Download MAME 0.264

Version 0.264 of MAME has been released. MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a program that makes it possible to create a large amount of classic arcade games to play. MESS stands for Multi Emulator Super System and emulates a large number of old ones computers, such as the Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Gameboy and ZX Spectrum. The extensive list of changes is here here; the release notes can be found below.

MAME 0.264:

MAME 0.264 is ready right on time! Before we get to emulation improvements, there are some changes to the debugger that may affect you. The debugger's printf and logerror commands now support more formatting conversions and options, including NUL-terminated strings from emulated memory, hexadecimal numbers with lowercase digits, and left-aligned fields. This may change the behavior of some debugger scripts. In other general changes, MAME now supports saving compact cassette images in compressed FLAC format, so you can save some disk space.

Thanks to new contributor Enzo Lombardi, Dribbling now has emulated sound! This classic twin-stick top-down football game was once a common sight in Italy's numerous arcades. Sound effects make for a much more authentic experience. Robin Sergeant, another relative newcomer to MAME development, has been putting in a lot of work to improve the state of the Research Machines RM-380Z family, and it's really coming together. This release adds sound, graphics, 8″ disk drives, and more.

The very rare arcade game Vampire from Entertainment Enterprises has finally been dumped and emulated. A rare sight in '80s arcades, it wasn't known for being a great game. In a way, this makes it more interesting, as we're more often reminded of successful games and more likely to forget the failures.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can use the newly emulated Visual Technology XDS-19P as a graphical terminal for a modern Linux system running X11 applications. It requires setting up BootP and TFTP servers, as well as configuring the host system so it can connect, so be prepared for a challenge if you decide to try it out.

Of course, there's much more, including working controls for Tomy Plarail and Tomica TV games, fixes for audio CD playback, and dumps of the few remaining EC series Japanese e-kara cartridges. You can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file.