Multi-boards vs MAME vs Original - Who's Inferior???

rainman154

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Multi-boards vs MAME vs Original - Who's Inferior???

Am I correct on the following? Original JAMMA Game = Normal. All Others = Inferior quality

JAMMA Board (Aliens) - Original board, looks great, sounds great. The way it was meant to be played.

MAME (Aliens) - Emulation of Roms. Looks the same? Sounds the same?? Difference in quality??

Multi-Boards 13XX in 1 - Has the game Aliens on it plus a zillion others. This is basically a board with MAME loaded on the front end that plays roms. Quality as good as the original?

Company made Multi-Boards (Taito, Williams ect) - Same as the original boards? Or....?

What's the noticeable difference?
 
Am I correct on the following? Original JAMMA Game = Normal. All Others = Inferior quality

Yes. And not only Jamma standard, but all original hardware board sets.

Emulators and multi-boards are fine if you don't care about games being imperfect. High score players and total nerds like myself could sit there and pinpoint missing frames, incorrect sound, slow/fast cpu clock speed, missing content, patched or guessed code spots etc etc. That sorta stuff bothers us. To joe arcade player who likes playing the casual game, he could care less and thats fine too.

I'm not sure about Aliens specifically, i own the PCB and have played it on mame, its pretty close I think but I just don't remember.
 
The main factor for me is how smoothly the game runs. Emulated games always display jerkiness or tearing.

The proper sound hardware always sounds better than an emulation of it too.
 
Good answer. I was just using "Aliens" as an example. Insert any title.

So the games I really want to own, I should buy an original board. A multi would just be for those games that I would casually flip through.
 
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I had the same questions. Is it safe to say that all company-made multi boards are going to have complete and legitimately licensed games, but running on a kind of emulation? I expect the emulation would be superior to the XXX-1 cards or MAME. Is that right?
 
mame plays the exact rom, only the hardware is emulated. the xxx-in-1 boards are bootlegs, and i dont want to support bootleggers by giving them any money. i think mame is okay as long as you are not using it for profit. the vast majority of games playable on mame are orphaned works, not available for legal sale anywhere anyways. i dont have enough experience with legit multigames to comment.
 
The problem with the xxx-in-1 boards is that they're using very old builds of MAME so they can get away with running crappy hardware. Colors and sounds are off, and the horrible game choices are obviously done by someone that isn't too knowledgeable about what people want.

On a even a halfway decent computer, a lot of the MAME games are very close to the originals. I've compared all of the dedicated games I have to MAME, and some are close enough that only a very experienced player would notice.

Defender is one where I've seen all of the odd behavior in both emulation and the real thing... Slowdown, Landers warping through the top without mutating when there is a lot of stuff on screen, and enemies properly being moved off the screen when there is too much on there (intentionally done in the original because the hardware couldn't handle it).
I think a lot of people here base their opinions of MAME on these crappy multi-boards without seeing how good it can be when set up right.
 
Company made Multi-Boards (Taito, Williams ect) - Same as the original boards? Or....?

Is there such a thing?

The only one I know of is Galaga/MsPac/Pac combo.

Maybe Namco Arcade Classics from a while back.

I don't think there are any other legitimate company-made multi-boards. Somebody else can pipe in on that.

Kerry
 
Is there such a thing?

The only one I know of is Galaga/MsPac/Pac combo.

Maybe Namco Arcade Classics from a while back.

I don't think there are any other legitimate company-made multi-boards. Somebody else can pipe in on that.

Kerry

Hanaho created a licensed multi-Taito (Clay Cowgill did the board I do believe).... they also created a licensed multi-SNK...

There is an authentic licensed atari board that has Centipede, Missile Command and (of all things) Capcom Bowling I do believe.

There are a number of licensed authentic multiboards...
 
That SNK multiboard sounds interesting, any idea what games it had on it?

PS: Anyone who's complaining about MAME doesn't know how to set it up right...
It doesnt seem possible for an emulator running on a PC to scroll perfectly smoothly like the original hardware. None of them do, it's not just limited to MAME.

On platforms like the Amiga and Atari where the whole machine is synced to the vertical refresh rate, perfect video emulation is possible.
 
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That SNK multiboard sounds interesting, any idea what games it had on it?


It doesnt seem possible for an emulator running on a PC to scroll perfectly smoothly like the original hardware. None of them do, it's not just limited to MAME.

On platforms like the Amiga and Atari where the whole machine is synced to the vertical refresh rate, perfect video emulation is possible.

If you set your video card to output at the correct resolution, it works fine. there are some games that don't use an easily available resolution, so it is harder to get it right. That is actually correct emulation being output to the wrong hardware.
 
I don't see how the resolution is relevant, the hardware just isn't capable of keeping a constant frame rate of 60hz. Here's a short log from glxgears as an example:

302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.263 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.021 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.021 FPS

I'm quite sure you'll see something similar happening if you tell MAME to show you the fps.
 
That SNK multiboard sounds interesting, any idea what games it had on it?


It doesnt seem possible for an emulator running on a PC to scroll perfectly smoothly like the original hardware. None of them do, it's not just limited to MAME.

On platforms like the Amiga and Atari where the whole machine is synced to the vertical refresh rate, perfect video emulation is possible.

I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying... A 3Ghz MAME machine emulating a 1Mhz arcade machine can run in framerates in the hundreds without skipping frames if you allow it. You can also run a MAME machine with a 15hz arcade monitor.
 
That SNK multiboard sounds interesting, any idea what games it had on it?

SNK6.gif
 
Hanaho created a licensed multi-Taito (Clay Cowgill did the board I do believe).... they also created a licensed multi-SNK...

There is an authentic licensed atari board that has Centipede, Missile Command and (of all things) Capcom Bowling I do believe.

There are a number of licensed authentic multiboards...

That is what I was referring too. The multi-Williams is out there. Plus I thought there was a Multi-Taito??
 
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