After 2 decades of tinkering, MAME cracks the Hyper Neo Geo 64

Summary

Let me test out a theory here: If you're into emulation, you're into older video games, ergo you're into old stuff of all kinds. That means you, savvy, good-taste-having reader, will love this spread of photos I took in Tokyo last week at the National Film Archive of Japan, which has a small but lovely set of exhibits from the history of Japanese film. Since you like playing Super Nintendo games this is absolutely your shit, right? Right??Okay, I'll throw in a pic of some games to sweeten the deal.This issue is coming a week late as I was off to Japan last week for my first-ever visit to the Tokyo Game Show, and too busy working (and working at eating sushi) to squeeze in a newsletter. And it's coming late in the day Sunday — apologies! But patience pays off!!This issue's main story has been cookin' for a minute: last month the news landed that MAME had finally properly cracked Hyper Neo Geo 64 support, but the celebration was a little bit premature. The arcade system was playable in MAME, yes, but sound was in really shoddy shape — it wasn't yet a particularly good experience. Over the last month or so that's been changing, and changing fast, with frequent improvements checked in by a pair of regular MAME contributors. So now is the time to talk about it, and soon (with the very next MAME release!) it will be time to actually play it. Considering there are only seven Hyper Neo Geo 64 games, well, that's a week's worth of evenings sorted.As with every trip to Tokyo I took a few hours to stop by Akihabara this time, but its pull has certainly lessened over the years as retro prices have skyrocketed from where they were a decade ago and the selection has gotten thinner and thinner. Still, browsing the stores is a fun time and there are great finds to be found as long as you're not looking for anything too in-demand. I picked up one game: Kamiwaza, a PS2 "stealth" game where you play as a thief in feudal Japan stealing hella stuff.As you might guess, it's more silly th...