MAME 2003-Plus is a high-performance, specialized "backport" of the MAME 0.78 codebase designed for RetroArch and RetroPie, incorporating modern fixes and extra games while maintaining high speed on low-power devices. A full non-merged ROMset for this emulator contains all necessary data, including parent files and BIOS, in each individual game ZIP, ensuring self-contained operation at the cost of higher storage usage. Read the full details at RetroPie Docs.
Self-Contained Files: Each game ZIP contains every file it needs to run. mame 2003-plus reference: full non-merged romsets
Using clrmamepro with the MAME 2003-Plus .dat: RetroPie (Raspberry Pi 2/3/Zero 2) Lakka on low-end