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8 posts
Trace Atari's arcade roots, console and portable generations, corporate split, and modern revival while separating a shared brand from a continuous company.
A source-led history of SNK's arcade roots, MVS and AES split, CD-based systems, Neo Geo Pocket, and the later stewardship of the brand.
Use MAME debugger watchpoints and breakpoints to trace emulated memory activity, isolate address spaces, and preserve reproducible hardware evidence.
Inspect MAME cabinet outputs through named items, separating them from screens, inputs, save data, physical controls, and Lua integration.
Trace the Neo Geo Z80 sound command path into the YM2610, distinguishing FM and ADPCM engines, sample ROM mapping, and banked driver state.
Route MAME multi-screen machines to host displays, choose screen layouts, set per-window geometry, and diagnose aspect or orientation errors.
Preserve MAME arcade NVRAM by distinguishing it from save states, documenting initialization, controlling writes, and validating restored machine state.
Build a maintainable arcade cabinet with safe power, documented controls, stable device IDs, layered per-system profiles, restricted service access, and backups.