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MAME 0.289

31 Jul 2026

After two long months, MAME 0.289 is ready, and it’s an undeniably<br>massive update! But before we talk about emulation, there are a few<br>more mundane things to mention. Our Windows binary releases now include<br>the SDL sound output and joystick input modules. The sdljoy<br>joystick input module now supports game controllers with up to 128<br>buttons. The Win32 debugger module handles dynamic UI scaling changes.<br>Finally, outputs have been overhauled, improving performance and fixing<br>issues, but you may need to update your configuration if you’ve got<br>external programs hooked up, and some artwork files may need<br>updating.

You’ll notice a number of systems and coprocessor cards based around<br>NS32000 family CPUs are now working. If you aren’t familiar with it,<br>the NS32000 architecture was one of the first single-chip CPU families<br>with a 32-bit ALU. It used a highly orthogonal instruction set with<br>clear influences from Digital Equipment Corporation’s earlier work. In<br>retrospect, it didn’t have enough registers, the instruction encoding<br>was too complex, it took them too long to overtake Motorola’s 68k<br>family’s performance, and bugs in the initial implementation hurt early<br>adopters. But now you can relive its glory days in MAME, running<br>contemporary 32-bit System V UNIX! David Rand, the mastermind behind<br>these NS32000 emulation advances, has also turned his attention in other<br>directions. He’s brought the Xerox 820 and Big Board families up to<br>working status, emulated Toshiba CP/M systems, and added the hard disk<br>controller to the Kaypro 10, and more!

If you’re a fan of Sega arcade games, you’ll have lots to enjoy. For<br>the groundbreaking Model 1 platform, there are numerous fixes for<br>graphical issues, better collision detection in Virtua Fighter, and the<br>bad bits in the DSP program that were breaking Wing War have been<br>identified and patched. Even NetMerc is in better shape. The very<br>unconventional Flash Beats game is now playable. It has basic internal<br>artwork, but someone sufficiently motivated could have it looking<br>spectacular by creating suitable external artwork. There are also some<br>fixes for games that use the SCSP sound chip.

MAME has emulated the EACA Colour Genie EG2000 for quite some time<br>now, but this release adds support for the EACA Genie III, which was<br>released in the same year. There are lots of fixes for issues with the<br>widely-used PowerPC and 68k CPU families, which will benefit a wide<br>range of emulated systems. In particular, more versions of classic<br>MacOS are now running happily on MAME’s emulated PowerMacs, and A/UX<br>(Apple’s early attempt at merging MacOS and UNIX) boots and runs.<br>Numerous games using NES-like SoCs from V.R. Technology have been<br>promoted to working, including several from Lexibook’s Compact Cyber<br>Arcade line. NEC’s PC-6001 family have had numerous issues fixed, as<br>well as receiving a substantial update to their software lists. The<br>steady progress on emulating electronic musical instruments hasn’t<br>stopped, either.

As always, there’s far more in this release than we have time to talk<br>about here, but you can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt<br>file. You can find the source code and 64-bit Windows binary<br>packages on our download<br>page.

MAME Testers bugs fixed

03342: [Graphics] (gaelco/gaelco2.cpp) radikalb, surfplnt40, surfplnt: Some graphics are misaligned. (Jos van Mourik)

05547: [Crash/Freeze] (pc/ct486.cpp) ct486: The system may fail to boot from MS-DOS 6.22 installation media. (Dirk Best)

06026: [Documentation] (sega/model1.cpp) swa: The game title did not include the word “Arcade” at release. (JimCarlTay)

06584: [Documentation] (sony/zn.cpp) raystorm and clones: The game title is usually written without a space. (JimCarlTay)

06586: [Documentation] (namco/namcos23.cpp) gunwars, raceon and clones: Lack of camera emulation is not flagged. (JimCarlTay)

06600: [Crash/Freeze] (sega/model1.cpp) netmerc: The emulator may crash due to memory corruption. (Francisco García)

07563: [Gameplay] (sega/model1.cpp) wingwar, wingwarj, wingwaru, wingwar360: Bullet collisions don’t register. (Francisco García)

07699: [Gameplay] (sega/model1.cpp) swa, swaj: The radar is not displayed correctly. (Francisco García)

08584: [Media Support] (commodore/c64.cpp) c64 all versions: Formatting floppy disks is very slow. (Curt Coder)

09202: [Sound] (sega/model2.cpp) srallyc and clones: Incorrect sounds are played in attract mode. (Angelo Salese)

09345: [Misc.] (nec/pc9821.cpp) pc9821ap2 [Flame Zapper Kotsujin]: Fails to start with an allocation error. (Angelo Salese)

09456: [Graphics] (brother/lw840.cpp) lw840: The system does not appear to boot. (Leopold)

09462: [Documentation] (sega/model1.cpp) swa, swaj: The release year is incorrect. (JimCarlTay)

09463: [Documentation] (seibu/deadang.cpp) popnrun, popnruna: The manufacturer is incorrect. (J.J.Boy)

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