What is 4RCADE 5TICK?

4RCADE 5TICK is a free and open source, highly customizable MAME front-end for Windows 10/11, designed to be simple to use without sacrificing features.

Not happy with the current offerings, with the big names being bloated and difficult to configure, and smaller launchers being dated and lacking the options I wanted, I decided to create my own front-end. Coming from a web design background, I was able to turn my vision into a working front-end that launches games effortlessly.

Mame done right. Nothing else.

4RCADE 5TICK is being built with only MAME in mind. It's not trying to be an everything emulator front-end like RetroArch or similar programs. It is being developed to do one thing really well, organize and launch MAME ROMs.

Brief History

Starting with a ~1600 line PowerShell script as the prototype and many hours of planning, I sought the help of Claude to be my coder and troubleshooter. After a couple of weeks of learning how best to use AI and how to navigate Visual Studio, I soon had a working beta.1 version coded in C#/WPF, and I was ecstatic. Beta.2 followed a couple of weeks later, with tons of bug fixes, and the launcher was now almost completely stable. For beta.3 however, I planned and implemented a feature set that has taken 4RCADE 5TICK to the next level.

Feature Rich

See the complete feature set for all it can do, but here are a few highlights.

  • Completely Portable - Install on a USB Stick with MAME on it and take it with you anywhere
  • ROM Filter - Create a custom game pool using dozens of filters
  • ROM Sorter - Automatically sort ROMs into genre specific virtual folders, or keep your own folder structure
  • Custom Folders - Organize your collection into folders that you can rename, color and position in the folder list.
  • Asset Scraper - Snag assets like videos and marquees for each game when first played or manually via context menus
  • Game Previews - Select a game and see video, artwork and other game info and meta data
  • Themes - Create beautiful themes with your own colors and backgrounds that can be easily shared with others

AND many many more...

More to Come

More features are planned, and I'm open to suggestions. If there is something you want added in a future release, shoot me an email.

Legal mumbo jumbo

4RCADE 5TICK contains no ROMs, BIOS files, or copyrighted game assets. You are responsible for supplying your own legally obtained files.

Powered by MAME® — 4RCADE 5TICK is not affiliated with or endorsed by the MAME development team.

4RCADE 5TICK is free to use and modify. No warranty is provided or implied.

©2026 4RCHIMEDE5