MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: N00B Dad Mame Setup Help

> (how does Killer Instinct 2 come out with a Mame set, but doesn't include the CHD
> required to play?)

Sorry for the wall of text, but here goes.

You might be a misguided in your understanding of how MAME works, so to clarify:

- It could just be the way you worded it, but I need to point out that Killer Instinct 2 didn't "come out with a MAME set". The game developers themselves don't provide ROM sets. MAME ROM sets come about when someone with the capability of dumping the individual ROM chips, and other devices, on a given arcade board, comes into possession of said board, and does so, then uploads these files to the Internet.

- The ROM set doesn't include the CHD because the CHD is an entirely separate file, containing the contents of the hard drive that Killer Instinct 2 had inside the cabinet.

- The MAME website has a pretty great FAQ that should help clarify how it actually works. In particular, check out the "ROMs and CHDs" section: https://docs.mamedev.org/usingmame/aboutromsets.html

You might be having trouble sourcing the CHDs because they generally aren't hosted directly on webhosts, as a complete set of CHDs totals hundreds of gigabytes in size, and the bandwidth costs would be immense. There are sites out there, though, torrent sites, which always have the latest version of the MAME ROM sets and CHDs available as free-leech torrents. At the risk of coming off as rude, your lack of CHDs isn't a MAME problem, it's a problem with how you're searching for them.

As for working/non-working games, any halfway-modern MAME frontend should be able to be configured to filter out fully non-working sets from view. I have to emphasize that you want to filter out non-working sets, rather than filtering in working sets: There are a number of classic 80's games which have known, but extremely subtle, imperfections in either their graphics or sound emulation. Those sets are marked as "partially working", so if you focus solely on fully-working sets, you'll wind up with a lot of the 80's classics missing from your list.

Lastly, I tend to concur with Andrew; rather than focusing on "these are classic games that are popular and important for you to experience", get to know what kind of games your son is interested in, and hand-pick a small handful that align nicely with them.

Depending on his age, he very well may not have even had the experience of playing a "classic" arcade machine, as opposed to some super-deluxe sit-down racing game, or game with heavily physical or haptic interaction like Dance Dance Revolution. Not to pry too far into your personal life, but given the relative paucity of classic arcade games found on location these days, gifting him an arcade game could be seen as anything, including:
- A genuine gift that you know he'll enjoy
- A genuine gift that you know you'll enjoy
- A way of encouraging father/son bonding (in which case, have you considered stepping into his world of PC or console gaming?)

Lastly, if you really want a good set of classics that are approachable enough, family-friendly, joystick-controlled, and just plain fun, I can suggest off the top of my head:

- Dig Dug, Dig Dug 2, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Asteroids, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris (Atari), Altered Beast, Space Harrier, Shinobi, 1942, 1943, Xevious, Galaga, Galaxian, Rally X, New Rally X, Mappy, Klax, Space Invaders, Q*Bert, Zaxxon, Congo Bongo, Jungle Hunt, Defender, Robotron 2084, Moon Patrol, Burger Time, Berzerk, Gorf, Root Beer Tapper, Chicken Shift, Gauntlet, Haunted Castle, Chelnov, Mario Bros., Bubble Bobble, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Pengo, Qiz, Zookeeper, Joust, Gyruss, Track and Field, Boogie Wings, Gradius, and R-Type.