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Which One Is Better Mame Or Jamma?

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Have you ever wondered which emulator is the best, but weren’t sure? Maybe you have narrowed it down to two different ones, but you still are not sure. Well, in this article we will go over everything you need to know about arcade emulators and which one is the best. 

So which one is better Mame or Jamma?

Although both are great emulators, depending upon what you are using it for, will depend upon which one you want to use. Jamma works better for arcade cabinets, where Mame can be used for any computer or operating system. This is why most people think that Mame is better. 

If you want to know more about Mame and Jamma, you will want to keep reading this article.

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What is Mame?

MAME is an emulator which is designed to create and design the arcade game system on computers. MAME is freely available and open-sources thus you can use it to design an arcade system with your personal computer.

MAME is an acronym that stands for (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

History of Mame

MAME was first released on the fifth of February nineteen ninety-five by an Italian programmer called Nicola Salmoria. Its roots are far stretched to the project called Multi-Pac.

In the beginning, it was specifically developed only for MS-DOS but since it was open-source it was later integrated into Unix, and then a little later into Mac.

How To Use Mame In Windows

The following are the steps into installing and using of MAME in your computer device

The First step is to simply download MAME binaries. Next you will need to begin to extract the files. You will only be able to do this once you download the binaries.

When prompted, you will need to provide a directory in which your extracted folder will be placed. For the third step, you will need to use MAME. This is because it’s necessary to download ROMs.

The next and forth step in this process is to move the downloaded zip files for ROM into the directory in which MAME is in. The fifth step which can seem kinda like a no brainer is to click run cmd on Windows to run command prompt.

The sixth and final step is to simply type the CD name for your MAME command

What Is Jamma?

This is a Japanese trade association. JAMMA is an acronym for Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association The association is represented by a lot of famous arcade gaming companies including CAPCOM, Namco, Taito, Tecmo, Konami, Sega, Bandai, Altus, etc.

The association has been changed over the years from Japan Amusement Machine Show to Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association.

What Is Jamma For?

Its name is used as a name for wiring standards in the Arcade gaming system. If an arcade machine is wired with JAMMA wiring specifics then its motherboard is JAMMA compatible.

If It has the JAMMA video standards that are used for the USB compatibility specifics, then it denotes communication protocols for peripherals.

Which Is Better For Me?

Although many people want a straight answer, the question really has no answer. It all comes down to personal preference.

If you want your PC wired then JAMMA would be an ideal solution for you.

Since JAMMA is wiring for an arcade cabinet system then using JAMMA would help you wire down your PC. If you are looking for a cheap solution I suggest you go for MAME

MAMME is cheap since it’s open-source and it is freely available. All you need to do to acquire it is to download it and its rom and extract the files into a good directory.

If you are not looking for emulators then JAMMA would be the best option.

Emulators are good but since they are software-based they can be very picky when it comes to certain games. Thus this is a disadvantage for MAME unlike JAMMA as long as the wiring is JAMMA any JAMMA game including NAMCO games is compatible.

Best Jamma Games

Jamma games have one of the best games to date with mage companies like CAPCOM, NAMCO, and Taito on their team. Thus some of the biggest JAMMA games include

Pac-man

Pac man is perhaps the most famous game on the planet. It was designed by NAMCO and it involves an emoji-like shaped avatar who eats while it moves to get free out of the maze.

The game is also known for its unpredictability when it comes to the zombie and monster

Street Fighter

This is the best-selling combat game series. It has pocketed over 2 billion US dollars in terms of revenue and all its releases have attained critical acclaim.

The arcade game was designed by CAPCOM and it is its most successful game to this date. It has a lot of series and sequels, but its most famous sequel is Street Fighter 2.

Arkanoid

This was developed by Taito. It’s a space Shoot em up type of game in which its cabinet has a spinner control. It was inspired by its predecessors like space invaders, etc.

Pinball Action

This is relevant to this day but has only changed in terms of shapes. It was developed by one of the JAMMA association companies called Tecmo.

It involves hitting a ball with stick hands at the bottom to prevent it from falling. While at the same time increasing the score by knocking features down

Dead Connection

It is also a Taito manufactured game. It was released in 1992. It’s also a shoot ’em up kind of game in which its timeline theme was during 1953.

Best Mame games

MAME also has some of the quality games. Some of them include very special games that are listed below. 

Donkey Kong

Perhaps it’s the most famous MAME game ever. It was inspired by King Kong and Beauty and the Beast. The game transformed over the years until it got to a point that Super Mario was the main character of the game.

MS. Pac-man

The first gender-based game was a MAME game. It was developed by Bally Midway who wanted to capture the attention of women in arcade games.

Mortal Kombat 2

The franchise is very famous due to incorporating superpowers in its combat game. It’s one of the earliest unique combat games which were released in 1993.

It was developed by many companies including Midway games.

Arcade cabinets

Arcade games are so easy to play they are very sophistically designed. This is because unlike other consoles an arcade machine contains a monitor, a game and controls all fitted in one cabinet.

In other words there are 3 separate fields which are electronics, computer engineering, and Interfaced design together with coding.

Thus apart from the company in which designed the game, assembly of the cabinet along with other electronic and software-related matters are done by other companies. Thus when it comes to the design of the cabinet system of the arcade machine two companies are involved.

The companies are MAME and JAMMA.

Conclusion

Although both Mame and Jamma have their differences, it is extremely hard for most people to choose which is better. This is why people normally just decide what they will be using it for, and then decide which they are going to use.

It is always best to weigh your pros and cons of each of these before you make your decision.