Software update: MAME 0.250

Version 0.250 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 available here; the release notes can be found below.

MAME 0.250:

November has passed us by, and it’s time for MAME 0.250, with a distinct Konami flavour! On the arcade side, the third and fourth player positions are supported in NBA Play By Play, and lots of regional variants have been added for games running on Hornet hardware. We’ve also added support for a Konami hand-held LCD game, a Tiger LCD game based on a popular Konami franchise, and a prototype of an unreleased Game.com title in the same series. In addition to the Castlevania-themed LCD game, we’ve added licensed Tiger LCD games featuring Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Superman and Gargoyles characters, although the latter two are different skins for the same game.

MSX computer emulation has had a major overhaul, with more supported systems and peripherals, including lots of cartridge port floppy drives. As a bonus, the Fujitsu FM Towns family gained support for more controllers, including the Marty Pad and the twin-stick Libble Rabble joypad. Hard disk issues affecting the FM Towns family were also tracked down and fixed. Atari 8-bit computer cartridge emulation has been modernised, and a few more unlicensed Game Boy cartridges are supported (you can now play some very famous unauthorized translations in MAME). The Quantel DPB-7000 is looking much better, with lots of progress on video output and peripheral support.

Namco’s Alpine Surfer is now playable in MAME, and several graphical glitches that had plagued System 22 emulation have been banned. Support for Italian versions of Quizard has been added, and German versions of Quizard 3 and Quizard 4 Rainbow are now working, as well as a Czech version of Quizard 4 Rainbow. A missing line scroll effect in Seta’s Caliber 50 is now emulated, and some flickering graphics in Atari’s Return of the Jedi have been fixed.

Other improvements include lots of fixes for invalid memory accesses, function keys for the Franklin Ace (Apple II clone) computers, proper DIP switch labels for Nintendo Vs. Mahjong, and much, much more. You can read about all the changes this month in the whatsnew.txt file.