Its main purpose is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines. This is done for educational purposes and to preserve many historical games from the oblivion they would sink into when the hardware they run on will stop working. Of course to preserve the games you must also be able to actually play them; you can see that as a nice side effect.
Our Review: If you're anything over six or seven years old, chances are you'll be familiar with some of the more classic arcade games such as Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Pinball Action. M.A.M.E. is an arcade emulator that transports you back to the era when such games were King. Feel the power of Pac Man pulsing through your fingers as he chomps away. ROMs for this program need to be sought out separately, and be warned: this is not the easiest of programs to use.