Best video game emulators for OS X? I'm looking for a good NES/SNES/SEGA/Whatever emulator for OS X. I have an old Mac Mini that I'd love to turn into an intro-video game system for my 4 year old son. If anyone knows of a nice USB controller that would be helpful as well.

Arnold 1.7.9
Amstrad CPC/CPC+ Emulator
Arnold is an extremely precise Amstrad CPC/CPC+ emulator, which can runjust about all software available for what was without question the besthome computer available in Europe in the 1980s.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 726 Kb

Atari800MacX 5.0.1
This is the the Macintosh OSX Port of David Firth'sFantastic Atari 800 Emulator. Ported is the SDL version of theAtrari800 emulator to Mac OSX, and added a full native Cocoa interface,including Preferences, Menus, File Associations, Help and more.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Mark Grebe
  • Modification Date: January 19, 2019
  • Requirements: macOS 10.12 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 21.8 MB

Basilisk II 1.0 (2019-09-08)
Basilisk II is an open source emulator of 68xxx-based Macintoshcomputers for Windows, OS X and Linux. With Basilisk II, one can bootMac OS versions 7.x through 8.1. Ports of Basilisk II are available forMac OS X, Windows, Linux and a number of lesser known systems. Usersrequire a Macintosh ROM image and a copy of Mac OS to use with theemulator.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Christian Bauer et al
  • Modification Date: May 4, 2019
  • Requirements: macOS 10.14 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 1.4 MB

Boycott Advance 0.4.1
Boycott Advance can run the majority of existing Gameboy Advancesoftware to some degree. High quality sound emulation is supported, withmany games sounding as good, if not better, than they do on the realhardware. Having said that, Boycott Advance is not a substitute for thereal hardware. If you want to play Gameboy Advance games, then buy areal Gameboy Advance. A number of hardware devices exist for backing uporiginal Gameboy Advance titles for use on Boycott Advance. Theseinclude the Flash Advance Linker and the XGFlash.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 465 Kb

BSNES 0.6.9
Bsnes Emulator Enhancer MacBSNES has a somewhat different purpose to most emulators; it focuses onaccuracy over performance. To that end, it does not include any gamespecific hacks, or idle-loop skipping optimizations commonly found inother emulators. To add to the fun, it uses a cycle accurate hardwareemulation. The net result of all this is the highest system requirementsof any software I've released to date; those without a G5 class machineneed not apply. If you meet the requirements, however, this is the mostaccurate SNES emulation available on the Macintosh platform.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 9, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 1.6 MB

DeSmuME 0.9.11
Nintendo DS Emulator.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: DeSmuME Team
  • Modification Date: April 7, 2015
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 1.5 MB

Dolphin 5.0
Dolphin is an emulator for two recent Nintendo video game consoles: theGameCube and the Wii. It allows PC gamers to enjoy games for these twoconsoles in full HD (1080p) with several enhancements: compatibilitywith all PC controllers, turbo speed, networked multiplayer, and evenmore!
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Dolphin Team
  • Modification Date: Current
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit - The Development versions are the better choice with macOS 10.13 and higher

Download File Size: ~17 MB - Development versions are released every time a developer makes a change to Dolphin, several times every day!

DOSBox 0.74-3
A port of DOSBox, an engine for playing classic and forgotten games for DOS on modern systems.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: DOSBox Team
  • Modification Date: June 27, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 4.2 MB

Emulator Enhancer 3.0.1
The Emulator Enhancer plugin adds a number of additional features tomany of the emulators available from this site (bannister.org). Theseinclude:
USB Gamepad and Joystick support
Aspect ratio correction
Bilinear Filtering
Full screen mode
Network game play (preliminary)
Screen Curvature
VBL Synchronised Video
Full instructions on how to use the library can be found in the download package.
  • License: Shareware, $30
  • Developer/Publisher: Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 30, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 589 Kb

Erockus Arcade 6.8
Erockus ARCADE is an interface app for SDLMAME.
Erockus ARCADE does not actually play games.
Erockus Arcade is designed to simplify the use of SDLMAME.
Erockus ARCADE is not supported nor endorsed by the people behind SDLMAME.
Erockus ARCADE may not work with all versions of SDLMAME.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Eric Richards
  • Modification Date: September 25, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 7.9 MB

Frodo 4.4.1
Frodo is a robust Commodore 64 Emulator for the Macintosh.
Frodo was developed to reproduce the graphics of games and demos withhigher precision than the existing C64 emulators. To that end, Frodo candisplay raster effects correctly that only result in a flickering messwith other emulators. In addition to the precise VIC emulation, Frodofeatures a processor-level 1541 emulation that is able to handle about50% of all fast loaders. There is also a faster 1541 emulation for fourdrives containing .D64, .X64, .T64, or .LYNX files. Sound (SID)emulation is also provided.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 1.4 MB

Genesis Plus 1.3.2
Genesis Plus is a Sega Genesis/Megadrive emulator for Mac OS X.
Genesis Plus features very accurate emulation of the original SegaGenesis, even to the point that some software which has problems on thereal hardware exhibits the same behaviour under emulation. Thisemulation comes with accurate sound support, saved states, and savedgame support.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 517 Kb

Jum52 1.1.1
Atari 5200 Emulator
Jum52 supports reasonable compatibility with Atari 5200 titles. At thepresent collision detection is a bit hit and miss (no pun intended) butotherwise the emulator is solid enough. High quality sound emulation isprovided.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 391 Kb

KiGB 2.0.6
KiGB is a Nintendo Gameboy emulator for Mac OS X.
KiGB features detailed and accurate emulation, which brings with itexcellent compatibility. Support for both Game Genie and Game Sharkcodes is included, as well as extremely high fidelity sound support.KiGB can even emulate the Super Gameboy.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 668 Kb

Mini vMac 36.04
Mini vMac is an open source emulator of 68000 based Macintosh computers.The project's main goal being an accurate emulation of the MacintoshPlus computer. In addition to the Macintosh Plus, variations of MinivMac can emulation the Macintosh 128K, 512K, 512Ke, SE and Classicmodels.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Paul C. Pratt
  • Modification Date: October 7, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 59emu Kb

Mugrat 0.4.5
For many years now I have been porting emulators by others to MacOS. Mugrat marks my first attempt at writing one of my own, in this caseto emulate the Colecovision.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 30, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 409 Kb

Mupen64Plus 2.5.9
Mupen64Plus is a cross-platform plugin-based N64 emulator which iscapable of accurately playing many games. N64 emulator and plugins forLinux, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and Windows
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Mupen64Plus Team
  • Modification Date: February 10, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.8 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 2.7 MB

Nestopia 1.4.2
Nestopia is a Nintendo NES emulator for Mac OS X.
Nestopia is by far the most compatible of any NES emulator for Mac OS X.Using cycle-exact emulation, it is able to run titles that rely onprecise timing, and which therefore break under other emulators. Itsupports five extra sound chips and an astonishing 143 mappers. Thisaccurate emulation comes at a cost; Nestopia requires an 800MHz machinefor full speed; but if you have one, this is the best available NESemulation for Mac.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 1.1 MB

OpenEmu 2.2.1
Retro video game emulation for macOS.
For the first time, the 'It just works' philosophy now extends to opensource video game emulation on the Mac. With OpenEmu, it is extremelyeasy to add, browse, organize and with a compatible gamepad, play thosefavorite games (ROMs) you already own.
This one does it all and in a well done interface. Nintendo, SuperNintendo, Nintendo 64, PlayStaion, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, Game Boy, PSP etc.and more.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: OpenEmu Team
  • Modification Date: January 25, 2020
  • Requirements: macOS 10.14 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 43 MB - The experimental version supports MAME

Rainbow 1.5.8
Atari 800 Series Emulator
Rainbow was one of the first emulators available for Macintosh. Despitethis, it has fairly good compatibility with original software. The MacOS X version adds an improved GUI and significantly improved sound tothe original version.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 469 Kb

ScummVM 2.1
ScummVM is not an emulator.
ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphicalpoint-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their datafiles. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executablesshipped with the game, allowing you to play them on systems for whichthey were never designed!
ScummVM lets you run these adventures: Adventure Soft's Simon theSorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 andBroken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit theEarth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM(Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system. SCUMM is used formany games, including Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Maxand more. Compatibility with supported games is continually improving,so check back often.
Among the systems on which you can play those games are Windows, Linux,Mac OS X, Dreamcast, PocketPC, PalmOS, AmigaOS, BeOS, OS/2, PSP, PS2,SymbianOS/EPOC and many more..
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: The ScummVM Team
  • Modification Date: January 15, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 24.5 MB

SDLMAME 0.214
Command line Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: @roni
  • Modification Date: September 25, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.9 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 101.1 MB - SDL Mame 0.214

Download File Size: 5.6 Kb - SDL Runtime Library 2.0.10

Download File Size: 542 Kb - M64 - Application to run SDL MAME without launching the terminal

SheepShaver 2.5 (2019-09-08)
SheepShaver is an Open Source PowerPC MacOS run-time environment. Thatis, it enables you to run PowerPC Classic MacOS software on yourcomputer, even if you are using a different operating system. However,you still need a copy of MacOS and a PowerMacintosh ROM image to usethis program. SheepShaver is distributed under the terms of the GNUGeneral Public License (GPL). If you are using a PowerPC-based system,applications will run at native speeds (i.e. without any emulationinvolved). On other systems, SheepShaver provides the first PowerPC G4emulator, though without MMU, to enable the execution of MacOS Classic.Performance with the current CPU emulator using basic just-in-time (JIT)translation techniques is roughly 1/8-th of native speeds.
Features
- SheepShaver runs MacOS 7.5.2 thru MacOS 9.0.4
- PowerPC G4 emulation on non-PowerPC platforms, direct execution otherwise
- Basic but portable JIT engine (x86, x86_64, mips)
- Copy and paste of text between MacOS and the host OS
- File exchange with the host OS via a Unix icon on the Mac desktop
- Color video display with support for run-time resolution switching
- Run-time depth switching from 1 bpp to current host depth settings
- Native QuickDraw 2D acceleration for BitBlt and FillRect operations
- CD-quality stereo sound output
- Networking: SheepShaver supports Internet and LAN networking via Ethernet and PPP with all Open Transport compatible MacOS applications
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Gwenole Beauchesne
  • Modification Date: September 8, 2019
  • Requirements: macOS 10.14 or higher - 64-bit - If you have an existing SheepShaver setup, you can simply replace the application with the new application

Download File Size: 1.4 MB

SMS Plus 1.3.4
SMS Plus is a Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear emulator for Mac OSX.
The hardware for the Sega Master System and Game Gear consoles is almostidentical from a technical standpoint, which means that when you emulateone, it is trivial to emulate the other. SMS Plus features accurateemulation of both systems, with full sound support. Just like most ofthe other emulators on this site, it can use GZ compressed ROMstransparently.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Ported by Richard Bannister
  • Modification Date: March 10, 2018
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 551 Kb

sixtyforce 2.0b1
sixtyforce is an emulator that runs Nintendo 64 games. It does this bydynamically translating the code that a Nintendo 64 uses into somethingyour Mac understands. Nearly every part of a Nintendo 64 has beenpainstakingly recreated entirely out of software to pull off such anamazing feat. Download sixtyforce and try it yourself!
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Gerrit Goossen
  • Modification Date: October 10, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.9 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 8 MB

Stella 6.0.2
The Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS), introduced in 1977, was themost popular home video game system of the early 1980's. Now you canenjoy all of your favorite Atari 2600 games on your PC thanks to Stella!
Stella is a multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator released under theGNU General Public License (GPL). Stella was originally developed forLinux by Bradford W. Mott, however, since its original release severalpeople have joined the development team to port Stella to otheroperating systems such as AcornOS, AmigaOS, DOS, FreeBSD, IRIX, Linux,OS/2, MacOS, Unix, and Windows. The development team is working hard toperfect the emulator and we hope you enjoy our effort.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Stella Team
  • Modification Date: October 11, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 3.6 MB

VICE 3.1
VICE is a program that runs on a Unix, MS-DOS, Win32, OS/2, BeOS, QNX4.x, QNX 6.x, Amiga, Syllable or Mac OS X machine and executes programsintended for the old 8-bit computers. The current version emulates theC64, the C64DTV, the C128, the VIC20, practically all PET models, thePLUS4 and the CBM-II (aka C610/C510). An extra emulator is provided forC64 expanded with the CMD SuperCPU.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: The VICE Team
  • Modification Date: March 30, 2017
  • Requirements: macOS 10.12 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 86.5 MB

VirtualC64 3.3.2
VirtualC64 emulates a Commodore 64 personal computer on your Macintosh.I started the project in 2006 to create a virtual CPU environment thatcan be used as a demonstrator program in a first or second year ofcomputer technology. Over the years I have added more and more featuresand the accuracy of the emulation has steadily increased. Despite one ortwo compatibility gaps, VirtualC64 is now able to run a large number ofC64 programs without errors.
  • License: Freeware
  • Developer/Publisher: Dirk Hoffmann
  • Modification Date: May 25, 2019
  • Requirements: macOS 10.13 or higher - 64-bit

Rabbitmq for mac. Download File Size: 12.5

Virtual ][ 9.2
Virtual ][ is a program that emulates the vintage Apple ][ computer onyour Macintosh.
Key features:
Emulates the Apple ][, ][+ and //e
Supports USB game pad or joystick
Save a machine and resume later on
Full-screen mode
Epson FX-80 emulation
Realistic soundeffects
Virtual ][ lets you play all the old Apple games, because it supportsall graphics modes, lets you control the game paddles with a USB gamepad or mouse and emulates the internal speaker. When you want totemporarily interrupt gameplay, Virtual ][ allows you to save theentire virtual machine, and continue later on from where you left off.
But Virtual ][ also supports more 'serious' software, because itemulates many peripheral devices: floppy disk, hard disk, mouse, matrixprinter, even cassette tape! It is also able to emulate the Z80Aprocessor, allowing you to run the CP/M operatng system.
  • License: Shareware, $44
  • Developer/Publisher: Gerard Putter
  • Modification Date: September 8, 2019
  • Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit

Download File Size: 38.2 MB

Download SNES Emulator for Windows, MAC and Android to play and to get in touch with your childhood games. Several SNES Emulators are available for all devices but after practically experimenting we have selected best performing SNES emulators for you Guys.

For many classic game enthusiasts, the acronym SNES should be well known. However, for the purpose of this article, I will briefly explain the term. SNES stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has also been referred to as Super NES or Super Nintendo. This system was designed by Nintendo as a 16-bit video game console. It was released by the company first of all in Japan in 1990 and was called the Super Famicom (or SFC as an abbreviation). It was eventually released in other territories such as North America, Europe and other locations as well. It quickly moved on to be a gamer favourite and was the best selling 16-bit game console of that age, despite its late inception and ample competition from its contender; Sega Genesis. Today as the original games have become difficult to obtain, and may not function properly if your equipment is not in the best shape, SNES Emulators allow you to enjoy these classic games from that era, without the need for you to possess the game console itself. These SNES Emulators can be downloaded and directly installed on your computer, either on a Windows pc or Mac or on Android and will give you access to these games on your personal computer. Some of the most popular options to consider when choosing best SNES Emulator are listed below.

Snes9x

Considered to be one of the best Snes emulators available today, the history of this emulator is traced back to two of the first successful emulators of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A lot of the history of these emulators have been lost over time, however, two of the earliest emulators that actually worked were the SNES96 AND SNES97. The developers of the two emulators, Gary Henderson and Jeremy Koot eventually decided in July of 1997 that they would merge their two successful attempts at running SNES games on PC and the result of this combination is SNES9x.

This emulator is considered to be one of the best because of these reasons; It doesn’t run with heavy computer requirements, and there are downloads of this emulator available for Android devices, jailbroken iOS devices, Nintendo 3Ds, PSP and others.

ZSNES

The development of this emulator began in 1997. It grew in popularity quickly, but as of the moment, it is one of the least accurate of Snes emulators in regular use. When placed against emulators such as Snes9x its execution is extremely poor. However, there are some good reasons to possess this emulator. Adobe photoshop lightroom classic cc 2018 v.7.3.1 for mac. One of these reasons is for the purpose of running fan-made hacks of SNES games. Fan made modifications of existing Nintendo games will usually develop problems while running on high accuracy emulators such as Snes9x. However, as ZSNES became popular about the time when these hacks became popular, most of them run flawlessly on this emulator. It is also the best emulator for online gameplay.

HIGAN

Designed by one of the big competitors in emulation, the current version of Higan can run on 12 different systems began with the Super Nintendo System. This company is also the creator of the popular Bsnes emulator that served as a base for the development of Higan and if you want the latest version of that emulator, you should choose Higan.

Built to be cycle accurate, this Low-level emulation allows you to play and get as close to the original console experience as possible. It, however, takes a lot of computational power to run properly.

VIRTUAL CONSOLE

This is made up of a collection of downloadable original video games to be run on Nintendo’s Wii and Wii U home game consoles as well as Nintendo’s 3Ds portable game console. This is an official line up of these unaltered SNES games developed by Nintendo themselves from 2006 for the Wii down to 2013 for the Wii U console and is available for download on their official websites. These games, however, are not free and have to be purchased for between 500 and 1200 Wii points or between $2.99 and $9.99 depending on the system, rarity and demand.

Other SNES Emulators

  • Multi Emulator Supersystem is an emulator for multiple game consoles and even computer systems. It emulates many portable and console gaming systems and the Super Nintendo System is one of them.
  • Mednafen; which literally stands for My Emulator Doesn’t Need A Freakin’ Excellent Name, is an open multi-system free software bundle which includes multiple original and 3rd party emulation cores into one package
  • FCEUX: This is a pen NES and Family computer disk emulator that is a merger of various branches of FCE ultra.

Download and Install SNES Emulators

Let us consider Snes9x as an example and discuss the installation process.

For Windows & MAC

  • The first step is to download all the needed programs, beginning with the Super NES emulator download. The emulator is available for both Windows 32-bit/64-bit version and for MAC OS.
  • Next, you will have to download a sample game to test the emulator. These games are easily available online.
  • The emulator and the game ROM are both zipped. You will need to unzip them to make use of them. If you are not using Windows 10 or MAC then you might need an unzip program.
  • After both files are unzipped, you can choose to run the emulator without installing it first. Then click on the “File” menu located at the top left of the emulator and then select “Load game”. Or you can use “Ctrl+O” as a shortcut on Windows and “Command+O” on MAC.
  • You will need to configure the controls for the emulator when making use of a computer.

For Android

  • Download the emulator for android from the play store by searching for Snes9x Ex+
  • After this, you will need to download the game ROM onto your Android or copy it to your Android from your computer if you already have the game ROM on your computer
  • After installation, open the application and you will arrive at the main dashboard of the emulator where you will tap “Load game” to load the ROM
  • The game should load immediately with no need for a setup.

So these were best SNES Emulators for Windows 10/8/7, MAC and Android. Hope these emulators helped you to bring your Super Nintendo Gaming memories back and these emulators worked perfectly as you use to game on SNES consoles.

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