Retro Gaming Hacks

Run Arcade Games on a Mac

Play classic arcade games using MacMAME.

Yeah, you’ve heard it all before. “But Jimmy, you can’t play videogames on your computer. You have a Mac.” You can hear the venom in their voice as they say it like you’ve caught some foreign disease. However, this blanket statement and your friends are dead wrong. While general support from major companies might be lacking, there are many classic arcade games and homebrews available to you. If you have a Mac, and the ability to read past this sentence, you’re well on your way to learning how to use your computer to play classic arcade games.

Before you even think about firing up your engines and diving headfirst into the world of MAME, ROMs, and reliving those days you spent in the pizzeria plunking fistfuls of quarters into the Pac-Man machine, you need to do a couple of things. First off, you’re going to need to get an emulator. This is the program that allows you to play MAME ROMs. For Macs, the best and one of the only options is MacMAME, available for download from their web site at http://www.macmame.org/. From the main page just click on downloads, and then check to see you’re downloading the most recent version. Also, if you want to get started right as you’re reading this, it’s good to make sure you have a fast connection and some time, as MacMAME is 10 MB and up, depending on which version you want.

Also, MacMAME isn’t updated too frequently, since support for over two thousand games is firmly in place. ...