The popular multi-system emulator MAME just received its first update for 2026. MAME 0.285 has arrived with better support for Apple’s first graphical interface computer, the Lisa, along with more arcade emulation options and other changes.
MAME already laid the groundwork for emulating the Apple Lisa, the ill-fated 1983 desktop computer from Apple, but this release places it in “substantially better shape.” The original Lisa, Lisa 2, and Lisa 2/10 have all been moved to the ‘working’ list of systems, so they should be able to fully boot and run some software.
The Apple Lisa was the first mass-market personal computer with a graphical user interface, though it was still incredibly expensive with an initial retail price of $9,995 (about $33,000 in today’s dollars). It had many problems besides the high price, including an underpowered processor and unreliable floppy drives, but it helped pioneer desktop computing as we know it today. Apple released the much more successful Macintosh only one year later, and the remaining Lisa computers were reworked as Macintosh XL desktops with a built-in Mac ROM emulator.
MAME can already emulate many Apple II and Macintosh systems, so it’s great to see Lisa support coming along. The Lisa never had much of a game library, but it’s still an important part of technology history that should be preserved, and there aren’t many working units left in existence. The only other Lisa emulators around are LisaEm and IDLE—neither project is being actively developed.
This release also includes support for “an early, unreleased version of Atari’s Relief Pitcher running on their System 1 platform,” as well as Moon Raker, a Nichibutsu shooter from the late 1970s that was recently rediscovered. Several more clone systems are also now functional, including the Pravetz 8C, an Apple II clone originally released in Bulgaria.
There’s also much better controls for games with lightguns, like Virtua Cop or Lethal Enforcers. The blog post explained, “If you play arcade games that utilised lightguns, you’ll no doubt be aware that pulling the trigger while aiming the gun away from the screen was a common way to reload. You may also be aware that MAME had an option to make this a bit easier if you’re using a lightgun to play. That option has been removed, with a new plugin taking its place. The great news is that the plugin works even if you aren’t using a lightgun.”
You can download MAME for Windows from the official website, either as a graphical application or a command-line utility. The easiest way to install it on Mac is with Homebrew, using the unofficial formulae. The Linux version is available through the software repositories on most distributions, and you can also get it on Flathub.
Source: MAME
