best MAME frontend menus?

coinopper

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I don't know if this is the correct forum to post this in, but I'm interested in knowing if there are any professional-type menu systems for MAME, similar to what was used in the Global VR machines.
 
hyperspin is awesome. It can be a power hog on older systems but it's totally worth having if you can run it.
 
My MAME cabinet is horizontal and I use Hyperspin with about 75 games/themes. Looks more professional than anything else, though there are a lot of other more basic front ends that will run on a slower system. I've used Gamelauncher and Atomic before.

Wade
 
I use MAMEWAH as I find it the most responsive... but it has quite a steep learning curve to getting it configured right.
 
Hyperspin has the sexiest interface out there bar none. Requires horse power to run it though due to animated themes/flash so heavily used. I use Romlister to create a custom XML database for it. Using romlister I end up with ~1400 usable games (no clones, mahjong shit, casino or non working). IMHO it's ridiculous to have 8000+ games on a menu.

Since hyperspin uses flash I took all the MAME SNAPS and converted them all to flv files. It's bar none the best front end. (I used to use Gameex)

For a PC lacking horse power my second recommendation is Atomic FE which has a VERY cool studio to make your own menus and such.

Both Hyperspin and Atomic work on 64bit Windows which is another mandatory item. Too many benefits but you also have to have a 64bit capable proc ;)
 
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MaLa or Atomic... I want a really fast and simple menu with a screenshot. I choose those over Frizz's pick of MAMEwah simply because they are Windows based with tabbed options making them easier to configure for someone new to MAME.

To me, Hyperspin is kind of clunky. If you're looking for something that somewhat copies the Ultracade front end, and running under 100 games thats probably the one you're looking for. If you're running a lot of ROM's, its downright painful. The spinning menu gets in the way.
 
I'm using MaLa with a custom vertical menu design that I modified from one of the skins that are out there.

I did try (and pay for) Maximus but frankly wouldn't recommend it to anyone at this point. I've had way too many problems with it, and it has absolutely zero technical support from the developer. I regret buying it.

Hyperspin is too "busy" for me. I am much more into earlier arcade games ('84 and earlier) and it just seems out of place with the menu of games that I keep.
 
MaLa or Atomic... I want a really fast and simple menu with a screenshot. I choose those over Frizz's pick of MAMEwah simply because they are Windows based with tabbed options making them easier to configure for someone new to MAME.

To me, Hyperspin is kind of clunky. If you're looking for something that somewhat copies the Ultracade front end, and running under 100 games thats probably the one you're looking for. If you're running a lot of ROM's, its downright painful. The spinning menu gets in the way.

I absolutely LOVE Hyperspin - but I agree with this point, if you are going for a huge ROM set, it is probably not the best way to go. Personally, I generally think the smaller the ROM set the better. It's impossible to have a fully working, polished setup with a large number of games. And I've found that the more game choices, the less I actually play.

If you want something very basic and lightweight, there are plenty of options for that too. Just personal preference. I use a basic DOS GameLauncher menu in my cocktail because it only has 3 games and it's just for function, and I've done this in several machines in the past. For a really nice deluxe MAME cabinet with 27" monitor, I wanted something like the Global VR setup (which I think tops almost all MAME setups I've seen) so I went with Hyperspin. (Have used Atomic and GL in this cabinet previously but the GL frontend wasn't up to par with the rest of the cabinet in my opinion).

Hyperspin is so nice that I thoroughly enjoy just watching it run through the themes and game demos. It is definitely more of an "attract mode" than you find with more basic/older frontends like GL or ArcadeOS.

Wade
 
On my vertical machine, I have a pretty limited list... Maybe 120 or so games that I know I love.

The horizontal MAME cab has everything on it. The reason I keep all that stuff on there is occasionally someone will mention a game they've found that I'm not familiar with or haven't played in a long time. I love checking that kind of stuff out with MAME, and have even found a few unusual games I love, like Zing Zing Zip and P-47.

In someone of a MAME reversal, I bought a dedicated P-47 board after playing it in MAME.
MAME isn't all bad. :)
 
ArcadeOS, brothers. 320x200. Title and a screen shot. Runs under DOS 6.2. Automagically starts from the autoexec.bat. I use AdvMAME to try and keep the games looking correct. It even fakes the scan lines pretty well.

Sure, it's not the real thing, but it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb next to the real ones. The CP only has 2 Wico red ball sticks and 3 buttons per player. If you didn't know it, you might think it was just a crappy conversion since it has Black Tiger art on it.


/I love Black Tiger
 
You do realize that newer front ends/MAME allow multiple resolutions and you can assign different resolutions to each game to keep them "stock", right? ArcadeOS is so... 1990's...

:D
 
You do realize that newer front ends/MAME allow multiple resolutions and you can assign different resolutions to each game to keep them "stock", right? ArcadeOS is so... 1990's...

:D

Tru dat. All of my games in MAME look 100% correct.

And, why would I want to add scan lines to an arcade monitor?!?!
 
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