Maybe this is pointless but i've got some free time on my hands so I felt like writing this....
MAME lets you play 1000's of classic arcade games - the exact same games you played as a kid...Everything from the original Space invaders...to games like Cruisin USA, Mortal Kombat, and other recent favorites.
Basically, MAME emulates the hardware of those classic games. High powered graphics cards and fast processors that we have today can emulate the chipsets of past arcade cabinets.
MAME isnt run by a company or sold as a product. Its built by video game enthusiasts. It's constantly being updated to accomodate new games.
From the FAQ:
<b>MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with a game's data files (ROMs), MAME will more or less faithfully reproduce that game on a PC. MAME can currently emulate over 1900 unique (and over 3300 in total) classic arcade video games from the three decades of video games - '70s, '80s and '90s. The ROM images that MAME utilizes are "dumped" from arcade games' original circuit-board ROM chips. MAME becomes the "hardware" for the games, taking the place of their original CPUs and support chips. Therefore, these games are NOT simulations, but the actual, original games that appeared in arcades. MAME's purpose is to preserve these decades of video-game history. As gaming technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents these important "vintage" games from being lost and forgotten.</b>
