17 replies to this topic

[TimsterAA]

Hey all,

I got my latest toy last week - a new iMac with OS X Snow Leopard.   This is my first real foray into the world of Mac, and it's taking a bit of getting used to, to say the least. LOL

I've seen there are many different emulator choices out there, but a lot are dated. I was hoping to avoid downloading, trying, and discarding lots of abandonware and/or not really good software by coming to the experts first.

What emulators are best for this platform? And I'm interested in them all, from Mame to Atari to Nintendo to Sega to even new stuff, if possible.

What do y'all recommend?

--Timster--

[Sauron]

I'm not very current on emulators for OS X, as I have yet to purchase a new Mac since they started shipping with Intel processors. However, keep in mind that you can either dual boot with Windows, or run Windows through a VM program like Parallels or VMWare. Doing this will essentially open up every Windows-based emulator for your Mac.

[Mirage]

All the emulators I want to use are available in OS X. It's not worth it to me to boot into Windows just for an emulator, or for any other reason, really.

Right now, I have installed:

Atari800MacX
Doomsday Engine
Kega Fusion
Genesis Plus
Inform
MacVice
O2Em
SIDPlay (like iTunes for C64 SID music)
Snes9x
STella OSX
VicePlus Cocoa

... and I don't even have all that many installed right now. Pretty much anything you could ever want is available for native OS X now.

[Mirage]

double post, sorry

Edited by Mirage, Thu Apr 7, 2011 3:02 AM.

[TimsterAA]

Thanks Mirage... that was a great list. Loaded a few already! :-)

--Timster--

[donssword]

Here is my list of recommendations for OSX--sorry for the Nintendo weight. I avoid the ones from Richard Bannister because of how he hobbles the code to require a USB driver license. More power to him for figuring out how to monetize EMU porting, but its not my cup of tea.

NES = FakeNES
SNES = Snes9x
GBA + GBC + GB = Visual Boy Advance
Stella = AWESOME

My emulator of choice is a software modded Wii, where I also roll with Sega Genesis, Turbo Graphix 16, Atari 7800, and Stella.

[Jibbajaba]

Welcome to the world of Mac.  I bought my first Mac last year after being a dyed-in-the-wool Windows person, and I love it.  I still use Windows, too, but Mac gets rid of a lot of the headaches (although it has a few of its own.)  I was also wondering about what emulators to use so I appreciate Mirage and donssword posting some suggestions.

Chris

[stephena]

donssword, on Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:33 PM, said:

Here is my list of recommendations for OSX--sorry for the Nintendo weight. I avoid the ones from Richard Bannister because of how he hobbles the code to require a USB driver license. More power to him for figuring out how to monetize EMU porting, but its not my cup of tea.

NES = FakeNES
SNES = Snes9x
GBA + GBC + GB = Visual Boy Advance
Stella = AWESOME

My emulator of choice is a software modded Wii, where I also roll with Sega Genesis, Turbo Graphix 16, Atari 7800, and Stella.

Good to hear that you enjoy Stella on OSX.  Granted, it's currently the only real alternative for OSX, but I hope that's not the only reason people enjoy using it

[SpiceWare]

For MAME I use MAME OS X.  It's a few versions behind, but it plays everything I want it to.

[Wickeycolumbus]

I use:

Stella
Nestopia
Kega Fusion
Mugrat
VisualBoyAdvance
DosBox

[eobet]

We Mac users are blessed with what I would like to say is the absolutely best front end for DOSbox by far, and that is the awesomeness that is Boxer.

If you're not using it yet, you're missing out!

Also, OpenEmu is interesting, but development is not very active.

There's also intel optimized compiled versions of PCSX Reloaded, but I don't have any current links for where to find that. Nothing a quick Google won't fix for those who are interested.

Edited by eobet, Tue May 3, 2011 5:47 PM.

[Mirage]

eobet, on Tue May 3, 2011 5:46 PM, said:

We Mac users are blessed with what I would like to say is the absolutely best front end for DOSbox by far, and that is the awesomeness that is Boxer.

WOW. Boxer is incredible, thank you for pointing that out. Totally slick software, amazing!

[SpiceWare]

Thanks eobet

I'd tried DosBox in the past but wasn't able to get one of my favorites to work.  It does now!  Just need to track down the manual as it's been so long since I played Warlords 2 Deluxe that I don't remember how.


I like how they did the background in the folder holding the dos games.  The 4 games other than Warlords were included with Boxer as an optional install.


I found some patches for W2D via this site that I'm going to install, then bump up the CPU to Pentium class so it'll run faster.

Edited by SpiceWare, Sat May 7, 2011 1:00 PM.

[AussieAtari]

Boxer is awseome, thanks for the tip!

Now to dig out my copy of Discworld and finally get it going again after so many years.

[dudeslife]

Virtual ][ for Apple II emulation. I have communicated with the developer and he said even though he hasn't updated it in a year, he will make sure that it stays compatible with Lion.

[geosteve]

I have used Stella for Mac OSX  for a long time, truly awesome, two thumbs up!!

however, my MAME collection is crippled by MAME OSX now, hardly half of my ROMs work on it (that I played on older WinMAME versions many years ago), I had a different version called MacMAME that was much better but doesn't work in the new OSX LION so I'm stuck with the bad one, updates please!!!  i refuse to install Windows just go get WinMAME on my Mac - not worth it

Edited by geosteve, Sun Sep 4, 2011 4:28 PM.

[goldenegg]

Here are the emulators I use on a regular basis.  

Adamem - Coleco ADAM
Atari800MacX - Atari 8-bit
BSNES - SNES
Boxer - DOSBox Frontend
Boycott Advance - GBA
DOSBox - DOS
Dapplegrey - DOSBOx Frontend
Dolphin - Gamecube/Wii
fMSX - MSX
Fuse - ZX Spectrum
Handy - Lynx
jzintv - Intellivision
Kega Fusion - All Sega systems prior to Saturn
KiGB - Gameboy
MESS - Multi-system Emulator
MagicEngine - TG16/PCE
mameSDL - Arcade
Mugrat - Colecovision
mupen64plus - N64
NeoRaine - Neo Geo CD
Nestopia - NES
PCSX-Reloaded - PlayStation
PCSX - PlayStation
PUAE - Amiga
ParaJVE - Vectrex
SSNES - SNES
ScummVM - Point-and-Click PC Games
Stella - Atari 2600
VICE-COCOA - C64
ViBE - Virtual Boy
Virtual ][ - Apple II
XRoar - Tandy

geosteve, on Sun Sep 4, 2011 4:26 PM, said:

however, my MAME collection is crippled by MAME OSX now, hardly half of my ROMs work on it (that I played on older WinMAME versions many years ago), I had a different version called MacMAME that was much better but doesn't work in the new OSX LION so I'm stuck with the bad one, updates please!!!  i refuse to install Windows just go get WinMAME on my Mac - not worth it

If you have an old MAME ROM set, then you need an old build of MAME to play them.  MAME ROMs are updated on a regular basis.  You must make sure that your romset is for the same version of MAME you're running.  What you need is a newer romset, not a new version of MAME.

Regarding MAME, it's already been mentioned that MAME OS X is quite out of date.  MAMESDL is the best and most updated option for Mac users.

In your case, you could potentially compile MAMESDL from an older version, which corresponds to your romset.  Then you can play your rome without any trouble.

[donssword]

I miss Vectorama. It was around in the OS 7 and 8. It played all the Atari Vector games pretty accurately.

I also miss the old Tempest clone Arashi for OS 7/8. It was a stand-alone Tempest clone with incredible gameplay.