Retrogaming on a Mac

 I’m a gamer.  I’m into video games since the 80s & the path I’ve walked is littered with the remnants of game consoles-- Game & Watch, Game Boy, Game Boy Color (playing games like Tetris, Pokemon, Zelda, Super Mario Bros., etc.), the 80s one-peso arcade machines (Galaxian and Pacman), the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)— better known in these parts as Chinese Family Computer knockoffs.  I even experimented with the Commodore 64 to make my own games.

Then I bought my first PlayStation One, playing arcade games until I discovered Metal Gear Solid (and later Silent Hill). I jumped back into PC gaming for a while then I moved on to the PlayStation 2—which, honestly, I bought specifically to play the sequels— and at least one prequel, of the Metal Gear saga (— just like when I bought a Switch specifically to play Zelda, but that’s another story). 

At the office, I used my computer— an XT with a green monitor, to play virus laden “cracked” DOS games (bought for P50.00 at the Makati Cinema Square) on floppy disks.  I also experimented with different word processors and mini DOS programs and PC viruses. It wasn’t long before the 286s (with black & white monitors) came along, then 386s and 486s with colored monitors. It was at this time that I saved up enough to get my own PC to play Red Alert, StarCraft, Commando and other RPGs (and strategy games), which, by the way, is my preferred type of gaming.  The thing with PC gaming though is that your machine becomes obsolete each time a new game comes out. You’ll need more RAM, faster CPUs, faster video cards, GPUs, higher definition and bigger screens to keep up to par with the latest games— it was an endless catch up to a technology that keeps evolving. It’s a rabbit hole if not an economically viable endeavor to say the least.  Thus, I limited my gaming to consoles. For my personal computing needs, I switched to a Mac— which obviously is NOT a gaming machine.

While I’ve now limited my gaming on the PlayStation 4 (and the Switch— and  the RG350, a cheap Chinese emulator game console that is unbelievably capable of emulating the PSOne, NES, GameBoy, etc.) it would be a blast to once again play the original Metal Gear Solid (and perhaps even Silent Hill) in the exact same way I originally played it in the PlayStation One.  I’ve given up on that (as I’ve also given up playing StarCraft once again since I do not see myself switching back to PC anytime soon).

Until I discovered OpenEmu— an open-source multi-game front-end interface designed for the Mac OS X that is capable of emulating various consoles’ hardware.

Installing OpenEmu is as simple as installing any other Mac application. Installing games on the OpenEmu is even easier— simply drag and drop the game files on the OpenEmu window and the game will be magically placed into their correct system heading. Configuring the input device of your choice— I’m using a PlayStation 4 DualShock controller, is likewise a cinch. The gameplay? Smooth as silk. 

N.B. I should mention that I also have Retro Pie running— initially as an experimental project, on a Raspberry Pi 3 (with the official Raspberry Pi 7-inch touchscreen Display) with the same games I have on the OpenEmu.

I love gaming. And yes, even on a Mac— maybe especially so.