MAME for console games

[hi_resurrection]

Why can't somebody make a GAME emulator? ie - It's the same as MAME but for all console games. It would basically incorporate modified versions of all the best emulators - RockNES for NES, Gens for MD, zSNES for SNES, Magic Engine for PC Engine or whatever, into one giant emulator similar to the way MAME emulates multiple chipsets.

 

It would be a rock solid emulator that perfectly emulates each game and comes with a front-end GUI listing all available games. When you put in the applicable version of a game it verifies it just like MAME does. All games, across all formats, would be instantly accessible to retro fans like myself without quitting and browsing through loads of folders to open up different emulators. You could sort games by type and format so you could browse just through your SNES or MD games for example. And it would be the perfect way of chronicling videogame history right from the very beginning. This project would grow and grow and eventually it would even include 'ISO' files of PlayStation2 and XBOX games. This wouldn't be anything like meaningful piracy, because by the time any PC could emulate those games at full speed and support for them was included (by the team) we'd all be buying Playstation 5 games. I can't believe nobody has thought about contacting the makers of emulators about collaborating on such a project. This could rival MAME for infamy/popularity/acclaim.

 

Sure, Nintendo and other devlopers would probably come after it in an attempt to shut it down but the same applies to any emulator. They'd just keep fobbing them off with same stuff MAME has been using for all these years. "it's about preserving these games' history". "You can only make dumps of games you own" etcetera...

Edited August 30, 2005 by hi_resurrection

[Weirdy]

closest thing to that is MESS

[hi_resurrection]

closest thing to that is MESS

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

MESS isn't even trying to be anything like comprehensive though. That just seems like a bunch of people trying to cram as many weak emulators for obscure systems together as they could to acheive some kind of record.

 

Somebody should seriously attempt to do this. For the good of all mankind. Well...for gamers.

Edited August 30, 2005 by hi_resurrection

[Weirdy]

actually, mame does support snes, I just looked through the source, but you need BIOS

[Robert]

there's a front-end called SlaunchXP that can be a frontend for multiple emus at the one time.

 

I've never tried it, but you can get it here.

[hi_resurrection]

there's a front-end called SlaunchXP that can be a frontend for multiple emus at the one time.

 

I've never tried it, but you can get it here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for the advice. It sounds okay but nowhere near as useable as it could be.

 

Somebody still needs to make a standard in console emulation the way MAME has for coin-ops.

[James]

Thanks for the advice. It sounds okay but nowhere near as useable as it could be.

 

Somebody still needs to make a standard in console emulation the way MAME has for coin-ops.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well I hope you are able to do it.

[hi_resurrection]

Thanks for the advice. It sounds okay but nowhere near as useable as it could be.

 

Somebody still needs to make a standard in console emulation the way MAME has for coin-ops.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well I hope you are able to do it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

very funny.....It's got nothing to do with whether I can do it. It's whether the people who enjoy doing this sort of stuff can do it.

[Agozer]

It has already been tried before by people who have no idea about emulation and have only had half-assed ideas. This question has been asked a lot on the ZSNES Board, mainly because they wanted talented coders like Nach and pagefault to chip into this project.

 

Who knows, maybe it'll happen in the future, but as of late, no developer (outside of MESS) has taken interest in such a project.

[James]

very funny.....It's got nothing to do with whether I can do it. It's whether the people who enjoy doing this sort of stuff can do it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If they wanted to do it. It would of been done already.

This task is not easy. Alot of codeing is needed for this to even happen let alone work properly

I feel if you really want somthing like this then you should try it yourself.

[ken_cinder]

Consoles have alot more unique hardware than your run of the mill arcade board too. Even today's arcade boards utilize alot of standardized chipsets that have been arou nd for years, for basic functions.......consoles do not.

This isn't as easy, infact nowhere near, as you seem to think it is. MESS emulates alot of obscure things, but they are not complex or highly unique hardware at their core.