Arcade machine.

Steve X2

I think with a fairly decent PC you can do amazing things with HLSL in MAME to really make a LCD(not all LCD’s mind) look as close as possible to a CRT. But, as nice as the LCD can look, it doesn’t match up to a CRT(imho). It’s pretty darn close these days but my eyes can certainly notice the difference. But we should be happy that we can get as close to the look of an old CRT as we can these days, and it’s certainly an option for certain builds and projects.
I still prefer the real deal of an arcade machine, arcade monitor and arcade PCB, but if I’m being honest I mainly play MAME on my Egret 3 at home :eek:


Here’s a screenshot I posted before of Gradius with and without filters. I’ve since changed my HLSL settings a bit and got even closer to the look I want. But you get the idea from the below shots.

HLSL:


No filters:

Myrddin

I wouldn't say HLSL has been a game changer, but it has brought huge strides in terms of lcd acceptability. You can see what using an lcd used to look like in steve's pics there, & what it can now look like. There's no shame anymore in a setup like that, but it's still superior to use a crt where possible. I think it always will be really.

CiDeRmAn

I go with a cheap multi game board for around 50 or less, pop it into a cheap cab and off you go.
You'll be playing pacman and bubble bobble in no time!