MAME (current) for RetroArch shows further improvements

Update 4 August 2025 - just briefly an overdue update on easier highscore support in MAME (current) for RetroArch, which I can confirm as working (done with newest MAME version 0.279)

Preparatory steps:

• Step 1: have the MAME (current) core installed
• Step 2: verify that you have the following directory: $HOME/Documents/RetroArch/system/mame - if not, then create it
• Step 3: download the entire master file from github as a zip file: https://github.com/libretro/mame and extract it
• Step 4: move the following directories into the mame directory according to Step 2: hash and plugins

Activating Highscore Support from within MAME (current):

• launch a game in MAME (current), enter Quick Menu, and in the Core Options/System, enable "Boot to OSD"
• Completely close RetroArch, launch it again and launch a game (horizontal monitor!) in MAME (current) -> the OSD appears
• With (TAB), jump to the General Settings of the MAME OSD, go to Plugins and activate "Hiscore Support" - don't forget to save the settings in the MAME OSD. 
• After this, disable "Boot do OSD" in the Core Options and completely close RetroArch again.
• MAME has now generated the necessary ini files in $HOME/Documents/RetroArch/system/mame/ini

From now on, games should save highscores in $HOME/Documents/RetroArch/system/mame/hiscore. Play any game and get a hiscore, and it should create this directory and save hiscores into it. 

Very good news: In my tests, I could successfully move all hiscores from MAME official to MAME (current) in RetroArch! The solution now seems compatible and stable enough.

Still a bit clumsy, but far better than before. 

Reminder: samples for very old MAME games need to be here as well - $HOME/Documents/RetroArch/system/mame/samples

Zelda N64 Recompliations on Apple Silicon (WIP)

Besides Super Mario 64, the two Zelda games on my Nintendo 64 are high ranking in my forever games list. Even more than Super Mario 64, these games had severe technical limitations on the console and criminally low fps. The two recompilation projects I want to present here are still in beta, but seem both stable enough to advertise. They provide unprecedented gaming experience for Ocarina of Time and Majora‘s Mask.

My two favorite N64 games besides Super Mario 64, you can see the passage of time ...

Disclaimer: Legally you require to own the games.

The two solutions I want to present here are

• Ocarina of Time: Ship of Harkinian (SOH) - https://www.shipofharkinian.com

Metal backend with 60fps, re-textured including models

• Majora's Mask: Zelda Recompiled - https://github.com/Zelda64Recomp/Zelda64Recomp

The newest version 1.2 provides similar options as SOH - retextures are also breathtaking

For sure, any screenshot cannot merit the actual experience when playing these games, but I hope that it's a sufficient teaser. As always, I want to focus on own experience, but would not repeat the original installation instructions.

Super Mario 64 Hacks on Apple Silicon (Native)

Update 26.7.2025: The very promising Launcher for Super Mario 64 received a nice update. See the new chapter at the bottom of this entry!

Update 18.7.2025: This time, a very welcome update of Render96ex_MacOS, including rumble and support for Retina displays. This is definitely worth the work of the manual compile. Build yourself the latest version and install Texture Pack and Dynos, it is definitely worth the effort!

Update 8.7.2025: late to the party with the latest CoopDX version 1.3.2 - https://github.com/coop-deluxe/sm64coopdx/releases/tag/v1.3.2 - another must download, hyper-polished gaming experience with the dynos mentioned below. So Coop Deluxe is the app to go.

Update 26.03.2025: another update of CoopDX with the latest and greatest version of the app and the Render96 Dynos resources, including actual github links. Good to see such great app further updated.

Update 18.11.2024: Amendments to CoopDX, which really rules. First preview of the SM_OSX launcher that already now shines.

Please allow me this major digression from Arcade gaming: I still adore Super Mario 64, and from time to time and fire up my Nintendo64 only for this game. I also like the game as ported to the Nintendo Switch, but the experience is basic.

Now, there have been exiting Super Mario 64 Mods and Hacks out for a while that deliver the goods. If you are capable of the Command Line and Homebrew, they are also available for under MacOS, in particular Silicon Macs. And with a MacOS-native launcher currently in revamp, things could get easier as well.

Here are the instructions for three solutions that worked for me. It's quite easily to loose focus with all the different repositories, so let's look into three solutions that work reliably.

1. smex: The oldest repo and manual install, but perfect for textures and rumble.

2. Render96ex: Not as impressive as under Windows with raytracing, but still powerful.

3. SM64CoopDX: Bleeding edge, a lot of mods and romhacks out there, though designed for cooperatives, you can also play it solo (host yourself). Endless gaming.

Screenshot of Render96ex with Textures and Models

Teaser: With all three solutions discussed here, you get incredible Super Mario 64 gaming experience that hugely outperforms the original game. Out of the box comes 60fps and widescreen. It is not an emulation, but a re-compiled MacOS app. With this alone, you should be interested.

MacOS-specific hint: MacOS display scaling is your enemy for all these apps! In my own case, I have to set my 4K-monitor to native resolution without scaling, while normally I use MacOS with the largest scaling. But especially with custom textures, this scaling causes a lot of jittery effects in all three solutions. So prior to using any of the following solutions, be sure to switch MacOS-scaling off. It‘s only one click, leave the window open to revert after gaming - no big hassle.

By the way: That can also be very true under Windows11 in my own experience, only that I could not find such an easy solution there as with MacOS.

Turning off scaling is a must for hi-res textures.

Requirement for all solutions: Super Mario 64 (USA).z64 rom 

MAME 0278 - strong build with a new audio system

Just a brief note on the latest version 0278 of MAME: As advertised in the Release Notes, it comes with a new sound infrastructure that provides for very nice tweaking possibilities. Performance-wise, the latest ARM64 build also shines on my Mac.

As soon as you enter the MAME menu with TAB, you see the new options called "Audio Mixer" and "Audio Effects"

Audio Mixer: Handy for all users with more complicated audio signal chains. You can also assign multiple signal chains, if I understand correctly.

Audio Effects: That's very nice, and MAME-typical very much to the very detail. Tuning your audio here provides quite endless tweaking possibilities.

If you are a headphone player like me, try this: Activate Reverb under "Default", switch to the "Very Large Room Bright" setting and put the Resampler on HQ. Suddenly your game sound feels like in a larger Arcade hall! Just a matter of 5 minutes trying, gives you an immersive experience.

Very well done, MAME team!

And yes: After updating your Retroarch MAME (current) core to the latest version, this option is also available in RetroArch.

Quite vast possibilities here, already the Reverb option is a blast for me.

Last comment on performance: In this latest version 0278, I again see significant improvements on more complicated games, in particular games that need a dynamic recompiler (both OpenGL and Metal backend). Kudos to the MAME team also in this regard, such a strong build!

As always, happy gaming!

Emulator Frontend Deluxe: AttractMode+ 3.1.0 and Smart Themes Project

With the new release 3.1.0 of Attract Mode Plus, the incredible work provided by the Smart Themes Project was also published. As it is hard to explain the incredible work done here in words, so here are two video teasers that demonstrate a small fraction of the work provided here.

Main menu displaying all available systems - plus filters, such as system families, favorites etc:

Sub menu "Favorites" - a glimpse into the vast number of Arcade Smart Themes (which are dedicated animated pages for single arcades that look stunning):

If you are interested, dive into the following details!

MAME 0.274 for Silicon Macs received a Dynamic Recompiler

Just a few days after my post on Intel64 builds, these thoughts became redundant because MAME 0.274 for Silicon Macs (along with other ARM64 platforms) received a dynamic recompiler. This finally brings MAME on modern Macs fully en par with Intel64 platforms and makes the Intel64 builds redundant for Silicon Macs.

That's a lot of benchmarks!

These benchmarks speak for themselves: The new dynarec lets my M2Pro Mac fly in games requiring a dynarec. Besides the listed games, probably all games requiring a CHD (Compressed Harddisk) will gain such dramatic performance improvements.

On the RetroArch side of things, the improvements are less dramatic. In games requiring a CHD, I still see games suffer, e.g. gauntleg. This will require further testing. But for complex games, MAME official is now a safe bet on modern Silicon Macs.

Mac MAME Advanced: Intel Build besides Silicon Build

It seems that one of the major drawbacks of current MacOS MAME is the lack of a Dynamic Recompiler (dynarec), which is only available for Intel64 builds. Modern Arcades can crawl even on very powerful Silicon Macs if the games relies on a dynarec. This is where an Intel build comes to the rescue.

Comparison between ARM/Silicon and Intel64 Build

What this comparison tells you:

• The ARM build fares much better in old school gaming that don't require a dynarec. 
• The Metal backend seems to catch up with the OpenGL backend, which is still faster. 
• The performance gains with an Intel64 build in games that require a dynarec are dramatic.

So here is a current Intel64 build of MAME 0.273 on Github, compiled today: