What kinds of systems and software can MAME emulate?

Updated

MAME emulates a wide range of hardware: arcade video games (its original focus), vintage computers, video game consoles, and calculators. That breadth exists because MAME absorbed the sister project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System), which had been documenting non-arcade systems. MAME's own description frames the scope as "a wide variety of (mostly vintage) computers, video game consoles and calculators, in addition to the arcade video games that were its initial focus."

The scope in plain terms

Category Covered? Notes from MAME's own description
Arcade video games Yes The project's original and initial focus
Vintage computers Yes Added through the MESS merger
Video game consoles Yes Added through the MESS merger
Calculators Yes Explicitly named
Other electronic systems Yes Described as "mostly vintage" hardware generally

The emphasis is on vintage hardware. MAME's stated purpose is preservation: it documents how the original hardware works, and the source code itself serves as that documentation. Being able to actually run the software is, in the project's framing, a way to validate that the documentation is accurate.

Why "emulate" here means "document"

This matters if you're deciding whether MAME fits your use case. MAME is not organized as a curated consumer product with a fixed list of supported titles. It's a multi-purpose emulation framework whose coverage grows as contributors document hardware. So the practical answer to "can MAME emulate X?" is usually "check whether the hardware has been documented," not "check whether it's on a supported list."

What this means for you

  • If you want to run arcade games, that's the core of the project and where it started.
  • If you want to run old home computers or consoles, that coverage came in via MESS and is part of MAME now.
  • If you want calculators or other odd vintage electronics, those are in scope too, under the same "mostly vintage" umbrella.
  • If you need a specific system, the MAMEdev Wiki and the emulated system guides linked from mamedev.org are the places to confirm coverage before assuming it exists.

One licensing note that affects reuse: MAME as a whole is distributed under GPL-2.0, while over 90% of files (including core files) are under BSD-3-Clause. "MAME" is a registered trademark of Gregory Ember, and permission is required to use the name, logo, or wordmark.