Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (usually shortened to MAME) is an emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The remit has also been expanded to cover personal computer hardware and non-video game software.

The first public MAME release (0.1) was on February 5, 1997, by Nicola Salmoria. The emulator was initially released under a custom license that explicitly forbade commercial use, even though it is free software. This clause was removed in 2015.