Emu Paradise maintains a collection of Mac-compatible emulators you can explore. Emulator Zone provides the largest collection of functional emulators to download, but it can be light on Mac emulators. Some emulation systems can handle more than one console, but some are individualized. This is what allows us to easily play retro games on macOS. An NES imitates the hardware and software attributes of a Nintendo Entertainment System, hiding your Mac’s hardware under a layer of emulation. An emulator tricks the games, or read-only modules (ROMs), into thinking the software is running on genuine hardware. If you want to play PS1 games, you’ll need a PS1 emulator, and so on. If you want to play NES games, for example, you’ll need an NES emulator. Get a Console EmulatorĮmulating a game requires two parts: the ROM, which contains the game data, and the emulator, which acts as the console system.

With the instructions below, you can play retro games on macOS from NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, and a ton more. An emulator imitates a console gaming system, allowing you to play console games on your Mac.

You can play retro games on macOS with an emulator.

Retro mac gaming without emulator