Attract-Mode
Attract-Mode is a graphical frontend for command-line emulators such as MAME, MESS, and Nestopia.
What Attract-Mode is
Attract-Mode is a graphical frontend for command-line emulators such as MAME, MESS, and Nestopia. It is intended for arcade cabinet setups and control through a joystick, gamepad, or spin dial. The project is open source under the GNU General Public License v3 and runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux, including Raspberry Pi and Odroid. Users can import game lists, generate lists from emulator directories, and set launch commands for individual games. The frontend can retrieve missing game details and artwork from TheGamesDB, Progetto-Snaps, and adb.arcadeitalia.net. Controls can be assigned to joystick, keyboard, or mouse inputs, including combinations. Settings are stored in text files, and a built-in configuration menu includes on-screen help. Layouts can be scripted in Squirrel and customized with themes, animations, and GLSL shaders. It supports formats handled by FFmpeg and SWF through gameswf, and lists Steam support and a plug-in system. The project provides documentation and a community forum. Pause-and-resume functionality is listed only for Linux and Windows versions.
Good
- Free and open source under GNU GPL v3.
- Runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
- Supports game lists and per-game launch commands.
- Layouts support themes, animations, and GLSL shaders.
- Controls can use joystick, keyboard, or mouse.
Watch out
- Pause functionality is listed only for Linux and Windows.
- RetroPie availability is described as experimental.
Who it suits
Attract-Mode suits people setting up an arcade cabinet or organizing command-line emulator collections with joystick, gamepad, or spin-dial controls. Its layouts and input mappings are customizable.
Verdict
Attract-Mode provides a customizable interface for command-line emulators, with game-list tools, input mapping, and media support. Note that pause functionality is listed only for its Linux and Windows versions.
Plans and prices
From Attract-Mode's own pricing page, checked 5 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Attract-Mode | Free | Open source · GNU General Public License v3 |
| Free | Free | full frontend · open source · GPL-3.0-or-later |
The facts
Each one read from Attract-Mode's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- AlternativeTo listing
- AlternativeTo shows two likes, zero comments and no user reviews for Attract-Mode.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Artwork scraping
- Artwork and missing game information can be fetched from TheGamesDB, Progetto-SNAPS and ArcadeItalia databases.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Build dependencies
- Linux and FreeBSD compilation uses GNU C or C++, make, pkg-config, SFML and OpenAL, with optional FFmpeg, Fontconfig, Xinerama and libarchive libraries.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Command-line tools
- The command line supports building and importing romlists, filtering them and selecting output names.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Configuration
- A built-in configuration menu provides on-screen guidance, while settings can also be edited as text files.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Controls
- Frontend actions can be mapped to joystick, keyboard or mouse inputs, including combinations.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Display hardware
- The software supports multiple monitors, screen rotation or flipping, and automatic rotation to match games.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- Official documentation includes a readme, compilation guide, layouts manual, project wiki and an online layout editor.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Download availability
- The download page lists Windows binaries, an OS X app bundle, Linux source, and source code; it also notes RetroPie availability as an experimental package.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Emulator integration
- Users can configure per-game launch commands, import game lists, and generate lists from emulator directories.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Frontend compatibility
- Hyperspin, MaLa and MameWah layouts can be displayed, although compatibility with other frontends is described as experimental.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Game organization
- Collections can be filtered and sorted by metadata such as year, category, manufacturer, orientation, player count and play history.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Independent comparison
- Unstore characterizes Attract-Mode as a deeply configurable, arcade-focused frontend and lists it as free on Windows, macOS and Linux.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Latest development
- The GitHub history shows maintainer commits in May 2026 adding LCD-refresh functionality, display dimensions in romlists and new script tag commands.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Latest release changes
- The 2.7.0 release notes mention video-crash fixes, modern FFmpeg updates, removal of the obsolete MameDB scraper and grouped-clone support.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Layout scripting
- Themes and layouts are scripted with the Squirrel language and can be extensively customized.checked 15 Oct 2026
- License
- Attract-Mode is released under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: documentation
- Unstore describes the documentation as slim and says the product is aimed more at MAME and arcade use than living-room consoles.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: setup complexity
- Unstore reports that setup is involved and that themes require more configuration than easier frontends.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Localization
- The official feature list names Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish interfaces.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Media
- It supports image, video and audio formats supported by FFmpeg, and supports SWF files through gameswf.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Media support
- Images, video and audio use formats supported by FFmpeg; SWF support is provided through gameswf.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Input mapping
- Keyboard, mouse and joystick actions can be assigned individually or in combinations.checked 15 Oct 2026
The company
- Maker identity
- The project and its GitHub repository identify Andrew Mickelson as the copyright holder and maintainer account owner.checked 15 Oct 2026
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