Main > Main Forum
Mame vs the real thing
(1/4) > >>
Jox43w:
How close is mame to been arcade perfect? I havent played a real machine for years although iv ownd a couple of neogen aes's can you tell the diffrence with the naked eye?
Ginsu Victim:
With an arcade monitor, it's spot on in the visuals. Get the right control setup and you're golden. Just use the version of MAME appropriate for your computer and the correct romsets.
FrizzleFried:
Depends on the game...most raster games from the 70s to mid-to-late 90's plays identical to the arcade (save for the controls which is dependent on the game).  Mame does VECTOR games OK with high-res displays (or awesomely if you build a Zektor Vector MAME cab).

For the most part,  if the game you're thinking of doesn't have special controls,  is a raster game,  and doesn't use 3D graphics,  you're looking at a pretty damn close comparison.  If it DOES have 3d graphics,  you still can get damn near identical to the real thing,  but you're going to need horsepower under the hood.

SOME claim trackballs/spinners have a "lag".  I claim their are smoking rock or haven't configured MAME properly or something because I am pretty sensitive to lag and I don't notice ANY lag.

Jdurg:
It depends on the complexity of the hardware the game is using.  A simple game that has no custom chips, very simple and well documented circuitry and no protection schemes is probably emulated 100% perfectly.  E.G. it is impossible to tell the difference.  Games with custom processors, complex protection schemes, and/or poorly documented hardware are probably pretty damned accurate, but not perfect.  CPS1 is a good example.  That system is emulated probably 99% perfectly, but there are still some "oddities" caused by the hardware setup or assumption on how it works.
TOK:
The speeds differ a bit on some games... In shooters, believe it or not, the real versions are often easier because they suffer more slowdown than MAME. I have compared two original shooters that I own directly with MAME... Twin Eagle II and P47 Freedom Fighter. MAME runs slightly faster on both of them with a P4/2ghz. I don't think the emulation speed is off, I think there are spots where the original hardware chokes and the PC doesn't.

Whats funny is that the slowdown is very well emulated in some games. Defender models the original hardware slowdown when you smart bomb or have too many enemies on the screen (both slowdown and enemy warping elsewhere) very well.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page

Go to full version