MAME comes with a full cheat engine: once the cheat pack is installed, every game offers its own list (infinite lives, credits, invincibility, unlocked characters…) right inside MAME's internal menu. No codes to type in by hand.
This page covers the MAME 0.258 and MAME 0.278 cores. The older cores (MAME 2003, 2010, 2015) handle cheats differently and are not covered here.
¶ Download the cheat pack
Get the cheat archive matching the MAME version you actually use from mamecheat.co.uk — MAME 0.278 or MAME 0.258 depending on your core (see MAME to find out which one you are running).
If no pack exists for your exact version, take the one just before it: it will work in the vast majority of cases.
Unpack the downloaded archive. It contains several files; only cheat.7z matters.
¶ Install the pack on the Recalbox
Copy cheat.7z without unpacking it into:
/recalbox/share/bios/mame/
MAME reads cheats straight from the archive: unpacking it would only slow loading down.
¶ Enable cheats
- Start a game with the relevant MAME core.
- Open the RetroArch menu with
HOTKEY+B. - Go to
Core Options→Systemcategory. - Switch the
Cheatsoption toenabled(it is disabled by default). - Quit the game, then start it again: the option is only read when the emulated machine boots.
¶ Using cheats in game
Once the game has restarted, open MAME's internal menu with SELECT + Y, then enter Cheat. You will find the list of codes available for the current game: turn on the ones you want, go back to the game, done.
If your controller has
SELECTandHOTKEYon the same button, you lose save states with this core. A controller that keeps the two buttons separate is preferable if you use save states a lot.
If the Cheat entry does not show up in the MAME menu, either the Cheats option is not enabled or cheat.7z is not in the right place: go back over the two previous steps.