Squadron, and Varth. You can also buy an arcade cabinet to put your PC into, and the HotRod "The Ultimate Joystick Control Panel". This is all Ultra-Cool !! Use ROMs released to the Public Domain : Robby Rotto (© 1981 Bally Midway, © 1999 Jay Fenton) was released to the public domain by the copyright holder Jay Fenton on June 5th, 1999. You can now use this ROM freely with the arcade emulators. Jay's authorization to redistribute these roms is contained within this Robby Rotto ROMs ZIP file (28 KB). Thanks a million Jay ! I hope that other copyright holders follow your lead and release the rights for some of their ancient (20+ year old) games to the public domain. Gridlee was released to the public domain by the copyright holders Dale Luck, Roger, Ed, and Howard on April 27, 2001. You can now use this ROM freely with the arcade emulators. Dale's authorization to redistribute these roms is contained within this Gridlee ROMs ZIP file (26 KB). Thanks Dale, Roger, Ed, and Howard ! Always remember these Golden Rules : Do not copy, use, obtain, or distribute ROMs unless you are legally entitled. NEVER EVER SELL ROMs on CDs or any other medium (unless you are legally entitled). Do NOT ask me for ROMs, or ask me where to download ROMs. I will ignore and delete ALL such emails. N.B. Arcade Game ROMs are copyrighted material. Please do NOT download or copy or distribute any ROM images unless you are legally entitled to do so !!!

To the Emulator Developers :

Arcade emulation is one of my favourite subjects !! And I would do anything to help encourage and foster futher emulator development.

If any emulator developers would like to email me alpha / beta / etc versions of their emulators for testing, then I would be happy to help out. I guarantee not to distribute them, and I will maintain complete secrecy.

Please Email me if you would like to discuss this further.

If any emulator authors are thinking of starting a project, then please contact me and let me know. I will put details of your emulator on my page, along with requests for information, etc. This will increase knowledge of your emulator, and ensure that others are not working on the same emulations without realising it. It should also stop / slow down Email bombardment by emulator enthusiasts, as they can get the latest information on my pages without troubling the author(s).

If you like, I can just announce your project on my pages, but keep you completely anonymous and protected. Any information you need can be listed on my pages with a message to Email it to me, and I will forward it on. By doing this, I can shelter you from Email bombardment by emulator enthusiasts.

Also, if authors want to advertise their emulators as Shareware or Commerical products, or if you would like to be approached by a company to sell your emulator commercially (this is happening frequently !), please let me know and I will put details of this on my pages. I want to fully support all emulator projects !!

I would also appreciate it if the emulator authors could keep me up-to-date with an occasional Email or 2, just so I can keep my pages up-to-date.

Notes about the above Emulator Information :

All of the above information concerning the emulators has been cleared with the individual emulator authors, and I am in occasional Email contact with them to ensure that they are happy with the contents of my page(s).

Guidelines for downloading / using the Emulators :

Please be very considerate when using these emulators. The brilliant emulator authors have worked very hard, under very difficult conditions, and with very little in the way of documentation or specifications on the original machines.

If the authors are nice enough to release the emulators as freeware, then that is terrific. But, if the emulators are shareware and commercial, then please do the right thing and purchase them. Please follow the author's guidelines and respect their wishes at all times.

If your aim is to pirate these emulators, rip copyright messages out of them, and/or distribute / sell them without the author's permission, then you had better get the hell out of here now !! You will just end up pissing off the authors and spoiling things for everyone. And, this will make you my enemy !!

Thinking of Writing your First Emulator ?

If the answer is YES, then you need to get the FAQ out of here !!

Here is the latest version of the "How to Write an Arcade Emulator FAQ."

This FAQ has taken dozens of hours of hard work and research, and is maintained by Michael Adcock, with contributions from many others.

Even though, Dave Spicer (the current King of arcade emulation) is very busy with his emulator, he has been helpful and offered some very useful advice.

I would especially like to thank Neil Bradley and Mike Perry. Without their help, the FAQ would NOT have got off the ground at all !!

Please note that this FAQ is far from complete. But, it is a good start, and is progressing nicely.

This FAQ is changing daily, so if your questions are not answered yet, they might be soon !

The information contained in the FAQ is only half of the equation to writing Arcade Emulators. The other part is the Game's ROM images. At the present time, many dozens of ROMs are required so that various emulation projects can proceed. Click HERE for details.

If anyone has anything useful to contribute, or has any more questions they would like to see answered in the FAQ, please Email details to Michael Adcock or or Email me.



How to Write an Arcade Emulator FAQ

v0.3

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version : 09-Feb-1997

Campaign to Preserve Ultra-Rare Arcade Machines (CAPURAM) In October 2000, I personally started a campaign to try and preserve an ultra-rare Marble Madness II - Marble Man arcade machine for sale for $25,000 (US), and an ultra-rare Bradley Trainer - Military Battlezone which is for sale for $20,000 (US). For much more information, pledges, details, etc, see the Campaign to Preserve Ultra-Rare Arcade Machines (CAPURAM)

Any more Information ?

If anybody has any updates or additional information to the above, please Email me urgently !!

If anybody knows anything about any other Arcade Machine Emulators for the PC, please Email me urgently !!

If anybody just wants to have a good old chin wag about Arcade Machine Emulators (one of my favourite subjects), why not Email me

From Here you can :