MAME ROMs
Arcade · 1,183 games
Showing 1–30 of 1,183 · Most popular
This page lists 1,183 MAME (MAME) ROMs, sorted by how often each one is downloaded. The games archived here originally came out between 1978 and 2010.
The most common genres in this library are Action, Fighting, Shoot 'em up and Sports. The most downloaded titles right now are Marvel VS Capcom 2, Metal Slug 2 and OutRun 2 (Rev A) (GDX-0004A).
To play these files you need a MAME emulator — MAME is the one most people use. Each download below is a game file, not the emulator itself.
- Manufacturer
- Arcade
- ROMs archived
- 1,183
- Games from
- 1978–2010
- Regions
- USA, Japan and Japanese
- Emulators
- MAME
Marvel VS Capcom 2
Metal Slug 2
OutRun 2 (Rev A) (GDX-0004A)
600
Cadillacs And Dinosaurs
Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
Metal Slug 6
Metal Slug 3
Arcade Classics
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future
The Simpsons
Golden Axe The Revenge of Death Adder
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Galaga
Super Mario Brothers
The King of Fighters 2002 Magic Plus II
Final Fight
Captain Commando
Contra
Ghosts 'n Goblins
WWF WrestleFest
Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection (TED1 Ver. A)
Golden Axe
Mortal Kombat 3
Metal Slug 5
Metal Slug: Super Vehicle
Out Run
Sonic the Fighters (Japan)
The King of Fighters '97
Bubble Bobble
About the MAME
MAME is not a console. It is a preservation project that has spent since 1997 documenting arcade hardware at the circuit level, on the principle that these machines are disappearing and the only durable record is an accurate software model of them.
That goal shapes everything about how it works. MAME prioritises correctness over convenience, which makes it the most demanding emulator here to set up and the most rewarding once running.
ROM sets must match your MAME version
This is the single most common source of frustration. MAME's hardware documentation improves constantly, and when it does, the expected ROM contents change. A set that worked in one version may be rejected by the next.
The fix is matching your ROM set to your MAME version, or using a tool like clrmamepro to rebuild sets against the version you are running.
Parent, clone and BIOS sets
Arcade games often exist in many revisions and regional variants. MAME stores shared data in a parent set and the differences in clone sets, so a clone will not run without its parent present.
Some hardware also requires a separate BIOS set — Neo Geo games all need neogeo.zip, for example. Missing these is the second most common reason a game will not start.
FinalBurn Neo as an alternative
FinalBurn Neo covers a narrower range of hardware — largely Capcom, Neo Geo, Sega and Toaplan boards — but is lighter, simpler to configure and often preferred for fighting games.
If your interest is specifically the classic 2D fighting and beat-'em-up era rather than broad preservation, it is the easier starting point.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does MAME say my ROM is incorrect?
- Almost always a version mismatch between the ROM set and the MAME build. Match them, or rebuild the set for your version.
- What is a CHD file?
- Compressed Hunks of Data, MAME's format for hard drives and CDs used by disc-based arcade hardware. It sits alongside the ROM zip rather than replacing it.
- Do I need every file in a full set?
- No. You need the game you want plus its parent set and any required BIOS set. Full sets exist for preservation, not for playing.