Mac Emulation - NES, SNES in particular

[Nintendork]

I searched for this topic but did not come up with anything so I figured I'd post this here.

I was curious as to what some of the best emulators are that are available for the Mac. I have a MacBook Pro that I bought brand new over the summer and would like to explore the possibility of a reliable NES and or SNES emulator.

I would prefer to find one with USB controller support as well.

Any suggestions for either system? somewhere down the line I can see myself being interested in some other systems as well (Atari 2600, Sega Master System or Genesis in particular)

And just for full disclosure, I would only be interested in playing some games I own, but I do not have each system hooked up in the apartment. I figure this would be an easy solution since I can hook it up to the tv!

[Lady Jaye]

The best site for Mac-compatible emulators would be http://emulation.macscene.net/

Macscene took over the old emulation.net website and improved it with the addition of a wiki. They have a good indication of which emulator is better and which one has more issues. However, usually, Richard Bannister's emulators are pretty reliable (at least they were on the PowerPC side).

Anyway, many emulators support USB controllers, although you might have to get and install USB Overdrive (free Universal driver for USB peripherals that allows for customization).

[norkusa]

Macscene is a good site for this. Has download links for just about every emu available for OSX and is updated regularly too:

http://emulation.macscene.net/

My favorite Mac emulators are Zsnes and Kega Fusion (does Genesis, 32X, SegaCD, Game Gear & Master System). Sixtyforce is a great N64 emulator too and I can even use my USB adapter with it so I can play with a real N64 controller.

Don't think I've ever played an emulator on my Mac without USB support. The Richard Bannister emulators may be non-USB but you can get the USB feature when you install his Emulator Enhancer app.

[awbacon]

There is an awesome plug-in for Mac that allows you to use ps2/3 USB controllers on your emulator. Makes playing super easy

Just checked...it's called Gamepad Companion

[kedawa]

Please don't support Richard Banister. He just ports outdated emulators that are free on other platforms and charges money to make them work properly.

[norkusa]

Please don't support Richard Banister. He just ports outdated emulators that are free on other platforms and charges money to make them work properly.

It's pretty easy to make them work properly for free if you know where to look. The only emulator of his I use is the TG16 one but that's because the only other TG16 emu for OSX (MagicEngine) costs $20 and impossible to find elsewhere.