VERTICAL ARCADE
These overlays (sometimes known as bezels) display art on top of the game you're playing. To use them, you need a PC or Raspberry Pi (or other compatible system) running some version of MAME and the associated game software, as well as a widescreen (16x9) monitor mounted vertically. To display the overlay while playing a game, download the artwork file for that game overlay (it must have the same filename as the game), place it in the Artwork folder within your MAME directory and launch the game. (For instance, the software for the game Magic Sword is called msword.zip, so it requires a file in the Artwork directory also called msword.zip.)
All overlays are 4K resolution (2160 x 3840), and listed dimensions are for the game screen, relative to a 4K vertical monitor. The actual game screen size will depend on the resolution of your monitor.
Most of the overlays include multiple presets that let you choose the size of the game screen, access a "dark" version designed to look more like a dark arcade, and sometimes other options. To choose a preset, press Tab while running the game to bring up the MAME menu, select Video Options, and select a preset from the list.
Some overlays include Curved presets designed with a curved screen port, to better simulate the look of a CRT monitor. These presets work best if you are using a geometry shader that adds a curved look to the game screen. For an optimal experience, you may need to adjust your shaders to match the curvature of the screen shape in the overlay. If you are not using a geometry shader, you are using a shader that adds a curved bezel, or if you prefer a rectangular screen port, choose a Straight preset where applicable.
Don't shoot the food! One of the first 4-player arcade action game series and still a classic, Gauntlet was a staple of every mid-80s arcade. Gauntlet II was the amped-up sequel, which not only added many new gameplay elements to the mix, but also let any player choose any character, which makes it ideal for MAME cabinets. This overlay recreates the feel of the original cabinet, including the control panel and instructions, with two screen sizes (the Medium screen shown here is the most accurate to the original cabinet, but the overlay also includes a larger size that still fits with the look).
Cyberball was a clever way to make football a bit more appealing to arcade nerds (and arcades more appealing to sports fans) – by adding robots and an exploding football. The original Cyberball cabinet featured two screens, allowing head-to-head team play that was unusual for its time. The sequel, Cyberball 2072, added new game modes and a lot more plays. Provided you have the right files, you can play any variant of Cyberball with this overlay – the single-player screen will appear where it should, and the second screen will just be invisible. (You will need to be able to access all the game's clones if you want to choose which version to play, and you may need to set your controls accordingly.)
Xybots was one of our favorites of this period, with a dungeon-like pseudo-3D maze filled with robots to shoot (though it also featured one of Atari's biggest sins of this era, the ever-decreasing player health, because apparently both the space heroes of Xybots and the fantasy squad of Gauntlet had some terrible wasting disease that required constant eating). Nonetheless, it's easy to get into while being challenging in later levels, and it plays great on MAME without a fancy twisty joystick (if you have 3 buttons in a row, just map the center button to Fire and the first and third buttons to rotate). Don't get neutralized!
A pulp comic book sci-fi adventure that makes up in gameplay what it lacks in tastefulness, EPRoM used a "hall effect" joystick that allows players to move and shoot in many different directions. It works best with an analog joystick, but also works fine with a standard 8-way stick. We reproduced the most fun version of this cabinet, which had an enormous graphic header to go with its enormous screen bezel (this overlay includes a Large version with less bezel and more blastin').
One of Atari's quirkier cabinets of the 80s, Toobin' featured both an unusual all-button control scheme and a weird stretched cabinet design that evoked the laid-back aesthetic of surfing, tubing and the endless summer. Toobin' also had unusually high-res graphics for its era, which show off its beautiful waves and waterfalls. It plays best on MAME with a 6-button Street Fighter-esque layout, where you can use the outer buttons for paddling and the bottom center button for throwing cans. The biggest challenge with this one was capturing its unusual cabinet shape while still making the game playable – we took some liberties with the actual construction of the cabinet, but we think we pulled off something that feels like the original cabinet. This overlay includes several variants (click on the image to see the different versions).