Software Overview
Software used as a foundation on a home arcade machine generally consists of:
- Front-End
- A frontend is a menu system that allows players to select from a list of games. Once a game is selected from the list, the game is launched using an appropriate emulator. A typical example is MameWah.
- Emulator
- Emulators are programs that allow software to be run on computer hardware that they were not originally intended for. The most well-known arcade emulator is MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).
Software has gone through great leaps and bounds since the inception of this hobby. I first discovered MAME while in college in 1997 and got into this home arcade obsession back in 1999 when a lot of people were going the PC2Jamma route. Typically most people were just using MAME as a game emulator and ArcadeOS as a front-end on a DOS system, since this allowed the use of real arcade monitors. Since then, hardware has been developed to make using an arcade monitor from other operating systems simple, and more complex front-ends and emulators have been developed to utilize PC hardware better.
You're not limited to just running front-ends and game emulators on your cabinet either. Many people also install jukebox software and other programs to suit their needs.
For more in-depth information on these topics, visit these pages:
