Legal free arcade game discovery / 2026-08-07

Get Targ legally from its official MAMEdev page

Use the rights-holder-approved Targ page without turning a non-commercial, MAMEdev-only grant into a mirror or a claim about the targc clone.

10 minute legal import workflowOfficial MAME 0.289 and the MAMEdev Targ rights page; no ArcadeShelf browser or Android compatibility claim

Get Targ legally from its official MAMEdev page

Open MAMEdev's exact Targ page, read and acknowledge its free non-commercial condition there, and initiate any download only on MAMEdev. ArcadeShelf does not mirror, fetch, cache, bundle, or verify the file. Record the expected parent shortname as `targ`; do not substitute the separately registered `targc` clone. MAME 0.289 marks Targ as supporting save states with imperfect sound, which is upstream status, not an ArcadeShelf runtime test.

Do this in order

  1. 01

    Open `https://www.mamedev.org/roms/targ/` directly and confirm it still names Targ, Exidy, 1980, and the non-commercial acknowledgement.

  2. 02

    Read the condition on MAMEdev and initiate any download there; do not use a mirror, direct-file shortcut, proxy, or bundled archive.

  3. 03

    Record provenance as MAMEdev official page, permission as free non-commercial use, distribution as MAMEdev-only, and identity as parent set `targ`.

  4. 04

    Keep `targ` distinct from `targc`: MAME 0.289 registers `targc` as a clone, but the title-page grant does not enumerate or clear that clone.

  5. 05

    Import the user-obtained authorized file locally into the matching MAME 0.289 workflow and run that build's audit; do not claim a pass unless you actually retain the result.

  6. 06

    If it launches, record the exact build and device and preserve the upstream `imperfect sound` limitation; remove the source link for review if its terms or page change.

Decision and diagnostic table

EvidenceDecisionBoundary
MAMEdev Targ pageUse exact official pageFree non-commercial use only
MAMEdev ROM catalog/legal pageDo not redistributeMAMEdev-only; no ArcadeShelf mirror
MAME 0.289 driver: `targ`Parent identityDo not substitute clone `targc`
Driver flag: imperfect soundDisclose upstream statusNot an ArcadeShelf test result

The official page is the permission checkpoint

H.R. Kauffman made the original Targ ROM images available for free non-commercial use through MAMEdev. The user must visit that page and acknowledge its condition; ArcadeShelf only provides a normal link.

Parent and clone are not interchangeable

The fixed MAME 0.289 driver registers `targ` as parent and `targc` as a separate clone. Filename similarity and parent dependencies do not extend a rights grant to another registered set.

Compatibility remains untested here

MAME's source registers save-state support and imperfect sound. ArcadeShelf did not download, hash, scan, audit, launch, or listen to the ROM, so those upstream flags are the only technical claims made here.

First-party sources

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