Mr. Do!'s Arcade

Home of MAME Artwork and other Emulation Goodies

WIDESCREEN ARTWORK

The majority of arcade games in MAME were originally displayed on a 4:3 monitor, either displayed horizontally, or rotated nintety degrees, with the monitor displayed vertically in the cabinet, at a 3:4 ratio. Most home gaming consoles prior to PlayStation 2 were also designed to display on 4:3 televisions.

Today's computer monitors and televisions are typically 16:9 ratio screens; 33% wider than 4:3 screens. This means when you play most games in MAME on today's monitors, there is extra black space on both sides of the gameplay area.

For some reason, this angers a LOT of people.

As most In-Game Artwork from this site is attempting to simulate actual arcade artwork, it gives similar results: black space on the left and right, and the additional effect of the game screen not stretching to the top and bottom of your monitor.

This, also, seems to anger a lot of people.

Back in 2011, I was directed to a site for a guy going by hausjam, who decided to do something about that. Below is much of the original text from his page:

I liked how his artwork came out back then, so after getting his approval, added it to our Other Artwork page.

Since that time, there has been a rise in those who create widescreen artwork. Some of it I really, really, like, and at some point, we hope to add more of it here. Some of it... well... some others I just do not really care for the style in which they are presented. But that's just, like, my opinion, man. Other users like it, so best wishes to them.