The MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) development team has released version 0.270 of the popular emulation software. This update adds several systems, including the Zoomer PDA, one of the first PDAs to include software developed by Palm Computing.
Unlike other updates that have focused on games, this update is focused on getting MAME to handle the emulation of older and more obscure systems. It also adds support for more Apple II input peripherals and hard-sectored floppy disk formats. It also expands storage options for computers from the S-100 era. The biggest part of this update is the addition of the Hitachi Basic Master Jr, which represents the Japanese home computer market of the early 1980s. A lesser-known system, The Super A’Can, was UMC’s attempt to compete with Sega and Nintendo in the mid-1990s. This system has improved but is still not yet considered completely functional.
While the update for Super A’Can is disappointing because it’s still not ready, several other systems have been promoted to working status, including the Hitachi Basic Master Jr. listed above and many IGS games. The company states it has made progress in understanding IGS027A CPUs and dumping their internal programs, which has led to over a dozen IGS slot, mahjong, and card games becoming playable in MAME 0.270. The software list has been expanded with new working items for various platforms, such as the Commodore 64, MSX, NES, and ZX Spectrum. Also, new working clones like the Sega Toys Mega Drive Play TV 1 (Japan) and Fidelity International The Classic (model CC8) chess computer have been added.
Unfortunately, new systems marked as not working include the IBM ThinkPad 850, Elektronika PK-32, and several arcade games. Additionally, new clones marked as not working include the Automat bootleg of Robocop and the Yamaha MU90B. However, the team has managed to fix many bugs in this release, including graphics issues with the Super A’Can and the rightmost column of the display not being visible on the Tandy Color Computer 3. MAME’s handling of switching between windowed and full-screen modes has also been improved.
You can download MAME for Windows from the official website. The various MAME front-ends should be updated soon, if they haven’t been already.
Source: MAME