Emulation is one of the biggest topics in gaming right now for all the right and wrong reasons. On the one hand, Nintendo seems determined to squash any form of emulation of its platforms, as evidenced by a lawsuit against developers of popular Switch emulator Yuzu. On the other, Apple's allowance of game emulators on the App Store makes emulation more accessible than ever. We've covered Delta on iOS, which turns your iPhone into a retro game emulator. However, since Apple supports running iOS apps on macOS, Delta will also run on the best Macs with Apple Silicon. I used Delta on a Mac, and it's easily the simplest way to play retro games on a desktop computer — Mac or PC.

How I started playing retro games on Mac

The process takes three simple steps and just a few minutes

Now that iPhones, iPads, and Macs all use the same Apple Silicon system-on-chips, the idea of universal and cross-platform apps is more real than ever. By default, apps that are uploaded to the App Store for iOS will be available on the macOS App Store as well. Developers can opt out of this if they choose, but many iPhone apps can run on macOS. Right now, there is a total of zero emulation apps available on the native Mac App Store. But since Delta is now on the official iOS App Store, any Mac user can download it on their computer and get to gaming in just three very simple steps:

1. Open the App Store on your Mac and search for Delta - Game Emulator.
2. Click the + icon and select a file to import a game for emulation.
3. From the main menu, click the game you want to play.

Overall, Delta works the exact same way on Mac as it does on your iPhone. It's important to note that Delta doesn't include any games for retro emulation — you'll have to provide the ROMs yourself. Extracting your own ROMs from physical media you already own can be an involved and time-consuming process, making the Delta setup process more complicated. However, you don't need to use official games from retro consoles to play old-school games with Delta on your Mac. There are tons of indie, free-to-play games that you can download legally for use with Delta on the Mac. The ones I played on my M3 iMac were Supercooked (a retro-style version of the classic Overcooked game) and Super Crusher Fighters (a new take on the platformer game).

The entire setup process — from downloading Delta, to sourcing free and legal ROMs, to uploading them and getting into the game — takes under two minutes. That's a big deal, considering that retro game emulation on desktop operating systems can be tricky. You can't download emulators directly from the Microsoft Store anymore, making emulators now more difficult to install on Windows than macOS. It's not difficult to emulate retro games on Windows or Linux, by any means. But there's now a platform that's the clear winner for quick and easy emulation, and it's macOS.

What's the gameplay experience like?

Surprisingly great if you have a controller connected to your Mac

Of course, the quick and easy setup process won't matter if the gameplay experience on Mac isn't great. When you first load up Delta on macOS, an iPhone-sized window will open that's comically small. There's no real way to dynamically resize iOS apps that are running on macOS, so Delta will stay that size when in windowed view. Luckily, you can put the app in full-screen mode and avoid this issue completely. There are black bars on most games, but that's due to the odd aspect ratios of older games and not the fault of Delta or macOS.

As for performance, Macs obviously have enough processing power to play games from all the retro game platforms Delta supports:

• Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
• Nintendo 64 (N64)
• Game Boy / Game Boy Color (GBC)
• Game Boy Advance (GBA)
• Nintendo DS (DS)
• Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (GEN) (in beta)

The bigger problem you run into while emulating retro games is controller support, and it is surprisingly good with Delta on macOS. By default, your keyboard, mouse, or trackpad is used as the primary input device. In the Delta settings menu, you can view which keys are mapped to typical controller buttons. Using this method, games are playable, but you'll want to connect a controller for the best experience. Any controller that supports a Bluetooth or wired connection should work — I tried the Xbox Wireless Controller and GameSir Nova and both worked flawlessly.

Delta supports multiple input devices for multiplayer games with up to four players. While this is excellent functionality, it might pose an issue for macOS users that want to use a controller to play games. By default, the keyboard will be set as P1's input device and the controller will be set to P2. In order to play single-player games with a controller, you'll need to adjust this manually in Delta's settings. It's important to keep this in mind, because otherwise it may be frustrating trying to figure out why a controller isn't working with Delta.

Macs are now the easiest way to emulate on desktop

No other emulation software is as easy to use as Delta on macOS

If you're an Android or PC user that has been emulating games for years, you might be wondering why iOS and Mac users finally getting support for emulation is such a big deal. Millions of people use those devices, and even more casual users of tech would consider classic emulation a hassle. With Delta on iOS and Apple's support for iPhone apps on the Mac, there is now a quick and easy way to emulate retro games on a desktop operating system. People who like Windows and Linux for emulation won't switch to macOS anytime soon, but the platform is now clearly the most simple and convenient method for casual users.