Playing the Classic Arcade Games on Your PC

Written by Waning Gibbous

Saturday, 24 September 2005

If you remember a time when all the best video games were *not* available on a PC, Xbox or Playstation, then you probably remember shelling out your hard earned cash into the coin monsters known as "Arcade machines". While those glorious days are long gone for most, there is an easy way you can revist those classic games on your home PC...

Today's PC and console games are constnanlty pushing the edge when it comes to graphics, sound and gameplay - and they only seem to get better each year. Not surprising, considering the budget of some of today's video game hits.

Back in the old days, PCs and consoles just couldn't cut the mustard, technologically speaking. The hardware just wasn't there... and no home consumer could afford it even if it was. Classics such as Pacman and Galaga were, of course, ported to home consoles such as the Atari, but they ended up as little more than pale imitations of their arcade cousins.

And so, during the 70s, 80s and very early 90s, one would always find the best shoot em ups, fighting and action games in their local arcade. Not anymore... arcades are no longer the place to do serious gaming: everything has shifted to the home.

For those that remember the originals and long to play again: don't worry! The answer is simple: emulation! Just about every arcade game ever made before the mid 90s can easily be emulated using today's speedy PC hardware. For those who missed the original arcade era, it's a great way for them to get to know their gaming history. For us old farts, its a way to retake on the originals *without* spending all our pocket money.

MAME is the undisputed king when it comes to arcade emulation. Very few arcade games will not work under it, and it's now a suprisingly mature piece of software. While MAME is completely free, technically the ROMs (the actual game software) are not. These days tho, I wouldn't worry about the software police knocking down your door if you stumble across a few old MAME ROMs on the internet. None have any commercial value anymore, and many ROMs are considered abandonware.

So grab a copy of MAME (you can find it here) - Google for "MAME ROMs" and before you know it, you'll be able to revist the golden days of arcade gaming.

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