MESS
Multi-Emulator Super System

This is a fairly new (and quite incomplete) emulator that has recently been released.  This emulator is based on the core from MAME.  You will know that right off the bat when you launch it (assuming you can get it to work), because the initial screens look just like MAME.

The initial release (v. 0.1) supported many systems including the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Colecovision.   It did not support any Atari systems, although the new beta (v. 0.2b4) supports the Atari 800/XL/XE 8-bit computers, and the Atari 5200 SuperSystem.

The MESS homepage states that support for the Atari 7800 will be added soon.  Dan Boris is the author of the 7800 emulation that will be in MESS.  He recently released his 7800 emulator (v7800) seperately from MESS, as it looks like it will be quite some time before we have a new release of MESS.

I have tried to get this to work in both of the supported Atari modes, and was unable.  I was able to get it to run in Sega Genesis mode, but the speed was horrible on my P2 300MHz system, and I could not get sound, although it supposedly is supported.

This is a DOS program, so it is driven entirely by a command line interface.  The README file is pretty confusing.

I still think that we should keep our eye on this one.  Although the Atari 8-bit Computers, and Atari 5200 SuperSystem have already been emulated (very well) by several different programs, we still do not have an Atari 7800 emulator yet.

More information will be posted here as it is made available.  Stay tuned.........

Go to the MESS homepage

This emulator can be downloaded directly from it's homepage.

NOTE: In order to run this emulator, you must have the emulator itself, and a copy of the ROM's from the original system.  The emulator itself is Freeware.  The ROM's are copyrighted by the programmer or the manufacturer. You are only legally entitled to use ROM files if you own the actual game, or a PCB/ROM Cartridge from the game that you are emulating.

ROM's are not available on Back In Time,
but they can be found on the Internet.