|
In my opinion, by far the most popular
emulators today are arcade machine
emulators. After all, everyone wanted
a cool home version of the latest
arcade games for their home console or
computer. Invariably, these ports were
a poor substitute for the real thing
and many, like me were left
dissapointed. It seemed that the only
way to get the arcade experience was
to fork over a lot of money for a true
arcade cabinet that only played one
game.
Enter the arcade emulator. Through the
genius of a large number of coders we
now have a plethora of true arcade
games for the PC. No crappy PC ports,
no homemade hacks, but the real thing.
Following is a number of emulators
available for download. Some target
specific systems while others try to
emulate several. Be warned that there
are quite a few emulators available on
the Internet, too many to try and keep
up with so we will be endeavouring to
maintain only the best.
Active Emulators
Name
|
Version
|
Release Date
|
Description
|
Homepage
|
|
Calice32
|
-
|
-
|
Calice32 is yet another
CPS1&2 emulator that
is now supporting NeoGeo
and Sega Multi-System
games. Another recommended
emulator
|
Link!
|
|
Daphne
|
|
|
This is a great Arcade Laser
Disc emulator for the likes of the classic
Dragon's Lair.
|
Link!
|
|
Kawaks
|
-
|
-
|
You guessed it, another
CPS1&2 emulator.
|
Link!
|
|
Mame
|
-
|
-
|
The ultimate in Arcade
Emulation. This is the
best and most complete
emulator available.
Currently supporting over
3000 games, you must have
this!
|
Link!
|
|
Mame32
|
0.83
|
10/06/04
|
The Windows 32 version of
the above with an
excellent interface.
Slower though.
|
Link!
|
|
Modeler
|
-
|
-
|
A Sega System 32, Sega
System 32 Multi and Sega
Model 1 emualtor that's is
very promising.
|
Link!
|
|
Nebula
|
2.22a
|
01/02/03-
|
Another CPS1&2
emulator with an interface
remeniscent of NeoRagex. Now
supporting various other manufacturers.
|
Link!
|
|
Raine
|
-
|
-
|
For a long time the best
competitor for Mame, still
updated though slowly.
|
Link!
|
|
Vantage
|
1.12
|
30/06/04
|
A multi-arcade emulator
designed for Arcade Monitors.
|
Link!
|
|
Vivanonno
|
|
|
Surprisingly good emulator
for Ridge Racer based on the Namco System
22 design.
|
Link!
|
|
Zinc
|
-
|
-
|
A great emulator for Sony
ZN-1 and ZN-2 and Namco
System 11 3D gaming
pleasure.
|
Link!
|
|
Related
Links
|
Information - KLOV,
System16,
Arcade
Restoration, BYOAC
(recommended), MameDK
|
|
Roms -
PlayAgain,
DG Roms,
Emuchina
|
Discontinued Emulators
Name
|
Version
|
Release
Date
|
Description
|
Homepage
|
|
Ace
|
1.9
|
24/02/02
|
Ace currently emulates
CPS1&2, NeoGeo and a
load of Sega Multi-System
games. It's open source.
|
link!
|
|
Callus95
|
0.42
|
01-06-98
|
Emulates Capcom System 1
games very nicely with
netplay!
|
link!
|
|
CallusP
|
0.42p24
|
21-11-00
|
Patched version of above
but patched for extras.
|
link!
|
|
Final Burn
|
Final
|
01/04/01
|
Emulates Afterburner and
other Sega Hardware as
well as a very fast CPS2
emu.
|
link!
|
|
Hive
|
1.04
|
09-12-99
|
High Velocity Emulator -
Great emulator for
those with dogs of
systems. Will run on a DX4
100!
|
link!
|
|
Impact
|
Final
|
07-01-01
|
Runs Capcom ZN1& ZN2
3D games. Will require a
3D graphics card and a
fast machine 500Mhz + for
decent speed.
|
link!
|
|
JFF
|
0.24
|
04/09/99
|
Pretty good Dos emulator
that supported games that
no other emulator did.
|
link!
|
|
M72
|
0.33b
|
10/10/98
|
Excellent emulator
specialising in M72 chip
based games
|
?
|
|
NeoRagex
|
0.6b
|
17-06-99
|
Emulates NeoGeo hardware
at an astonishing speed.
|
link!
|
|
Rage
|
0.9
|
15/03/98
|
Real Arcade Game Emulator
from the makers of
NeoRagex.
|
link!
|
|
Replay+
|
1.0
|
24/06/98
|
Another great Dos based
emulator that has sadly
been discontinued.
|
link!
|
|
Retrocade
|
1.2b2
|
23/05/99
|
Retrocade showed real
promise with several top
notch emu programmers
collaborating together.
Alas the project lacked
momentum and was finally
discontinued. This has a
VERY nice frontend to go
with it and though Dos
based still nice.
|
link!
|
|
Shark
|
0.31f
|
28/07/99
|
Very good emulator
specialising in early
Toaplan games.
|
link!
|
|
Sparcade
|
2.33b
|
22-12-99
|
Emulates a lot of early
arcade classics again very
fast for older machines.
|
link!
|
|
System16
|
0.82
|
22/06/99
|
Dos-based specialising in
Sega System 16 &18
boards.
|
link!
|
|
