Main > Main Forum
How many (dedicated) games do you own? and...On what do you play MAME??
Darien:
--- Quote from: mrclean on October 04, 2011, 01:35:57 pm ---r. I think it's harder to have 20-40 dedicated games and you'll always find that one person that would say wow great collection but why don't you own "this" game in your collection... etc.
--- End quote ---
No kidding. I just found myself on that side of the hobby. On count the other day it turns out that including new projects I have 25 machines.... 25.... No, I don't have Galaga. No, I don't have defender... Yes I have Ms. Pacman.
Just a word of caution for all you "I could never find a place for dedicated" people. I've seen you have garages and sometimes, You can't pass up a deal. I was in the exact same position 12 years ago when I started. Thrift store find. Zaxxon. I never even played Zaxxon until that day (I was a galaga man...well small child...) but "dude,come on, $80... Including delivery." ...I had the money. I always wanted an arcade machine growing up. But where the hell would I even put it?
Of course then I was looking to repair it. Then I mame'd it. Which I might add used to be a problem you couldn't just throw money at. Dos. Advmame. VGA breakout cable. hacking gamepads. Staring at the PC2JAMMA page for hours on end ...eventually they came out with ArcadeOS and ipac and those were real game changers. Then I was on the look out for a Street Fighter (to cover all my horizontal bases) but we're talking about taking the hobby in to the thousands back then and I didn't have the skills to build my own it'd be even more expensive.
Somehow, it became 25. I'd say 20 of which are single purpose. I don't know how it happened but I can't picture my life without half of them. It's a mental illness but you'll find room. Bargaining with your Girlfriend, Wife, Boyfriend, Husband... Hell even taking some to your parents. You will find a way... And you'll help your friend build a mame and he'll go to the auction, too.
Even when I mame I'd rather have dedicated original controls and monitor. I can't just hang a giant everything panel off a 25" standup with a 20" tv in it. So even as Mamer...
This is for Racing. This is for Pinball. This is for 4 player games like Gauntlet and X-Men. This is for fighting... it's a Japanese Candy Cabinet. This is for Shmups.
I have a lot of classics: Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac, Tron, Space Invaders, Zaxxon, Missile Command Cocktail... Most need some work... I'll admit I'm neglecting them for my newer shiny multi-game setups because the old machines are more challenging and I don't have the time or space to work on them until I move.
Oh yeah that's another thing when you start to buy them. HOW TO MOVE when you need to move becomes a concern you never thought of. Before I started collecting, I could never understand the two car garage. I mean I got it. Park inside, take in groceries, etc., etc. but the modern car doesn't last as many years as the paint you're trying to protect by parking inside.
I like mame. I get mame. I on the other hand have a need for a room to power on. I have the need of the background experience. Friends all around me trying new things and breaking old records. I didn't need an arcade machine. I needed an arcade. Somehow, I did it.
Single cabs? I just feel like the people who can just eat one chip are show-offs. Also, they never stop eating that chip. Constantly striving to find the right mix of salt and vinegar. oh hell did you just add gravy? ...then grabbing another chip and starting over.
So back to the original point: Dedicated. Given space, time and money, there is no better way. Mame is because you have to. It's impractical to have Ms. Pacman AND Tron AND Space Invaders AND Donkey Kong... Unless you really want to.
Jack Burton:
I don't own any dedicated games right now, but in the past I've owned four. I have owned three MAME rigs as well.
For me it's 100% dedicated at this point. I feel like I've taken emulation to just about the limit of what it can do for the games I want to play. I've done the whole native res thing to death, used encoders with zero input delay, and searched out the most accurate emulators and otherwise done everything I could to get the game as close to the real thing as possible.
Hell, I've done things with emulators that people with real hardware would be as envious of as I am of the cool things they have. I've played SNES rom hacks in RGB 224p (not 240!) on a 35" professional video monitor with a real SNES controller. Using the right setup I've made it so that there is absolutely the barest minimum, and I mean minimum input delay compared to the real thing. I've virtually eliminated screen tearing and juddering too, so that you get a silky smooth scroll just like a real SNES. Put my setup and the real thing side by side and it would be incredibly hard to tell the difference. It would take a very anal OCD person like me to tell.
However, it's just not enough. It's not the same. I still want a dedicated setup more than anything else.
Probably the number one game I want is Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge in a Japanese astro city cabinet. That's not the cab that the game was originally intended for, but it's the one that has become the unofficial official cab for the game in Japanese arcades. If I could just get that one setup I'd be happy to relegate MAME to my desktop.
drawfull:
Darien, when you figure out how to move, can you let me know? It is a kind of dawning realisation thing that actually, you're stuck where you are! :lol
opt2not:
- Robotron cabaret
- DK Jr with a braze Double DK board installed
- asteroids cocktail
- new astro city (used to swap Jamma boards in and out)
- midway style cocktail (mame'd, for vertical games)
- galaxian clone cabinet (mame'd, for horizontal games)
I also own a bunch of PCBs:
- Galaga
- Gyruss
- SF2
- arkanoid
- black tiger
- MVS one slotter
- metal slug x
- strikers 1945+
- kof 2001
- puzzle bobble
- snow bros
I like playing on dedicated hardware and controls, and primarily use mame to sample games. If I like a game I have played on mame, I usually like to buy the dedicated board for it.
Though, lately I've slowed my spending, I've been trying to save up for a Cave PCB (haven't decided which yet), they're damned expensive.
D_Harris:
--- Quote from: pinzach on October 04, 2011, 11:25:12 am ---In the great MAME vs dedicated games debate, I was wondering two things... How many dedicated games do you own and on what do you play MAME?
These are two new polls added to my MAME blog.
Also, previous poll results now have a dedicated page that is tabbed at the top of the blog.
Please take the polls if you get a chance...
http://mamezach.blogspot.com/
--- End quote ---
I haven't touched MAME in a long, long time, but I guess I could play any game I have as a dedicated machine in MAME, except for those games that use spinners, trackballs, steering wheels, and yokes. (There is no way to get an accurate spot-on emulation of these controls in MAME).
The Dedicated games I have are in my signature below.
Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.