How to Install MAME on Your Apple Silicon Mac: A Step-by-Step Guide

Installing MAME on Your Apple Silicon Mac

MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) allows you to play classic games on modern computing systems, including Macs. This article walks through the process of installing and running MAME on an Apple Silicon Mac.

Overview of MAME

• Purpose: Emulates classic hardware systems and games.
• Compatibility: Supports Macs, Windows, Linux, and some Android devices.
• History: Started over 25 years ago by Nicola Salmoria; now open source under the GPL license with the trademark owned by Gregory Ember.
• Status: Pre-release software, still under active development.

MAME 0.274 Update for Apple Silicon

• New Features: ARMv8 support (Apple Silicon), new systems and games added (e.g., Silicon Graphics IRIS workstations, CD-i graphics, Japanese consoles).
• Requirements: SDL2 library for cross-platform graphics and sound.

Installation Methods

Using Homebrew

1. Install Homebrew if you haven't already: `/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"`
2. Install MAME: `brew install mame`
3. Run MAME: Open Terminal, navigate to the directory, and type `mame`.

Checking Installation

• Use the command `which mame` to verify the installation path.
• View extensive manual pages with `man mame` (exit with Control-Z or q).

Additional Tools

• advancescan: ROM manager installable via Homebrew.
• rom-tools: Additional MAME tools installable via Homebrew.

Troubleshooting

• System hangs were encountered on an M2 Mac mini; save any open work before running MAME.

For more detailed technical discussions, refer to the MAMEDev Wiki.