MAME OS X: A Brilliant Emulator for Mac
Have you ever been nostalgic for those games that you played as a kid such as 1942, Ghosts 'n Goblins, and Street Fighter? If so, then you'll definitely love MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) OS X, which is a native OS X port of the popular MAME emulator. MAME OS X is designed to take advantage of all the latest OS X technologies, such as Core Video and Core Image. Setting up MAME OS X is simple - once you've downloaded the image, run it, and you'll be immediately presented with the main MAME interface with the games running down the left panel and the gaming screen along the right.
There are literally hundreds of games to choose from, but the problem is finding one that actually works. When MAME OS X initializes, it tells you that you must "Audit" to populate the list. The problem is that the audit button is clouded for some reason, meaning you can't click it even if you want to. There are three tabs at the top of the main window - All, Good, and Favorites. By default, you open MAME OS X on Good, but if you switch to All, you'll see all of the games available.
The second problem, however, is that many of the games fail to load. A progress bar tells you that a game has reached, say, 3% loading, and then an error message appears "Some Files Were Missing," telling you to check the Window Log for more help. Those few games that do work, however, are faithful reproductions of the original and give you a fully authentic arcade experience (without needing lots of coins, of course).
Packed with games and accurate to the last, MAME OS X is an excellent application, only let down by the fact that many of the games either fail to load or populate on the list.
