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fastEddie
fastEddie Dork
9/20/09 9:02 p.m.

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but what would you say are the minimum system requirements for a MAME machine if I'm only interested in playing 80's classics (no 3D or newer stuff like MK)?

And this may be another dumb question but is there a MAME emulator and front end to run on Ubuntu?

griffin729
griffin729 Reader
9/20/09 9:38 p.m.

It's Ubuntu. I almost guarantee it. I just have no idea where to find a Linux emulator. I'll ask tomorrow at work. The guys I work for would know if anyone I know does.

pinchvalve
pinchvalve SuperDork
9/20/09 9:42 p.m.

I loved Dragon's Lair when it came out, but once Cliff Hanger was released, I was hooked. I actually used to play with my buddy: I memorized the joystick moves and he memorized the button sequences. Best games ever.

Rumnhammer
Rumnhammer Reader
9/21/09 8:40 a.m.

Spy hunter my all time favorite. I could play it all day for a quarter.

I never liked Dragons Lair, or any of the short lived laser disc games. I didn't like the game play of just chosing outcomes, plus it was expensive at .75 cents a game and they always used to break down.

CR

HiTempguy
HiTempguy Reader
9/21/09 8:55 a.m.
Appleseed wrote: Anyone remember this? Totally awesome!
Ivan Stewart's Off Road

I have this one and the followup for SNES

Gearheadotaku
Gearheadotaku New Reader
9/21/09 9:18 a.m.

Ivans Stewarts Offroad ate my allowance. Race Drivin', Spy Hunter, and Hi-speed pinball were awesome too. Arcades were the greatest escape from the real world ever. Hard to find a good one now. Dave & Busters or Gameworks are nice (Beer!) but not quite the same.

81gtv6
81gtv6 Reader
9/21/09 9:52 a.m.

It does not take much of a machine at all to run MAME. A PIII or even a PII would do the trick.

aircooled
aircooled SuperDork
9/21/09 10:05 a.m.

Yes, not much at all. I have (had, I have upgraded) a P166 (that really OLD, and really SLOW) setup in a mincab. It ran pretty much all the 80's games, but did not have the grunt to run any of the vector games (asteroids etc.). I set it up with Win98 SE that booted straight into DOS and ran one of the DOS based MAME front ends. I also used an older version of MAME to reduce the overhead. I almost want to go back to it, I am having more of a hassle with a pIII 1g that I got.

Oh, one more important point. If you are going for a very realistic emulation, you need a tube based monitor and a video card that runs some pretty strange old resolutions. There is a MAME specific card out there (which runs all the strange resolutions), but is does NOT work on Dell computers!!!

So don't worry much about the computer, if you want 80's, almost anything will do. If you want to know about controls, front ends, roms, let me know, I can point you in the right direction.

MitchellC
MitchellC HalfDork
9/21/09 10:42 a.m.
confuZion3 wrote: And don't forget about the Ferrari Challenge game. A local movie theater in a mall was located across from an arcade that had it. I used to purposely arrive early (with my friends) with the intent of "getting good seats". I didn't tell them that the seat I was talking about was behind the wheel of this game! I think it had three flat-panel monitors and the controls were pretty good too (but is it me or does the clutch never work in this game? It's just fake--the car grinds gears all the time).

I am convinced that Ferrari Challenge is harder than real life.

My favorite arcade game is definitely Tetris. I haven't played it much in the cabinet, but a local bar has the "good" Tetris on NES. It's great; listen to live music, drink beer, and play video games for free (They also have Mario Kart 64 and a few others always on).

pinchvalve
pinchvalve SuperDork
9/21/09 10:56 a.m.
Rumnhammer wrote: Spy hunter my all time favorite. I could play it all day for a quarter. I never liked Dragons Lair, or any of the short lived laser disc games. I didn't like the game play of just chosing outcomes, plus it was expensive at .75 cents a game and they always used to break down. CR

The ones near me were a quarter, but they did break down LOL!

andrave
andrave Reader
9/21/09 11:00 a.m.

I think my favorite one growing up was the 4 player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. I have 3 brothers... we used to just tear that E36 M3 up at chuck e cheese's.

These days, I remember this arcade game where you sat inside the box and drove cross country in a race, something like a cannonball type race. There was oncoming traffic and the car had a radio you could use, and wipers that came on when it rained.

I only saw it at one arcade. Anyone else recall this game?

IIRC I never played it because it was several dollars to play.

JohnGalt
JohnGalt Reader
9/21/09 11:17 a.m.

I am huge fan of any light gun shooter type game, my favorite is probably area 51.

A dollar got you control of both guns and let you duel wield your way to victory.

However i remember a game called Daytona USA

still a favorite.

Adrian_Thompson
Adrian_Thompson Reader
9/21/09 11:35 a.m.
16vCorey wrote: My "office":

You have my all time favorite right there. I absolutly olve the original Star Wars, those simple graphics and flying down the trench. I spent many a 50p (Brot don't forget) feeding those machines. Happy days

JThw8
JThw8 SuperDork
9/21/09 11:54 a.m.
fastEddie wrote: Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but what would you say are the minimum system requirements for a MAME machine if I'm only interested in playing 80's classics (no 3D or newer stuff like MK)? And this may be another dumb question but is there a MAME emulator and front end to run on Ubuntu?

I built one out of a 486 with 512 ram and it ran fine for the classics. I used a windows front end but there's so many flavors out there you can probably find something for Ubuntu.

Pretty much anything you ever wanted to know can be found here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php

Built mine out of a gutted XMen 6 player cabinet that I got at an arcade auction for $5 Noone wanted it because it was too big. Still had some of the old style joysticks which I sold off for $20 :)

Made a nice 4 player cabinet with room for everyone to stretch out and play.

In the phots it has a 27" monitor in it to give you an idea of size. Dont think I have any photos of it completed sadly, it turned out rather nice.

ZOOMiata
ZOOMiata Dork
9/21/09 8:03 p.m.

Didn't all classic cabinets sport cigarette burns and fake woodgrain? Especially when from a pizza parlour?

I was partial to NBA Jam during my time at university.

curtis73
curtis73 HalfDork
9/21/09 9:29 p.m.
PubBurgers wrote: Galaga, hands down.

A-freakin-men.

'nuff said.

egnorant
egnorant Dork
9/22/09 1:49 p.m.

I used to work in the pizza place so I had the pleasure of several great games. Missle Command was my fav though. Ms. Pac Man was a close second. Possibly because I absolutely ruled on these games. I was getting real good on a side scroller called Defender when I got a girlfriend that was better than unlimited smart bombs and I never regained the game passion.

Bruce

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