MESS supports the emulation of max with the following devices
Also notice that a “quickload” (quik) feature is available for .t64, .p00 and .prg files.
Cassette images can have the .wav or .tap extensions (formally .t64 images are tapes as well, but we currently load them through -quickload). To run a .tap or a .wav image you have to launch
mess max -cass "C:\pathtogame\gamename.tap"
Once you're at the BASIC prompt you have various options:
LOAD"filename"
LOAD
The message “Press play on tape” will appear, and you will have to enter the MESS internal UI to start the tape (press Tab and choose “Tape Control”, then press “Play”). Once the program is loaded, a “READY” message will be prompted and you can run your program by simply typing
RUN
or the appropriate SYS call.
Also, MESS supports saving to tape. Therefore, you can write your own BASIC programs and save them using the command
SAVE"prog_name"
The message “Press play & record on tape” will appear, and you will have to enter the MESS internal UI to start recording the tape (press Tab and choose “Tape Control”, then press “Record”).
Cartridges may have extension .crt, .e0 and .f0. Files with boot-sign in it are recognized as ROMs. Some cartridges may require more than one image: if you have any of these, please contact us because we would like to fix support for them.
To use “cartridge” (cart) slot in MESS, simply launch
mess max -cart "C:\pathtogame\gamename.crt"
and the game will start (we currently don't support images which require multiple files to be loaded at different locations, because we don't have access to any of these images). Most of the Max Machine carts should work. Also a few C64 carts could work, due to the similarity of the hardware, but be warned that most will fail. Note that .prg files are often cartridge images as well, but in MESS they are assigned to the quickloader (see below).
A quickloader is available via command line and it supports program image files with extensions .prg, .p00 and .t64 (the latter are tape images, but most of them are loaded to a fixed address). The quickloader loads the program into memory and sets the program end pointer. It shall work with most programs. To use the “quickload” (quik) device in MESS: launch
mess max -quik "C:\pathtogame\gamename.prg"
and simply type the command
RUN
to start the program.
This system requires full keyboard emulation to work correctly. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the Esc key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the Scrl Lock key (by default).
The Commodore Max Machine was released after the VIC 20 and at the same time as the C64. It was intended to be Commodore's low-end offering ($150-$180), whereas the C64 was envisioned as a high-end product ($595).
The system was very inexpensive and lacked even basic features such a user expansion port. In reality, the Max Machine was a severely limited C64. Several Max software titles could actually be run on the C64.
Some production models used the same video chip as the C64, while others used a 6566 (the NTSC C64 uses the 6567; the PAL C64 uses a 6569). Regardless of video chip, both variants offered only a single graphics resolution of 320×200 and could not utilize the “multi-color” functions available on the C64. The SID sound chip is identical to the one found in its C64 cousin. BASIC was stored on cartridge rather than in ROM.
Though initially planned for world-wide release, the Commodore Max Machine was sold primarily in Japan. It was advertised in North America under the name ULTIMAX, as well as in Germany under the name VC-10.
(info from old-computers.com)