Why I am not a fan of the XML formatted mameinfo.dat? Because the old format is easier parseable.

#!/bin/sh
########################################################################
#
# mamehist
# $Id: mamehist,v 1.6 2023/02/20 14:37:06 elias Exp $
#
########################################################################

# Paranoia!
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin

# Full path for the history.dat file in the old format
HISTFILE=/usr/local/share/games/mame/history.dat

# Option parsing (not POSIX-conform)
case $1 in
    -h) shift
    echo "Usage: `basename $0` <ROM name>"
    echo "Extract information from history.dat"
    echo
    echo "Options"
    echo "  -h             Show this help"
    echo "  -l [<pattern>] List ROM names in history.dat"
    echo "  -f <filename>  Use specified history.dat file"
    echo
    echo "Used history.dat file: $HISTFILE"
    exit
    ;;
    -l) shift
    if test -n "$1"; then filter="grep $1"; else filter="cat"; fi
    sed -n '/^\$info/p' "$HISTFILE" |
        sed -e 's/^.*=//' -e 's/,/\n/g' |
        sed -e '/^\s*$/d' |
        $filter
    exit
    ;;
    -f) shift
    if test -z "$1"
    then
        echo 1>&2 "Missing filename of the history.dat file"
        exit 1
    fi
    HISTFILE=$1
    shift
    ;;
esac

# Fail if the history.dat file does not exist
if test ! -f "$HISTFILE"
then
    echo 1>&2 History file "$HISTFILE" does not exist
    exit 1
fi

# Only use less in terminals, allowing output redirection
if test -t 1; then pager="less"; else pager="cat"; fi

# Check for required ROM name
if test -z "$1"
then
    echo 1>&2 No ROM name given
    exit 1
fi

# Extract information from mameinfo.dat
for romname in $*
do
    sed -e '/^#/d' -e '/published.*years ago/d' "$HISTFILE" |
    awk "BEGIN { status = 0; }
             /^\\\$info*[=,]$romname,/ { status = 2; }
             status == 1 && /^\\\$end/ { exit; }
             status == 1 { print; }
         status == 3 && /\S/ { status = 1; print; }
             status == 2 && /^\\\$bio/ { status = 3; }
            " |
    fold -s
    # That awk program looks rather awkward, I know.
    # status == 0: scan for ROMs name
    # status == 1: print lines until the $end is reached
    # status == 2: wait for $bio
    # status == 3: consume empty lines at the top of the entry
done | $pager

# Code is prosa, not poetry.