1. I am...

... SMC (Sean McCarthy), one in a growing list of those outstanding Aussies slowly infiltrating the a.g.m newsgroup (crikey! ;-). The "smc" is simply the initials I typed into all those arcade machines when I achieved one of those (rare for me) high scores.

I live in Sydney, home of the best harbour in the world (just let me take you sailing on it), and the "best ever" Olympics (until someone bribes the IOC president more than us ;-). I'm a computer nerd from my early years and now a software engineer by trade, so I guess MAME impresses me in both what it does and how it works.

Just to clear up a few things about Australians:

1. No we don't ride Kangaroos. The bloody things fall over and refuse to get up when you try to sit on them. They're good grilled medium rare, though.
2. No, I don't know "Bruce" but I'm sure he's a nice bloke.
3. No, I don't know Steve Irwin either, but I'm sure he's that crazy in person too.
4. Yes, the English are *really* easy to beat in sport, especially sports they invent. ;-)

2. I got into MAME...

I got into emulation back when the original Gameboy emulators were popular and I was trying to roll my own (ah, is there no end to the usefulness of the Z80 chip). I found MAME when I was trawling the Internet looking for info and possible emulators to play the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. Must have been 5 years ago now.

3. I love playing...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! - if not for the gameplay then for the nostalgia of dropping into the local video store on the way home from school and playing this for hours with 3 other mates. The cooperative multiplayer games are the most fun.

And who can go past Galaga? Oh the tingle that went up my spine when I first fired this up in MAME and the music was exactly as I remembered...

You'll also find me playing 1942, Crime Fighters, Vendetta, Xybots, Gauntlet, Golden Axe, Dungeons & Dragons, Spy Hunter, Star Wars, Frogger, Cabal... a mix of old and new, but nothing very new.

4. I would like to say to Nicola and the MAME team...

What price can you put on the joy an aging kid-at-heart feels reliving experiences of old, soooo authentically? Not just a crappy conversion, but the real thing. Especially when you put it in a cabinet.

If you charged for it, we'd pay. Thanks for your altruism.

All you need do is ask, and a case of Cascade Premium is yours.

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