MAME 64
MAME 64 is a homebrew emulator by R.Bubba Magillicutty where you can play up to 88 classic arcade games. The original version was released on 08 Jan 1998, making it the oldest emulator on the N64, predating even the VNES and GB emulator by Blackbag. It has received some revisions in 2004 and 2012, adding some new games to the roster.
You can get the ROMs from their download page by using the password whatthemame.
About MAME 64
I couldn’t find much about this emulator in terms of its background except that it was made by R. Bubba and released in early 1998. There have been a few updates since, but I think they just improved framerate and reduced some of the game available.
It was also one of the hardest ROMs for me to track down. I managed to get the 2004/2012 version with 78 games all recorded for the video above, but I wasn’t satisfied since I was convinced that there was an 88-game version. I did manage to find it on an even weirder website, but it sure took me a long time to do so.
The control scheme on these is fairly consistent – L to insert a coin, D-pad to move and A/B for actions. This works for most games, except for Q*bert which can only move in two directions, and Vanguard which can shoot in all four directions, but has very unintuitive button placement.
List of games
The earlier versions of the ROM have 90 games, and the later ones have 78. The two lists are very similar, but the ones exclusive to the old are labelled in bold and the games exclusive to the later versions are in italics.
- 1942
- Amidar
- Anteater
- Arabian
- Asteroids deluxe
- Asteroids
- Atlantis
- Bagman
- Bombjack
- Burgertime
- Bwidow
- Carnival
- Crazy Castles
- Crazy Climber
- Centipede
- Crazy Kong
- Commando
- Congo
- Crush
- Diamond
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Jr
- Donkey Kong 3
- Mr. Do’s Castle
- Do Run Run
- Mr. Do’s Wild Ride
- Elevator
- Fantasy
- Frogger
- Galaga
- Galaxian
- Galaxy Wars
- Ghosts n’ Goblins
- Gravitar
- Gyruss
- Hangly Man
- Space Invaders
- Space Invaders Deluxe
- Invaders Revenge
- Jungle Hunt
- Pac Man Jr
- Jumpbug
- Kangaroo
- Krull
- Kung Fu Master
- Ladybug
- Lunar Lander
- Lost Tomb
- Lunar Rescue
- Mappy
- Mario Bros
- Millipede
- Missile Command
- Mooncresta
- Moon Quasar
- Moon Patrol
- Moon Planets
- Mr Do!
- Ms Pac Attack
- Ms Pac Man
- Mysterious Stones
- Naughty Boy
- Nibbler
- Pac Man
- Space Panic
- Pengo
- Pepper II
- Phoenix
- Piranha
- Pisces
- Pleiads
- Pooyan
- Popeye & Bluto
- Puck Man
- Q*bert
- Qix
- Rally X
- Reactor
- Rescue
- Rush Attack
- Super Cobra
- Scramble
- Seicross
- Space Duel
- Space Zap
- Starforce
- Super Pac
- Tempest
- The End
- Time Pilot
- Turtles
- Tutankham
- Uniwars
- Vanguard
- Vulgus
- War of Bugs
- Warp Warp
- Wow
- Yiear
- Zaxxon
Conclusion and review
It did take me a long time to find all the relevant ROMs of MAME 64, but I do think it was worth it. There is a very large variety of games in both of these compilations, over 100 of them. Going through them, you can tell that there are quite a lot of copycats – There’s a dozen Pac-Man clones and countless space shooters but I guess that was just the trendy fashion of arcade games in the early 80’s.
The controls are by the most part accurate and easy to understand, but these old games still do feel quite clunky and finicky. It’s also important to keep in mind that they’re arcade games, so they all have a repetitive loop that is made to keep you pumping in those quarters.
Do give MAME 64 a go, it’s a fun game with enough games to brink you back to that old smelly arcade from 1983.
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