How to play retro games on a Mac

What you need

• A Mac with macOS 15.2 or later, Apple silicon or Intel
• An emulator: a program that imitates an old console or computer. GameBox has fifty built in
• Games you own, as ROM files or disc images
• For some systems, the BIOS files of the real machine
• Optionally, a game controller

1. Install an emulator

Every old machine needs an emulator of its own. You can hunt down and set up one emulator per system, or use an app that has them built in. GameBox plays fifty systems itself, from the NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy line to the Mega Drive, PlayStation, Neo Geo, Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Apple II, ZX Spectrum and Capcom's arcade boards, and keeps them all in one library with box art and video previews. See every built-in system.

For systems it doesn't play itself, such as the GameCube, Wii and PlayStation 2, GameBox starts the standalone emulator you choose, from the same library. File ▸ Install Emulators fetches several of them. See the 24 emulators it works with.

GameBox is free and needs no account. Open the disk image and drag GameBox to Applications; a short setup wizard asks where your games live.

2. Add your games

Copy game files into each system's folder, or drag them onto the grid in GameBox: they are copied into the right folder and scraped for you. GameBox uses the same folder layout as EmulationStation (ES-DE), one folder per system, so an existing collection works as it is. Create ROM Directories in Settings makes a folder for every system.

Cartridge games usually come as a single file or a .zip or .7z archive; disc games come as .chd, .cue and .bin, or .iso images. GameBox plays them straight from the archive or image, and can fold a ROM set's many dumps of one game into a single entry.

GameBox contains no games and links to none, apart from 26 Vectrex games that their owner allows to be shared for nothing. Emulators are ordinary software; the games they run are protected by copyright, so use games you own.

3. Add BIOS files, if the system needs one

Thirty of the fifty built-in systems need nothing. Twenty use a BIOS from the real machine: the Mega-CD, PC Engine CD, PlayStation, Neo Geo, Atari 5200, Atari 400/800, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Philips CD-i, Commodore PET, VIC-20, 64 and Plus/4, the four Amigas, the Color Computer, the Dragon 32 and the Sharp X68000. GameBox cannot include these files and never downloads them.

Put the ones you have in a single folder and choose it in Settings ▸ BIOS. The tab lists every file GameBox can use, with its checksum and whether it was found. Files are recognised by their contents, wherever they sit in that folder and whatever they are called.

4. Press play

Double-click a game. The picture keeps its proportions in a window or full screen, with black bars rather than a stretched image. Press Esc, or hold Start and Select on a controller for three seconds, to open the game menu: Save Checkpoint, Load Checkpoint, Rewind, Reset and Quit.

• Checkpoints keep the game exactly as it is, with a small picture of the screen, and stay between sessions. F5 keeps one at once.
• Rewind keeps a moment every 15 seconds for the last 15 minutes, shown as pictures to choose from.
• Checkpoints and rewind work on the consoles and computers.

5. Choose how it looks

• Picture scaling: Pixels, Sharp or Smooth, in Settings ▸ Built-in.
• Period-Accurate Display shows a machine's picture the way its own screen did: a television's glass and scanlines, the Game Boy's green LCD, the Vectrex's glowing vectors. It is off until you turn it on, and each system has its own switch.
• Enhanced 3D Graphics draws the Nintendo 64 at four times its resolution and the PlayStation at two, four or eight times, with a choice of texture filters.

6. Set up a controller

Controllers are detected automatically, wireless ones included. In Settings ▸ Controller every button can be moved for each system, with turbo versions of the fire buttons. The keyboard works too.

7. Fetch the artwork (optional)

File ▸ Scrape ROMs fetches box art, 3D boxes, marquees, screenshots, video previews, game manuals and full metadata from ScreenScraper. A free ScreenScraper account raises your daily limit.

Which systems can you play on a Mac?

Fifty play inside GameBox, with nothing else to install:

• Nintendo: NES / Famicom, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game & Watch
• Sega: SG-1000, Master System, Mega Drive / Genesis, Game Gear, Mega-CD
• NEC: PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, SuperGrafx, PC Engine CD
• Sony and SNK: PlayStation, Neo Geo, Neo Geo Pocket / Color
• Atari and Bandai: Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, 400/800, WonderSwan / Color
• Other consoles: Intellivision, ColecoVision, Vectrex, Philips CD-i
• Commodore: PET, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Plus/4, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, Amiga CD32, CDTV
• Other computers: Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and GX4000, MSX, TRS-80 Color Computer, Dragon 32, Sharp X68000
• Arcade and engines: Capcom CPS-1, CPS-2 and CPS-3, laserdisc games, OpenBOR, PICO-8, Infocom text adventures

Apple silicon or Intel?

Both. GameBox is a universal app, and its Apple silicon version is native, with no Rosetta. Read about GameBox on Apple silicon.

Questions

Do I need to install anything besides GameBox?

Not for the fifty built-in systems. For the others, GameBox starts a standalone emulator for you: File ▸ Install Emulators fetches several of them, and any other goes in your Applications folder.

Is it legal to use an emulator?

Emulators are ordinary software. The games they run are protected by copyright, so use games you own and have the right to use. GameBox contains no games and links to none, apart from 26 Vectrex games that their owner allows to be shared for nothing. This is general information, not legal advice.

Where do I get BIOS files?

From the real machine you own. GameBox cannot include them and never downloads them. Thirty of the fifty built-in systems need none.

Does it cost anything?

No. GameBox is free, with no account, no ads and no paid tier.

Which Mac do I need?

Any Mac that runs macOS 15.2 or later, with Apple silicon or an Intel processor. More about Apple silicon and Intel.

Updated 19 October 2026 for GameBox 1.75.