Here are the best emulators you might use to play old games on your modern Mac.
But an emulator without any ROMs is as useful as a console without any games to play.
You should be aware that downloading ROMs from the internet for games you do not own is illegal.
Learn what a lawyer had to say aboutthe intricacies of video game ROMs and copyright.
1RetroArch (Multi-Platform Emulation)
RetroArchmight be the only emulator you need.
These individual emulators are known as cores and are pulled from the most successful emulator projects on the web.
As cores are updated, you’re able to update everything automatically from within the app.
RetroArch is a good choice for old and new systems.
There are even somesource portsincluded for games likeDoomandQuake II.
Tim Brookes / How-To Geek
OpenEmu might not be as performant where it counts like RetroArch is.
This might not be such a problem, though, since the emulator mostly focuses on older platforms anyway.
Delta is a multi-platform emulator with a focus on Nintendo platforms.
The open-source project has been alive since 2011, with an initial public release in 2012.
Like many other emulators, RPCS3 allows you to customize the experience to your liking.
Thanks toPCSX2, you’re able to enjoy both of these things from the comfort of your Mac.
This open-source project is available on macOS through Intel binaries that must run through Rosetta 2.
Failing that, theres a healthyPCSX2 Wikithat can help you optimize the emulator.
This is possible using a universal binary that runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel chips.
As it stands, around 85% of titles achieve a playable or perfect rating onxemus compatibility list.
you might download Flycast from the projectsGitHub pageor load the emulator using Homebrew.
Weve had success playingSega Rally 2,Sonic Adventure 2, andMetropolis Street Racerwith few issues.
you’re able to create configuration files and launch them to quickly configure DOSBox-X for specific tasks.
If emulating the golden age of PC gaming isn’t enough for you, considerbuilding a retro PC instead.
Available as a Universal binary, FS-UAE works great on modern Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
The emulator relies on a launcher app that runs first to set up the session.
Thankfully theres a rich library ofFS-UAE documentationthat covers everything from dumping your old floppies to setting up MIDI devices.
Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are chips that can virtualize other chips.
Rather than emulating how a system works in software, FPGAs recreate systems at the hardware level.
