MAME Milestones

Even just simply counting supported ROMsets, reading the whatsnew files, and looking at the old WIP pages isn't enough to reflect the full history of the project. In an effort to at least touch on some of the highlights and project milestones that generally aren't directly reflected in the whatsnew, the table below lists some important project-level changes and significant new achievements that have impacted the project.

The intention here is not really to focus on particular drivers, but more general concepts. We're less interested that Gauntlet was emulated and more interested that the slapstic was emulated. For example.

MAME Project Timeline

1997

• 05 Feb MAME 0.1 released (0.1)

• 18 Feb First version of MacMAME released (0.4)

• 23 Mar First support for multiple CPUs (0.12)

• 26 Mar High score saving support added (0.13)

• 20 Apr First version of X/MAME checked in (0.18)

• 26 Apr Mirko Buffoni takes over from Nicola as MAME coordinator (0.19)

• 02 Jun First FM synthesis-based sound chip supported -- but only through a hack to use the OPL on a SoundBlaster card under DOS (0.23)

• 14 Jul First vector games added to MAME (0.26)

• 18 Jul First release of MAME32 (0.26.1)

• 10 Aug Nicola returns as MAME coordinator (0.27)

• 10 Aug MAME switched away from the GPL license (0.27)

• 07 Sep First 68000 game emulated (Rastan) (0.28)

1998

• 25 Apr YM2151 supported added (0.30)

• 25 Apr Atari slapstic first emulated (0.31)

• 25 Apr Timer system added (0.31)

• 25 Apr Built-in ZIP file support added (0.31)

• 03 May Public betas started; previously users would have to wait several months between releases (0.33b1)

• 16 Aug First appearance of Neo Geo games, which have been the source of much controversy ever since (0.34b1)

• 30 Aug First DSP core added: the TMS34010 (0.34b2)

• 04 Oct Began using CRCs to identify ROMs (0.34b4)

1999

• 15 Feb Internal tilemap code added - previously many drivers done tilemaps their own way (0.35b3)

• 24 May Switched to PNG from PCX as the main screenshot image format (0.35b13)

• 08 Aug Konami 052001/053248 CPU first emulated (0.36b2)

2000

• 26 Feb Removed Pong and gambling game drivers (0.36rc1)

• 06 Nov First proper 32-bit CPU added (68EC020) (0.37b9)

2001

• 17 Jan Initial support for discrete sound emulation (0.37b11)

• 24 May Windows takes over from DOS as the primary development target (0.37b15)

• 19 Aug First checkins for AdvanceMAME (0.37b16)

• 24 Aug First release to call out MAMETesters bugs (0.54)

2002

• 01 May Removed SoundBlaster FM support as software-based emulation finally became better in almost all cases (0.60)

• 04 Jul Added initial support for artwork external to games (0.61)

2003

• 15 May David Haywood takes over from Nicola as MAME coordinator (0.68)

• 15 May Added SHA1 hashes in addition to CRCs to reduce hacks and prevent collisions (0.68)

• 23 May First release to have intermediate 'u' updates (0.69)

• 09 Aug First emulation of the SP0250 speech chip (0.72)

• 12 Oct Removed the concept of TESTDRIVERS, making all drivers available in all builds (0.75)

• 11 Nov 3dfx Voodoo emulation added (0.77)

2004

• 24 Oct Sega FD1094 decryption added (0.88)

• 24 Nov New debugger added (0.89)

2005

• 27 Feb Major sound system reorganization around streams (0.93)

• 07 Apr mamedev.org is born

• 18 Apr Aaron Giles takes over from Haze as MAME coordinator

• 03 May Changed the license to be based off of the BSD license, with commercial restrictions (0.96)

• 14 Sep Added back support for some gambling games (0.100)

2006

• 03 Jun First version of SDLMAME released (0.106u1)

• 23 Jul New video system comes online, focused on letting the video hardware do compositing (0.107)

• 20 Aug High score support removed (0.108)

2007

• 05 Feb CPS2 decryption fully implemented (0.112)

• 20 Jun CPS3 decryption added (0.116u2)

2008

• 19 Aug First laserdisc game emulated (Cube Quest) (0.127)