Introduction

As with most platforms, Mac OS X has a wide variety of emulators written for it covering most mainstream game consoles. Since emulator development is primarily focused on Windows and Linux, the majority of emulators available on MacOS X are ports of existing projects from those platforms.

The difference between using a native emulator, that is one originally built on Mac OS X, versus using one ported from another platform to Mac OS X is minimal. Apple’s transition to Intel processors and Mac OS X’s Unix underpinnings provide a set of components that are common between both the Mac and PC, allowing emulator authors to easily move their (or others) projects over to Mac OS X and have them perform as well as they would on their original platform. In addition to this, the user interface typically can’t be ported so a new UI is written when an emulator is brought to the Mac. This ensures the emulator has a look and feel that is consistent with the existing Mac OS X applications you use.

One of the things that separates Mac OS X from Windows is the number of major architecture changes Apple has undergone within the last decade. While Microsoft has retained essentially the same hardware and software architecture, Apple has made several major changes to both their hardware and software over the years, which we’ll explain in the next section.

Understanding What Your Mac Will Run

Unlike their PC counterparts, Macs have used two different processor architectures over the last decade. The older of the two architectures is the PowerPC architecture, this includes the G3, G4 and G5 processors. Apple produced PowerPC-based computers up to 2006. That same year, Apple begun a transition to the Intel x86 architecture, the same architecture used by PCs. Apple’s Intel Macs started with the original Core Duo and Core Solo processors. With the death of the PowerPC, all future Macs were produced using Intel processors.

For the purpose of emulation, most emulators will be unable to run on any processor lower than a 600Mhz G4. At the time of writing this article, late generation G4s and G5 processors are still supported to some degree and provide enough performance to run most basic emulators. With the transition to the Intel platform, Intel Macs have become the standard and will generally offer the highest level of performance. More complex or CPU-intensive emulators will not run on anything lower than an Intel Mac and eventually all PowerPC support will be dropped.

When visiting our Mac section, you will notice that the architecture is noted for each release. Here’s what those labels mean in terms of compatibility and performance:

• PowerPC – PowerPC releases are emulators compiled exclusively for the PowerPC platform. These releases will run best on their original hardware – likely a G4 or G5 processor. While they aren’t coded for an Intel Mac, they are still capable of running on one using Apple’s built-in PowerPC emulator called Rosetta. Rosetta will run any PowerPC emulator automatically and transparently, but it will perform significantly slower on an Intel Mac.
  
  
• Universal – Releases marked as Universal are called Universal Binaries. These releases include both a PowerPC and Intel version. Universal releases will perform well on both PowerPC and Intel based computers. With Universal releases, both versions will appear as a single application and your computer will automatically run the correct version.
  
  
• Intel Only – Intel-Only releases as the name would imply are only built for Intel Macs. There is no way to run an Intel-Only release on a PowerPC Mac.

With processors out of the way we can move on to the next requirement – the Operating System. Most emulators will state specifically what is the lowest version of Mac OS X they are capable of running on. In general, an emulator will run properly on it’s minimum OS and any higher versions. An emulator may attempt to launch on an older version of OS X than it supports, but it will likely be unstable on that OS. The minimum OS may be stated as either the OS’ code name such as “Tiger”, or the OS’ version number such as “10.4”. In that example, both the code name and version number are interchangeable- they are the same OS. Here’s a quick list of each version of OS X and their respective code name:

• 10.0 – Cheetah (PowerPC)
• 10.4 – Puma (PowerPC)
• 10.2 – Jaguar (PowerPC)
• 10.3 – Panther (PowerPC)
• 10.4 – Tiger (PowerPC and Intel)
• 10.5 – Leopard (PowerPC and Intel)
• 10.6 – Snow Leopard (Intel Only)

In some cases, you may see a version number that includes a third set of numbers like 10.4.11. This third set refers to the highest OS update that has been installed. Some of these updates bring drastic changes to the Operating System and as such, some software many require a specific update. These updates are provided free of charge by Apple and can be installed by running Software Update.

A useful tool for determining your Mac’s general specifications and Operating System is the “About this Mac” dialogue. You can find it by clicking on your Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen and choosing “About this Mac”.

From this dialogue, you can see the processor, processor speed, amount of memory installed (RAM) and the version of OS X you are running.

Now, to recap, your computer must meet or exceed the following requirements to run an emulator:

• The correct architecture – PowerPC or Intel
• The minimum processor and speed.
• The minimum version of OS X.
• The minimum amount of memory (RAM).

In addition to these basic requirements, some emulators may also have additional requirements such as a minimum supported graphics card, additional required software or a system ROM image. An emulator’s specific requirements can be found within it’s documentation.

Installing and Running an Emulator

The process of installing an emulator on the Mac is as simple as installing any other application. Most emulators are distributed in Disk Image files (DMGs).  A simple double-click will mount the DMG file and from there the emulator can be dragged into the Applications folder, or any other location. Some emulators also include a built-in directory structure for placement of system ROMs, plugins and other components. In this case, the emulator and all of it’s directories should be kept together in a higher folder. As always, for specific information running a particular emulator it is best to consult the emulator’s documentation.

Richard Bannister's Emulator Enhancer

The emulator enhancer is a separate add-on designed to work with emulators developed by Richard Bannister. It is common framework that provides his emulators with USB gamepad support, a full screen mode, graphical filters and many more features. The Emulator Enhancer is released as shareware with an unlimited trial. The Emulator Enhancer can be registered on Richard Bannister’s site for $30 USD.

Getting Help

If you have any questions or you’re running into issues, feel free to drop by our forum and we’ll be happy to assist!