Editing MAME (section)

{{short description|Multi-system emulator}}
{{About|the emulator|the musical|Mame (musical)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox software
| name = MAME
| title = 
| logo = MAMELogo.svg
| logo caption = 
| logo size = 270px
| logo alt = MAME Logo
| screenshot = NewMAME.png
| caption = MAME's main menu (as of version 0.209)
| screenshot size = 
| screenshot alt = 
| collapsible = 
| author = [[Nicola Salmoria]]
| developer = The MAME community
| released = {{Start date and age|1997|02|05|df=yes}}
| discontinued = 
| latest release version = 0.277
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2025|04|30}}
| programming language = [[C++]] ([[C (programming language)|C]] and [[Python (programming language)|Python]] for some drivers)
| operating system = Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Amiga, etc.
| platform = 
| size = 
| language = 
| language count = <!-- Number only -->
| language footnote = 
| genre = [[Emulator]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GPL-2.0-or-later]], with some sub-parts [[BSD licenses|BSD-3-Clause]].(for versions since 0.172)

Original MAME license (for versions prior to 0.172)
| alexa = 
| website = {{URL|https://www.mamedev.org/}}
| standard = 
| AsOf = 
}}
'''MAME''' (formerly an [[acronym]] of '''Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator''') is a [[free and open-source]] [[emulator]] designed to emulate the hardware of [[arcade game]]s, [[video game console]]s, old [[computer]]s and other systems in [[software]] on modern [[personal computer]]s and other platforms.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/circuits/game-theory/05game-theory.html|title=With Software Sleight of Hand, Video Ghosts Walk|last=Herz|first=J.C.|date=1998-03-05|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2013-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414162803/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/circuits/game-theory/05game-theory.html|archive-date=2019-04-14|url-status=live}}</ref> Its intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage video games from being lost or forgotten. It does this by emulating the inner workings of the emulated machines; the ability to actually play the video games is considered "a nice side effect".<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://mamedev.org/about.html |title=MAME &#124; About MAME |publisher=Mamedev.org |access-date=2011-04-11}}</ref> ''[[Joystiq]]'' has listed MAME as an application that every [[Windows]] and [[MacOS|Mac]] gamer should have.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/16/pc-and-mac-applications-that-every-gamer-should-have/|title=PC and Mac Applications that Every Gamer Should Have|last=Quilty-Harper|first=Conrad|date=2005-12-16|work=[[Joystiq]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106055312/http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/16/pc-and-mac-applications-that-every-gamer-should-have/|archive-date=2006-01-06|url-status=dead|access-date=2013-07-03}}</ref>

The first public MAME release was by [[Nicola Salmoria]] on 5 February 1997. It now supports over 7,000 unique games and 10,000 actual [[ROM image]] sets,{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} though not all of the games are playable. [[MESS]], an emulator for many [[video game console]]s and computer systems, based on the MAME core, was integrated into MAME in 2015.

With [[WineVDM|OTVDM (WineVDM)]] a version of MAME is available to emulate [[16-bit computing|16-Bit]] [[DOS]] and [[Windows 3.1x|Windows]] applications on [[Long mode|x64]] and [[AArch64]] versions of Windows. The [[NTVDM]] from Microsoft is only supported for the [[32-bit computing|32-bit]] versions of Windows.<ref>{{Citation |title=Virtual DOS machine |date=2023-03-08 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_DOS_machine&oldid=1143502518 |work=Wikipedia |access-date=2023-03-25 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WineVDM - Emulation General Wiki |url=https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/WineVDM |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=emulation.gametechwiki.com}}</ref>{{UGC inline|date=September 2024}}