If you downloaded a clone but didn't have the parent ROM, the game simply wouldn't show up in the list. There was no friendly GUI warning. You just saw a missing entry.
Released in the early autumn of 2000, MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) version 0.34 was far from the most accurate or complete build in the project’s history. It didn’t support CHD (Compressed Hard Disk) images, couldn’t emulate 3D polygonal games like Virtua Fighter , and choked on anything with a protection microcontroller. mame 0.34 romset
Trust me.
In MAME 0.34, to save space, the devs used a strict file structure. A "parent" ROM contained the main program code, while "clones" (like Street Fighter II': Champion Edition ) contained only the differences from the parent ( Street Fighter II: The World Warrior ). If you downloaded a clone but didn't have