[Puke]

you still go to hell for stealing, if thats your question.

conveniently, i dont believe in such things. And i have never broken a law that i agreed with, or thought applied to me, specifically.

regarding MAME and legality, some companies have released their games into the public domain, so they are legal to play. others are only legal to play only if you own the physical rom, license, or cartridge - but are so old that are generally classified as abandonware, which means that the copyright holder does not care enough to defend their property. yet other games are recent enough to be defended, or are the property of rather posessive companies that dont like being robbed, or plan on capitalizing on the retro-arcade market.

mame and other emulators also have the ability to emulate systems that are still on the market, and have new games being made for them. this is largely considered theft, of the kind that will do direct financial harm to a company. not like the kind of theft you can argue for in the music industry, that ends up increasing product awareness and leads to larger overall sales. but in either case, you are breaking the law and will surely eternally burn in eternal torment for all eternity. forever. yeah.

SO DONT STEAL GAMES, YOU FILTHY CUR!

but if you do, and you dont have the time / money / effort to rig up a real arcade console, a few companies make PS style gamepads for the PC with fully programmable buttons and dual analog sticks, which you can use to play such games as BATTLEZONE, that require dual stick action. of course, you really need a twisty joystick or a paddle (dial) if you want to play such games as DISCS OF TRON or HEAVY BARREL. might as well maximize that emersive arcade experience, while your burning in hell. forever. it wont require quarters to play, JUST YOUR SOUL!