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Technology
Craig Grannell

How to get classic 1980s and 1990s macOS games running on an M1 or M2 Mac

System Shock being played in Sheepshaver

In its ongoing rush to the future, Apple’s all too eager to ditch the past. That’s a problem with games. On Windows, you can launch ancient fare with some hope it will still work. But even quite recent Mac OS X titles won’t run if they’re 32-bit – and support for anything older than that ended long ago.

While Intel OS X games are – currently – not something you can resurrect on a modern Mac, it's possible for old favorites from the Mac’s 68k and PowerPC days to run on your Apple silicon Mac. I had a crack at getting six classics running. To follow along at home, you’ll need:

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