Mame Version Question....

Since most of you regulars have tried all or most of the mame
versions, is there one version that emulated the most games for you?
I have been away from this for a while and the version of mame I have
is 0.67
Now the reason I ask is that I have seen on this group that some
complain that the newer mame versions dont emulate everything
properly. Like it is too slow or at the very worst doesnt emulate a
certain game at all. My understanding was that with every new version
of mame the emulation would get better and more games would be
emulated. Now while that does seem to happen sometimes I hear that
older games do not work as well as they did in previous versions. So I
guess what I am asking is (in your opinions) was there a particular
version that most of you experts out there felt emulated the most
games properly. Now I am one to say that I am not a young guy. I have
been into arcade games since well before there were arcade games but
my main focus is the games from the beginning to about 1995 or so. I
am not particularly interested in the newer games that for one may not
work on a pc for quite some time. Maybe 1980 to 1995 at best. I
appreciate taking the time to help me out on this as I would like to
know what if any particular version of mame was liked the most.

Thanks in Advance

* Tony Roma wrote in alt.games.mame:

> Since most of you regulars have tried all or most of the mame
> versions, is there one version that emulated the most games for you?
> I have been away from this for a while and the version of mame I have
> is 0.67
> Now the reason I ask is that I have seen on this group that some
> complain that the newer mame versions dont emulate everything
> properly. Like it is too slow or at the very worst doesnt emulate a
> certain game at all. My understanding was that with every new version
> of mame the emulation would get better and more games would be
> emulated. Now while that does seem to happen sometimes I hear that
> older games do not work as well as they did in previous versions. So I
> guess what I am asking is (in your opinions) was there a particular
> version that most of you experts out there felt emulated the most
> games properly. Now I am one to say that I am not a young guy. I have
> been into arcade games since well before there were arcade games but
> my main focus is the games from the beginning to about 1995 or so. I
> am not particularly interested in the newer games that for one may not
> work on a pc for quite some time. Maybe 1980 to 1995 at best. I
> appreciate taking the time to help me out on this as I would like to
> know what if any particular version of mame was liked the most.
>
> Thanks in Advance
>

Very difficult to answer and let me start by saying most of us feel your
pain. Because MAME encompasses so many games and so many different pieces
of hardware, to pick a version and say 'that is the best one' is very
subjective at best. Some people dont care if the starfield in Galaga isnt
perfect others hate that a sample is used for sound in rally-x. You
really need to pick a version that at least LISTS all the games you are
interested in and have a go at it. You may find that the majority of the
games YOU enjoy play fine on version X, at least to you.

FWIW, the ROM set is now about 13 GIGS WITHOUT CHD files, so you might
want to consider that as well. Changed versions in many cases require new
rom sets which provides a whole new challenge, albiet an easy one to
overcome

Good Luck!

--
David