TechGamingApple TV just became one of the most powerful retro games consoles on the planetRetroArch for tvOS can turn your Apple TV into a time machineWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

TechGamingApple TV just became one of the most powerful retro games consoles on the planetRetroArch for tvOS can turn your Apple TV into a time machineWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

RetroArch for tvOS can turn your Apple TV into a time machine

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple TV 4K

(Image credit: Apple)

Quick SummaryApple TV gets one of the more comprehensive retro games emulators around.RetroArch can emulated over 70 machines, including home computers of the 80s, consoles and coin-ops.

Apple TV gets one of the more comprehensive retro games emulators around.RetroArch can emulated over 70 machines, including home computers of the 80s, consoles and coin-ops.

Apple TV gets one of the more comprehensive retro games emulators around.RetroArch can emulated over 70 machines, including home computers of the 80s, consoles and coin-ops.

Apple TV gets one of the more comprehensive retro games emulators around.

RetroArch can emulated over 70 machines, including home computers of the 80s, consoles and coin-ops.

WithApplelifting its ban on games console emulation, it was only a matter of time before the big hitters arrived. We’ve seen smaller emulators appear oniPhone, such as Delta, Gamma and PPSSPP, which each focus on specific brands or machines, but now we have RetroArch – the software that drives many a Raspberry Pi project and more.

What’s more, as well as hit theiOS App Store, RetroArch is available on tvOS, potentially turning yourApple TVinto one of the most powerful retro games consoles around.

That’s because the popular emulation app isn’t just a portal to play Nintendo, Sega orPlayStationgames, it combines emulators for more than 70 consoles and computers of yesteryear, plus arcade machines from different decades.

That includes the likes of the SNES, Mega Drive and PlayStation 1, but also the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. Even more obscure consoles are covered, such as the Mattel Intellivision and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy.

You don’t get any games, of course, so you have to provide your own ROMs, but I run RetroArch on a Raspberry Pi 4 (inside a Picade build-it-yourself arcade cabinet), and it works well with most titles.

There are some glitches and caveats, plus the legal ramifications of where you source your ROM files from, but when it’s up and running, you get transported straight back to the heyday of gaming in the 80s and 90s,

Getting your (legally-sourced) games onto RetroArch is simple as the tvOS version has a built-in webserver. You can therefore just open the utility on your Apple TV, then go to the listed URL using a web browser on the PC that stores your ROMs. Then transfer them over.

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You can find out more aboutRetroArch for tvOS (and iOS) on a dedicated webpage. It includes instructions on how to get it up and running.

Just add a Bluetooth-enabled compatible controller and away you go.

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