A “new” way to organize your 0.72 collection:
Many users now prefer non-merged “new” 0.72 ROM packs because they work without hunting for parent files.
| Feature | MAME 0.72 | Modern MAME (0.260+) | |---------|-----------|----------------------| | ROM naming | 8.3 short filenames | Long names supported | | Merging | Parent/clone sets | Split/merged + software lists | | CHD support | Almost none | Required for many games (HDD, laser disc) | | Device ROMs | In same ZIP | Separate BIOS/device ZIPs | | CRC/SHA1 | CRC only (32-bit) | CRC, SHA1, SHA256 |
Critical difference: A “new” game dumped in 2023 cannot simply be dropped into MAME 0.72. The driver architecture has changed completely.
A "new" way to organize 0.72 ROMs is via Non-Merged sets. A traditional 0.72 set uses Parent/Child ROMs. A Non-Merged set places every required file inside each ZIP. If you download a "new" 0.72 Non-Merged collection, you can delete any single game without breaking the rest—a massive quality-of-life improvement. mame 072 roms new
In the ROM collecting world, a “0.72 ROM set” is a static collection. When someone releases a “new 0.72 ROM pack,” they mean they have aggregated the latest verified dumps that are backward compatible with MAME 0.72. Because later versions of MAME change the way ROMs are named (adding clones, merging BIOS files), a modern ROM won't work on 0.72. A “new” 0.72 set is a curated list of files that have been re-named and re-structured to fit the 0.72 standard.
While the emulator is old, the ROM files themselves can be “new” to you. Over the last two decades, preservationists have re-dumped arcade boards to get perfect copies. A "new" ROM for 0.72 might be a revision of a game (e.g., Street Fighter II’s “Rainbow Edition”) that was only dumped from a physical board last year, but has been back-ported to work with the 0.72 driver structure.
You don't need to download 10,000 ROMs. The beauty of MAME 0.72 is its ability to run the "greatest hits" flawlessly. Here is a suggested “New Starter Pack” list for MAME 0.72 that prioritizes games which run better on this version than on modern MAME (due to input lag changes in later builds):
Fighting Games:
Shoot 'em Ups:
Classics:
The Hidden Gem: The Simpsons Arcade Game (simpsons.zip) – This runs perfectly on 0.72, whereas modern MAME versions have introduced minor rendering bugs in the Konami driver.
Some games in 0.72 had bad dumps (e.g., Pac-Man with missing color PROMs, Donkey Kong with incorrect sound ROMs).
“New” might mean newly corrected ROMs for existing games. A “new” way to organize your 0
Example: Galaga – the 0.72 ROM had a known byte-swap error in the Namco I/O. A fixed galaga.zip circulating in 2004–2005 had different CRCs:
| ROM file | 0.72 CRC | Fixed CRC |
|----------|----------|-----------|
| gg1_1b.3p | e20574c0 | 3b40cf94 |
To use the fixed ROM in 0.72:
Verdict: ROM-only fixes work only for PROM/EPROM swaps, not CPU or sound core bugs. Many users now prefer non-merged “new” 0