how many of you hate MAME machines?

chuchunesme

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I'm still new around here but from what I've seen a lot of people seem to look down on MAME machines. I could be wrong, it just seems that way to me. If that's the case what's the big deal with them? I plan on building a clean MAME machine to add to my arcade, since I like so many games it would be impossible to have them all in my garage so this is the best alternative in my eyes.
 
It's not so much MAME itself, or the MAME machine concept, but what people do in the name of it. Way too many classics have been gutted and remade into a "MAME goodness" abomination, and they're rarely attractive.

Are you starting with a known generic or building from scratch? If so, good on you, that's the kind of MAME machine we like! Just don't get overzealous with the buttons.
 
I dont like them because I have seen so many dedicated cabs destroyed to become some winged monstrosity.
 
I'm still new around here but from what I've seen a lot of people seem to look down on MAME machines. I could be wrong, it just seems that way to me. If that's the case what's the big deal with them?

Imagine you have a passion for `57 Chevys.

Then, imagine one being fitted with a hybrid Ford motor, K-Mart rims, and a plastic spoiler.

There ya go.
 
my Mortal Kombat cab is 100% original right down to the Bezel instructions sticker. However, instead of the original pcb I have a mame setup inside. I don't think anybody has a problem with that.

It's more a problem when people hack control panels up with installing track balls, light guns and lights and shit.

Mame in a cab kept original I think is accepted.
 
Basically what the others said, about people destroying classic machines, and the fact that they usually look like ass. I hate MAME machines that have a gigantic control panel, and have every joystick/spinner/tracball/buttons/steering wheel/ yoke etc.....it looks like shit. I do have a MAME machine in my arcade, but it looks exactly like a ARCADE machine...not a MAME machine.
Besides people destroying games, and making horrible looking cabinets, MAME is awesome. The ability to play almost every arcade games is a 80's kids dream come true. I've also used MAME to repair and convert boardsets, because of having ROMS available.
-Mark
 
checkout the custom work done for this marquee i found in my nintehdo vs cab.

could it be any more pixelated? thats not the pic, thats the marquee lol
 

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I would never take a good machine and rip it apart for a MAME project, if I have something that needs a little work to bring it back then I'd take that route for sure. I actually went searching for a gutted cab to build mine with. I ended up with a totally gutted cab, its only sides, bottom and lower back piece. I also have a gutted NBA jam that I was thinking about using as well. I purchased an X-arcade tank stick to use but I think I'm going to just pull the harness, buttons and trackball to put in an original control panel to make it look more normal. I won't be adding 4 players with 25 buttons each, no guns, no steering wheels or knobs, it'll be 2 player with I think 8 buttons and a track ball. I see everyone's points on it, I want it to look as close to a real game as possible. I want to steer away from making it look like a totally original dedicated cab with all the MAME in it though. Thanks for the input, I'll do my best to keep it tasteful and any other suggestions anyone can offer please do!
 
I have found a couple of MAME machines on CL that were hacked, bought for less than $40, stipped them out and used what was left to rebuild the original cabs. I still look for these cabs because the people who start these projects get bored with them very fast and never finish them.
 
I dunno...I've seen more classic games destroyed by bad conversions than MAME honestly.
If you look at MAME for what it is(chip preservation and backup), I think it's a good thing for us all in the long run when our EPROMS and PROMS start failing.

One thing I do hate about MAME though is it has single handedly increased the cost of empty and project cabs ten fold. People think they can sell junk cabs for 100-$200 empty solely because some moron will eventually pay their asking price to "MAME" it.
 
I have found a couple of MAME machines on CL that were hacked, bought for less than $40, stipped them out and used what was left to rebuild the original cabs. I still look for these cabs because the people who start these projects get bored with them very fast and never finish them.

Most of the MAME machines I find in my area are must be gold plated and encrusted with diamonds because people expect close to $1000 or more for them. I've seen one or two that were nice, others are very overdone or just look like my 9 year old built it. I found one the guy wanted $300 for, it had a reconditioned WG monitor and a working PC inside. I was thinking I could finish the control panel with the guts from the X-arcade and add my own PC or hard drive to bring it up a notch but decided to stick to my original build plan. I thought about doing an LCD but decided to stick to a tube because I want a screen bigger than 19" and I want the correct aspect ratio as well.
 
You are in mame h8tr territory here on klov! I LOVE mame, I make sweet ass mame conversions without hacking up control panels. I go with what the cabinet wants to be. A trackball cabinet stays as a trackball cabinet...What peeps really dispise is FRANKENPANELS. CP's that try to play too many different games with too many different controls.
I have seen mame cabinets that blow away multiboard conversions any day. And multicading a cabinet is no better than maming it, it just makes it easier to sell, that's all. So peeps here that slam mame and then make nasty multicades are worse than peeps trying to mame a cabinet. Mame tends to be more accurate than the multiboards. I have to say though, some peeps here on klov just do not have the technical know how to build a mame from scratch, they just don't understand it all and there's a lot to know. If you think the arcadesd is running anything other than mame, you are kidding yourself.
 
You are in mame h8tr territory here on klov! I LOVE mame, I make sweet ass mame conversions without hacking up control panels. I go with what the cabinet wants to be. A trackball cabinet stays as a trackball cabinet...What peeps really dispise is FRANKENPANELS. CP's that try to play too many different games with too many different controls.
I have seen mame cabinets that blow away multiboard conversions any day. And multicading a cabinet is no better than maming it, it just makes it easier to sell, that's all. So peeps here that slam mame and then make nasty multicades are worse than peeps trying to mame a cabinet. Mame tends to be more accurate than the multiboards. I have to say though, some peeps here on klov just do not have the technical know how to build a mame from scratch, they just don't understand it all and there's a lot to know. If you think the arcadesd is running anything other than mame, you are kidding yourself.

Ohhhhh you let it all out lol I think some guys are gonna get mad but I agree with a lot of what you said.

Arcade SD, 60-1 all those multiboards are accepted no problem but as soon as you say Mame forget about it.

All those multiboards are just bad mame setups. Maybe people just don't know.
 
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I got this rush n attack and a gutted atari cab for $75, bought some art for the r&a, built a cheap custom CP for the atari cab and put MAME into both. sold the rushnattack kit for $25 so someone else gets to enjoy the game still...

cimg0169l.jpg


the frogger runs about 160 vertical classics and the atari cab has a full MAME set, version 110 or so... they are both for home use only, have a better game selection than a 60-in-1, and I didnt give any money to chinese bootleggers.

full cost other than parts I already had laying around was only about $300 for both, and before building them i had no knowledge of arcade repair. since then, about 2 years ago, I also picked up a dedicated centipede cocktail and a time pilot. if it werent for MAME I doubt I would have gotten into collecting arcade cabs at all.

I only hate MAME when people take complete, non gutted cabs and fuck them all up to hell. any cab thats already gutted is fair game in my opinion, although if its something classic or hard to find its more ethical to trade it to someone for a generic cab to MAME.
 
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I only hate MAME when people take complete, non gutted cabs and fuck them all up to hell.

So it isn't MAME you hate, but the people who 'take complete, non gutted cabs and fuck them all up to hell"?

More cabinets have been ruined by arcade operators converting a non-earning game to something else. That's been going on since the 1980's. Conversions to MAME are a drop in the bucket.
 
All of you guys are crazy. Mame lets people get to play the classics who otherwise would never get a chance to.

Here are some of the best Mame cabs out there. Some people say it should be called "Maim" instead. But I disagree. These are MY favorite Maim's, check them out before you decry them:

http://www.brentradio.com/images/HellcadeAll/
 
So it isn't MAME you hate, but the people who 'take complete, non gutted cabs and fuck them all up to hell"?

More cabinets have been ruined by arcade operators converting a non-earning game to something else. That's been going on since the 1980's. Conversions to MAME are a drop in the bucket.

There's a difference there - the operators have to make money (it's what they do), and so they do conversions. Sadly, some of them were complete hacks and would do any damn thing to get a cab back in rotation, so we see a lot of crappy conversions.

Not many people object to MAME on principal, but when it's done badly or costs us a classic game. These are people who SHOULD have some sense, but instead will gut a perfectly good classic video game, only to attach some sort of albatross with every controller ever invented on it. It looks like hell, it's hard to play (because none of the controls are in good places), and they get bored with it quickly.

MAME is wonderful when the controls are reasonable (which I define as 'whatever was on the cabinet to begin with), and when nothing has been destroyed to make the MAME cab. It's even better when it's used to bring back some dead/unreliable game that otherwise couldn't be saved.

I'm personally looking toward a MAME setup - I bought an Atari Missile Command cocktail cabinet with no boards and a broken-necked monitor. I'll use the trackballs and existing buttons, put a computer it in and run whatever 2 player trackball games that MAME supports on it. It's gonna be fun, and my wife (a Millipede/Centipede fan) will love it.
 
So it isn't MAME you hate, but the people who 'take complete, non gutted cabs and fuck them all up to hell"?

More cabinets have been ruined by arcade operators converting a non-earning game to something else. That's been going on since the 1980's. Conversions to MAME are a drop in the bucket.
the majority of them that are doing it now are probably dropping 60-in-1's in there, and those are MAME hacks, so yeah, i think its a valid statement.
 
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