# MAME

21 Hacker News commenters recommended MAME and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free emulator that preserves arcade games and vintage hardware, and is used to reverse-engineer devices. Critics note replays only run on the version that recorded them.

## Why people recommend it

- Covers arcade games and vintage hardware (5 comments): "The MAME project doesn't just capture the arcade games everyone thinks about, but it captures things like the old Tiger LCD handhelds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47826969)) "You can emulate the Victor 9000 / Act Sirius 1 computer he talks about in the article with mame." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47555275)) "just use a PC with the Duckstation, Mesen, Dolphin, MAME, Final Burn Neo, and PCSX2 emulators" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47528951))
- Used for reverse-engineering arcade hardware (4 comments): "It's generally accurate enough that MAME is regularly used to emulate vintage hardware when reverse-engineering devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093501)) "MAME is doing some amazing reverse engineering work on some more recent arcade boards" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785176)) "Projects like MAME and RetroArch have existed for decades doing truly wonderful work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50319458))
- Accurate emulation of vintage systems (2 comments): "It's generally accurate enough that MAME is regularly used to emulate vintage hardware when reverse-engineering devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093501)) "MAME have good emulation of Model 3 and 2, respectively, these days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47025888))
- Free, open source, no lock-in (2 comments): "Platform emulators can't be locked-in: MAME, Dolphin, RPCS3, Eden, etc offer user freedom" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185069)) "there are several correct open source emulators, eg MAME" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47179152))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [DOSBox](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dosbox.md): 37 recommend
- [ZSNES](https://hackerapproved.com/p/super-zsnes.md): 23 recommend
- [RetroArch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/retroarch.md): 21 recommend
- [DOSBox-X](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dosbox-x.md): 19 recommend
- [DuckStation](https://hackerapproved.com/p/duckstation.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "MAME", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mame/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).