MAME

MAME (acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines; the ability to actually play the games is considered "a nice side effect".

The official website is http://mamedev.org/ where binaries and sources of all versions can be found. The website also has documentation and a Wiki.

Releases
Since version 0.162 (released on 27 May 2015), MESS (an emulator for video game consoles and computer systems and calculators, based on the MAME core) merged with MAME.

For more information see MAME Release Dates.

Ports
MAME is for Windows since version 0.37b15 (released on 24 May 2001). Previous versions were for DOS.

Here are links to ports for other operating systems:

For Macs, this is an important information source: https://mameonmacs.blogspot.com/

Derivatives
Some of the most important emulators strongly based on MAME's source code:

Derivatives with netplay
Allows people playing together through the internet.

Resources and Guides
Many resources are available on the MAME EXTRAs torrent.

Command-line information is here: mamedev.org - MAME Documentation - Universal Commandline Options. Additional information on MAME XML.

Some guides:
 * EasyEmu MAME Guide
 * Mucci's Guide