Getting started on arcade emulation

[HeroesOfTomorrow]

Good day, you lovely people: today I'm here to ask for guides and general tips to get started on the arcade emulation scene. There are so many good games that were made for arcade that never got a console release/port, or never even came to my country at all, let alone the town I live in, and I would like to experience the lot of them.

Of course, arcade emulation is trickier than console emulation: arcade games were made as unique units rather than working on a single console. They all had their own quirks and traits, and even though they might share engines, each cabinet made for a game is different from another made for a different game

So, with that in mind, I wanted to see what you tech-savy players can suggest to me: emulator front, bios necessary, settings I should run, rom I should get over others and so forth. I know it is a very much case-by-case kind of deal, so I will also bring up time-to-time what game I'm trying to run but failed so far. But I'm sure the more I can get to work, the easier it willl get. Thanks in advance!

 

[Boo Man]

you need some kind of Multi Arcade Machine Emulator

 

[DjQuick2008]

MAME is hard as balls to set up i hear will take patience. I use retrobat hard drives mainly for my arcade fun. All preconfigured.

 

[Chariotsoffire]

I just did a full-set install on my Desktop and Legion Go.

My builds use Launchbox Premium.

I found a merged 0.288 set and downloaded the file. With the merged roms and CHD files it was around 140GB.

Launchbox has a full set importer and it sets up mame for you. If you need step by steps you can DM me and I will try and relay what I just did.

 

[k_rollo]

Setting up arcade emulation can be overwhelming. Even if you do get running, you have a massive choice paralysis importing full sets with thousands of ROMs.

Start with 1. What's that 1 arcade game you truly want to play at the moment?

 

[G.L.a.D.O.S.]

If you are using M.A.M.E. itself, you will be hunting down .chd, .wav, .bin, .tap, and other files with unusual extensions, depending of course on the game. As my M.A.M.E. collection grew, I kept a copy of each needed file as a backup because many games require odd files that don’t come with them for one reason or another, probably due to copyright issues.

One file I had to track down, for whatever game it was, I don’t remember now, was named "2.sound 9.20.u74.27c1001" I wouldn’t attempt to get the entire M.A.M.E. library up and running from the start.

Instead, get each game working as you acquire them.

 

[HeroesOfTomorrow]

Setting up arcade emulation can be overwhelming. Even if you do get running, you have a massive choice paralysis importing full sets with thousands of ROMs.

Start with 1. What's that 1 arcade game you truly want to play at the moment?

I actually had two in mind, of different caliber and kind:


-Solomon's Key

- Gaiapolis

 

[bombatomba77]

Really the hardest thing is getting the proper version and the matching set of ROMs (and hoping the naming is proper). I still use an old set for the explicit reason that I know it works.

 

[deahtwind]

Hi there, arcade emulation can be really anoying but, have found out one of the simplest ways is to use retroarch (I use it and I kinda love/hate it)
if you are on linux you can get it on steam, the same for windows or you can get it standalone.
In retroarch get the Final Burn neo - core and a Mame - core that will set you up for most things of the 90's; for big 3d or later emulation you have to go with more specialized emulators.
as someone else has already said, the other very important thing is to have the appropiate romset. that get very confusing and I myself still dont really get it that much.
My advice on that is that you search for a specific set, something like "final burn romset" instead of looking for single specific roms.

 

[k_rollo]

@HeroesOfTomorrow Great! Let's take Solomon's Key as an example.

1. Visit Arcade Database.
   
2. I cannot link you due to forum rules, but here is a screenshot.
   
3. Follow this YouTube tutorial for ARCADE64. It is a MAME UI that strictly focuses on arcade games only (what the majority of people use MAME for). It gives the familiar experience of a console emulator, but still uses MAME underneath.

There is much to learn about merged/non-merged/split romsets, parent/clone roms, CHDs, etc. but this is probably the simplest you can get to console-like emulation. You just grab 1 file for the game you like and load it on the emulator.

To be specific, the "standalone set" is from the the non-merged set. It has all the files needed to play the game. MAME roms can also be used in other arcade emulators like FBNeo, Flycast, Supermodel. The non-merged set takes the most storage space compared to merged/split, but it is also the easiest to deal with.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[HeroesOfTomorrow]

@HeroesOfTomorrow Great! Let's take Solomon's Key as an example.

1. Visit Arcade Database.View attachment 212755
2. I cannot link you due to forum rules, but here is a screenshot.View attachment 212758
3. Follow this YouTube tutorial for ARCADE64. It is a MAME UI that strictly focuses on arcade games only (what the majority of people use MAME for). It gives the familiar experience of a console emulator, but still uses MAME underneath.

There is much to learn about merged/non-merged/split romsets, parent/clone roms, CHDs, etc. but this is probably the simplest you can get to console-like emulation. You just grab 1 file for the game you like and load it on the emulator.

To be specific, the "standalone set" is from the the non-merged set. It has all the files needed to play the game. MAME roms can also be used in other arcade emulators like FBNeo, Flycast, Supermodel. The non-merged set takes the most storage space compared to merged/split, but it is also the easiest to deal with.

Good luck and have fun!

Great, that is an excellent place where to start, thank you very much

 

[k_rollo]

You're welcome! I started the same way.

After you get ARCADE64 set up, you can always refer to the official MAME documentation for more advanced config. Remember, it's still MAME underneath.

Once you get comfortable, you can grab the full non-merged romset for cold storage if you have the capacity. You can cherry-pick the game you're actually interested in to play for the day and config that. This lets you spend more time playing than tinkering.