Homebrew Emulator MAME4Wii - another port of MAME for Wii, based on MAME 0.135

SaulFabre · May 29, 2024

Recently, an user called Nebiun made yet another fork of MAME Wii originally developed by Toad King, and this new project is called:

MAME4Wii

MAME4Wii is an Arcade Emulator based on MAME Wii 1.0 by Toad King.
Many games for early arcade boards can be played with varying amounts of success.
This version is based on official MAME version 0.135 (with some fixes and changes from MAME 0.136) so you need ROMS from that version (0.135).
ROMS must be copied in sd:/mame/roms (for MAME4Wii 1.35.2) or sd:/mame4wii/roms (for MAME4Wii 1.35.3 and later) (Leave them zipped!!!).
The app has three parts: a main menu, a loader and multiple dol of MAME tailored to play groups of games.

Changes on original MAME 0.135 sources:

Cut off code for screenshot and video recording
Cut off save of game settings
Cut off debug codes
Cut off cheat codes

Changes on MAME Wii 1.0 sources:

Fix video driver to play Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battle Zone, etc...
Fix input driver for use of Wiimote only
Some other changes...

Changelog:

v1.35.3:

* Classified all games in the list
* Removed duplicate titles
* Correct input for some games
* Try to correct video glitch
* Change MAME4Wii directory from sd:/mame to sd:/mame4wii

v1.35.2:

* Initial release

Downloads:

MAME4Wii:
in this link:
http://nebiun.altervista.org/wii_games/mame4wii-1.35.3.zip
Current version is 1.35.3.

MAME4Wii Snapshots:
You can download the archive mame4wii_snap.zip to add the screen shots of the games. The archive must be unzipped in sd:/mame/snap (for MAME4Wii 1.35.2) or sd:/mame4wii/snap (for MAME4Wii 1.35.3 and later).
https://nebiun.altervista.org/wii_games/mame4wii_snap.zip

Mirror link (provided by saulfabreg): http://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/MAME4Wii/releases

Source code: avaliable on GitHub. https://github.com/nebiun/MAME4Wii

More further info can be found here: https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Mame4wii

(DISCLAIMER: I do not own nor made this project, i'm just letting know this for all GBAtempers and Wii/Wii U players.)

Greetings to all!

JuanMena · May 29, 2024

Cool! Wonder if this could improve the MAME Catalog for Wii.

I have 3 games in mind:

Joe & Mac Returns
NightSlashers
DynaGear

Personally I'm pretty satisfied with RetroArch's efforts, but I'm craving those 3 and RA fails at it.

MeXen · May 29, 2024

Uh, where is the download, i click and it auto closes the tab and i get nothin.

Post automatically merged: May 29, 2024

Also what are the video options?

Post automatically merged: May 29, 2024

Fuck, bro on Brave the download keeps telling me its unsafe!.......like what's goin on?

SaulFabre · May 29, 2024

MeXen said:
Fuck, bro on Brave the download keeps telling me its unsafe!.......like what's goin on?

Chrome and Firefox also tells it's a "dangerous" file, but nah dont worry... it's just a false positive, as the emulator just released a few weeks ago.

MeXen said:
Uh, where is the download, i click and it auto closes the tab and i get nothin.

i mirrored all downloads of MAME4Wii 1.35.2 here:
https://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/MAME4Wii/releases/tag/1.35.2-mirror

Rick328 · May 29, 2024

JuanMena said:
NightSlashers

For this one, I've found the next best thing to be the mod NightSlashers X with the OpenBOR app.

SaulFabre · May 29, 2024

JuanMena said:
Cool! Wonder if this could improve the MAME Catalog for Wii.

I have 3 games in mind:

Joe & Mac Returns

NightSlashers

DynaGear

Personally I'm pretty satisfied with RetroArch's efforts, but I'm craving those 3 and RA fails at it.

Joe & Mac Returns does work on MAME4Wii but not Night Slashers nor Dyna Gear (return to HBC after loading).
i think it's because of memory overflow.

JuanMena · May 29, 2024

Rick328 said:
For this one, I've found the next best thing to be the mod NightSlashers X with the OpenBOR app.

I know.

SaulFabre said:
Joe & Mac Returns does work on MAME4Wii but not Night Slashers nor Dyna Gear (return to HBC after loading).
i think it's because of memory overflow.

I know.

Tototi · May 29, 2024

I'm not sure or how to confirm right now, but I think Joe & Mac Returns works fine on this Wiimpathy experimental core:

JuanMena · May 29, 2024

Tototi said:
I'm not sure or how to confirm right now, but I think Joe & Mac Returns works fine on this Wiimpathy experimental core:

Where did you get it? Is Wiimpathy still working on/updating old MAME2003 PLUS cores?

Tototi · May 29, 2024

JuanMena said:
Where did you get it? Is Wiimpathy still working on/updating old MAME2003 PLUS cores?

This is old work available here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/mame-2003-plus.499497/#post-7897606

JuanMena · May 31, 2024

Just reporting. Yesterday managed to get a full ROMSET for Mame4Wii, which consists if 2001 roms. My rechargeable AA batteries just finished charging and I've decided to try this out.

First, I don't get why anyone wouldn't implement Gamecube Controller support for an Arcade Emulator. Yes, I have my rechargeable batteries, and I could play non-stop as I have 6, so while 2 are being used, 4 could be charging, and then use those while charging the others. I've never been a fan of utilizing WiiMotes over Gamecube controllers, so it's a huge letdown for me. Not a deal breaker, but I simply don't get why when there's four fully functioning GCN controller ports in my Wii going unused... specially for old games.
Second, video is wrong (not bad, just wrong) as it's offset towards the left and to the bottom. Maybe because I'm using my Wii in 480p, so I'm assuming it should look fine in CRT's with 480i instead. EDIT: Actually many games has video flickering, something RetroArch doesn't has troubles doing, even with different resolutions and screen ratios AND video/sound filters,
Third, the games I was interested in doesn't work even though it's listed as working. Joe & Mac Returns obviously works, and it's working even with the old SDLMAMEWII that was available back in the day. But the emulator lists huge games that RetroArch and Wiimpathy's work has no trouble emulating, like CPS1, CPS2 and NEOGEO roms.

In my opinion, it's not worth it, but I... I'm kinda curious to see how many of the 0.135 romset is compatible with RetroArch's FBA and MAME2000 cores and Wiimpathy's 2003 PLUS cores. So I'm on my way to find out... damn... 2001 roms? Of course some are repeating... but it's gonna be a long noon.

Just use RetroArch for all your Wii MAME needs.

RunningSnakes · Jun 3, 2024

While this version is nice, i also don't believe it is anywhere an upgrade to Saul's release.

Asteroids looks better but the controller cfg is not correct, making it unplayable since one cannot change button cfg. Pole Position, RoadBlaster, Missile Command, Tron etc... still suffer with control issues as well.

The real issue i have with this release is it uses the same directory as the previous releases. This eliminates users freedom of choice to have both/all installed when using different romsets, negating the reason of existence.

Very well put together but i agree with @JuanMena , this release should not be used when superior wii arcade emulation already exists.

cheloruiz79 · Jun 8, 2024

Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou Black Label Retroarch Wii

Changes in Black Label include;

·Player can select 1 Loop Mode or 2 Loop Mode at the beginning of the game, after a fighter is selected. In 2 Loop Mode, after completing stage 1-5, player now has the option to continue into the second loop as before, but can also continue if player loses all lives in the 2nd loop. In 1 Loop Mode, player immediately fights Hibachi after defeating normal stage 1-5 boss, which can also be continued after losing all lives.
·Instead of losing existing lives when entering 2nd loop, they are now preserved.
·The game is easier in general. The enemy bullets are fewer and move slower, but the changes are subtle.
·Hyper Meter fills faster than in the original.
·Some bug fixes. Chain meter now has 5 digits, so it no longer rolls over if it reaches 9999 hits. (In the original version, the chain meter counts internally correct, but displays only lower 4 digits.)

popckorn · Jun 13, 2024

cheloruiz79 said:
Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou Black Label Retroarch Wii

Changes in Black Label include;

·Player can select 1 Loop Mode or 2 Loop Mode at the beginning of the game, after a fighter is selected. In 2 Loop Mode, after completing stage 1-5, player now has the option to continue into the second loop as before, but can also continue if player loses all lives in the 2nd loop. In 1 Loop Mode, player immediately fights Hibachi after defeating normal stage 1-5 boss, which can also be continued after losing all lives.
·Instead of losing existing lives when entering 2nd loop, they are now preserved.
·The game is easier in general. The enemy bullets are fewer and move slower, but the changes are subtle.
·Hyper Meter fills faster than in the original.
·Some bug fixes. Chain meter now has 5 digits, so it no longer rolls over if it reaches 9999 hits. (In the original version, the chain meter counts internally correct, but displays only lower 4 digits.)

Chelo, disculpa:
Is this bezel and compatibility included in your telegram pack from last year?
Or is this an update for that game in particular?

Qaztab · Jun 16, 2024

I've only played a little bit of this emulator.

- The front end needs some fine tuning. Would be nice if the classic controller could do everything instead of needing the wiimote to be used in a mouse-like fashion. Also not understanding how to exit a loaded game back to the main menu to load another without physically disconnecting the classic controller and then hitting home on the wiimote. Am I missing the shortcut there? Don't like the dependence on the wiimote when the classic controller is preferred.

- The vector games that I tested are way better. Star Wars has an actual star field and you can see the projectiles in Asteroids. In the old mame wii you could run the games but not see that detail.

- I'm seeing a *lot* of games in the menu list that mame wii couldn't run before. Not sure if they actually run or not as those roms aren't in my directory just yet

- Noticing some screen flashing issues in some games. Donkey Kong and Mr. Do! were what I tested. It's noticeable in a bad way.

- The Universal games(like Mr. Do!) still have that central block glitch that obscures the pixels underneath.

- Knights of the Round had some weird screen tearing that I don't remember mame wii having.

- Directory structure looks to be different, but I need to look/test further. I fully backed up my mame wii before installing this. At a glance though I'm guessing you could have this and mame wii installed without either interfering with the other despite both using the same root /mame and roms directory.

Overall shows promise. I like the snapshots and the basic search interface in the main menu. Just let me do all that with the classic controller.

ShadowOS · Jun 27, 2024

I like where this fork is going but it does need a lot of polish. Aside from adding support for more controllers, it appears as though nunchuck and Wii remote controls don't work properly. With a nunchuck plugged in I get many uncontrollable random inputs in menus and in game. With just a remote, after 2-3 minutes of gameplay, only diagonal down-left and up-right seem to work. I tried 2 different nunchucks and remotes, no problems in any other emulators/games and non problem in the controller test app so it must be MAME4Wii.

As of right now it's unusable...

RunningSnakes · Jul 13, 2024

Hey everyone. Been going through this release more and as some of us have said, it does have some issues. Those issues aside, i really do appreciate what this emulator has to offer for extra compatibility and the work that was put into this.

Arcade emulation on the Wii has come a long way over the past 10 years and us end users should feel fortunate with what developers have provided.

There are nearly a dozen solid emulators for Arcade emulation now (plenty more if you count individual cores), things could be very confusing and frustrating to newcomers.

I have compatibility lists i have personally made and shared for many of these emulators and know @JuanMena and others have done so as well. We all have our opinions of which is best for xxxx games and brutal time consuming to test every capable arcade core available now. Some end users want only what is the best experience while others want everything that is compatible regardless of having that same game for 10 different emulators, as long as it is playable.

Here is a list of Arcade emulators worth using on our old box...

MAME 2000 RA - well over 1100 games are playable and i have made a compatibility list available. NEO, CPS2 games boot but will crash in my experience. CPS1 games also play but crash but i have not tested all CPS1 games here, maybe someone could let us know if any are worth keeping and playing on this core.

MAME 2003 - with several different individual cores, over 1400 games are playable using RA. RA-SS supports these cores also, although compatibility will drop some, it is still very good. I have made a compatibility list here as well.

MAME-Wii - Again, over 1000 games playable with some unique game compatibility, Carrier Air Wing and Forgotten Worlds to name a couple should be played here. I have made a compatibility list for this emulator also.

MAME4Wii - still testing here. CPS1 games are good for the most part but no NEO or CPS2 support here either. There is some extra compatibility and loss compatibility vs MAME-Wii. Missing the Simpsons...ugh...what..

FBA Arcade - around 600 working titles with support from RA and RA-SS. I have a made a compatibility list here as well.

FBA CPS1 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games with almost 100% compatibility.

FBA CPS2 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games with almost 100% compatibility.

FBA CPS3 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games. Although you will need to make settings adjustments for speed enabling frameskip, the games are very much playable.

FBA NEO - Again, both RA and RA-SS support nearly the entire library using the VM cores @Wiimpathy gave us. The RA-SS core is fine but not equal to RA which @SaulFabre updated not long ago that added a few nice features.

Final Burn NEO - This RA-SS core lets us play many of the CPS1 games including Carrier Air Wing without freeze. It also plays many Cave games as well as "20pacgal" which is Galaga & Ms. Pac-Man 20th anniversary rom.

In all, we have great Arcade emulation on the Wii. It would be awesome if we had 1 complete compatibility list where each playable game was listed Alphabetically with compatible emulators. Just wishing out loud, maybe i will start a new project but would definitely need some input for this.

JuanMena · Jul 13, 2024

RunningSnakes said:
Hey everyone. Been going through this release more and as some of us have said, it does have some issues. Those issues aside, i really do appreciate what this emulator has to offer for extra compatibility and the work that was put into this.

Arcade emulation on the Wii has come a long way over the past 10 years and us end users should feel fortunate with what developers have provided.

There are nearly a dozen solid emulators for Arcade emulation now (plenty more if you count individual cores), things could be very confusing and frustrating to newcomers.

I have compatibility lists i have personally made and shared for many of these emulators and know @JuanMena and others have done so as well. We all have our opinions of which is best for xxxx games and brutal time consuming to test every capable arcade core available now. Some end users want only what is the best experience while others want everything that is compatible regardless of having that same game for 10 different emulators, as long as it is playable.

Here is a list of Arcade emulators worth using on our old box...

MAME 2000 RA - well over 1100 games are playable and i have made a compatibility list available. NEO, CPS2 games boot but will crash in my experience. CPS1 games also play but crash but i have not tested all CPS1 games here, maybe someone could let us know if any are worth keeping and playing on this core.

MAME 2003 - with several different individual cores, over 1400 games are playable using RA. RA-SS supports these cores also, although compatibility will drop some, it is still very good. I have made a compatibility list here as well.

MAME-Wii - Again, over 1000 games playable with some unique game compatibility, Carrier Air Wing and Forgotten Worlds to name a couple should be played here. I have made a compatibility list for this emulator also.

MAME4Wii - still testing here. CPS1 games are good for the most part but no NEO or CPS2 support here either. There is some extra compatibility and loss compatibility vs MAME-Wii. Missing the Simpsons...ugh...what..

FBA Arcade - around 600 working titles with support from RA and RA-SS. I have a made a compatibility list here as well.

FBA CPS1 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games with almost 100% compatibility.

FBA CPS2 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games with almost 100% compatibility.

FBA CPS3 - Both RA and RA-SS support these games. Although you will need to make settings adjustments for speed enabling frameskip, the games are very much playable.

FBA NEO - Again, both RA and RA-SS support nearly the entire library using the VM cores @Wiimpathy gave us. The RA-SS core is fine but not equal to RA which @SaulFabre updated not long ago that added a few nice features.

Final Burn NEO - This RA-SS core lets us play many of the CPS1 games including Carrier Air Wing without freeze. It also plays many Cave games as well as "20pacgal" which is Galaga & Ms. Pac-Man 20th anniversary rom.

In all, we have great Arcade emulation on the Wii. It would be awesome if we had 1 complete compatibility list where each playable game was listed Alphabetically with compatible emulators. Just wishing out loud, maybe i will start a new project but would definitely need some input for this.

You're not gonna believe this (or maybe you will?) but the recent MAME 0.135 romset I've been sorting made me realize something awful: Roms from 0.135 romset that doesn't work in RetroArch, will work if they're from a different romset.

Again... it's impossible to come with a definitive "MAME Compatibility List" because romset + core compatibility is all over the place.

Aside of that, different Cores versions offers different rom compatibility. It's a problem from both ends. For instance , MAME2000.dol from RA-wii 1.10.X will load different roms than MAME2000.dol from RA-wii 1.8.X.

RunningSnakes · Jul 13, 2024

JuanMena said:
You're not gonna believe this (or maybe you will?) but the recent MAME 0.135 romset I've been sorting made me realize something awful: Roms from 0.135 romset that doesn't work in RetroArch, will work if they're from a different romset.

Again... it's impossible to come with a definitive "MAME Compatibility List" because romset + core compatibility is all over the place.

Aside of that, different Cores versions offers different rom compatibility. It's a problem from both ends. For instance , MAME2000.dol from RA-wii 1.10.X will load different roms than MAME2000.dol from RA-wii 1.8.X.

Not sure i quite understand.

It is very true many MAME and FBA roms are universal, meaning they will work on both Emulators. In fact, many hundreds of MAME or FBA roms have not changed in 10 years which you are probably well aware of.

As far as Wii RA core releases (1.10.X or 1.8.X), the MAME 2000 and FBA rom compatibility never changes, only "Wii" RAM compatibility to play those roms is affected.

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2024

To better understand the way both emulators work....

Both emulators are looking for "Specific" files within the .zip files. When this crucial criteria is not met, any game will not boot.

When you get a green screen freeze from MAME 2000, your rom did not just become in-compatible, RA Wii 1.19.1 pushed the RAM limits and broke compatibility.

JuanMena · Jul 13, 2024

RunningSnakes said:
Not sure i quite understand.

It is very true many MAME and FBA roms are universal, meaning they will work on both Emulators. In fact, many hundreds of MAME or FBA roms have not changed in 10 years which you are probably well aware of.

As far as Wii RA core releases (1.10.X or 1.8.X), the MAME 2000 and FBA rom compatibility never changes, only "Wii" RAM compatibility to play those roms is affected.

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2024

To better understand the way both emulators work....

Both emulators are looking for "Specific" files within the .zip files. When this crucial criteria is not met, any game will not boot.

When you get a green screen freeze from MAME 2000, your rom did not just become in-compatible, RA Wii 1.19.1 pushed the RAM limits and broke compatibility.

I get it, yes, I've been playing around with MAME emulation since the Windows98 days.

Just saying that not all romsets are and aren't compatible with what RA-wii can do.
If there's a rom that can't be loaded by MAME2000 or FBA, it's likely that the same game from a different romset will work, and vice versa.

For instance, NARC from romset 0.135 runs near flawlessly in MAME2000 from RetroArch 1.8.4:

Not so long ago someone was asking for this rom and I replied it struggled with the MAME2003 PLUS cores. You be the judge, maybe I'm imagining things.

narc.zip from 0.135 runs near flawlessly with RetroArch-wii MAME2000 1.8.4

In other words: Compatibility is a hit or miss thing with the Wii

I'm sure I've found more "anomalies" but I can't remember, been trying to sort the entire MAME 0.135 romset for so long that I cannot remember all, but yeah...

EDIT: the exact same rom narc.zip from 0.135 won't be loaded by MAME2003 PLUS C core, and narc.zip from the FULL NON MERGED MAME 2003 ROMSET struggles to be run by the Wii.

@RunningSnakes

RunningSnakes said:
I don't think NARC has a chance to run.

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2024

Another "anomaly" that I came across:

junofrst.zip from the "FULL NON MERGED MAME 2003 ROMSET" will crash the Wii. Like, so badly you have to unplug it to turn it off.

junofrst.zip from 0.135 won't run in MAME2003 PLUS E "Konami core", but will run fine in MAME2000 1.8.4

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2024

Just found another one:

hydra.zip from "FULL NON MERGED MAME 2003 ROMSET" runs choppy with MAME2003 PLUS F "Atari core".

hydra.zip from 0.135 runs flawlessly with MAME2000 1.8.4

None works backwards.

Homebrew Emulator MAME4Wii - another port of MAME for Wii, based on MAME 0.135

I like Yoshis and the Wii/Wii U scene.

90s Kid, Old Skull Gamer & Artist.

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I like Yoshis and the Wii/Wii U scene.

90s Kid, Old Skull Gamer & Artist.

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