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Is there actually a Nintendo 64 emulator that works?

netsrot39

netsrot39

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 7, 2018
360
502
Austria
Hi,
I'd like to play some Nintendo 64 games on my PowerPC Mac (latest iMac G5). I've tried sixtyforce and it loads ROMs but there are weird graphical glitches all over the place. Another emulator I've tried is Retroarch but it doesn't seem to have any Nintendo 64 cores, so games crash upon loading. It is really hard to find any alternatives for those 2 emulators. Has anyone managed to get sixtyforce or Retroarch working on their PowerPC Mac? Alternatively, can anyone suggest another emulator? I hope I'm not unreasonable with my hardware selection. I think the iMac G5 iSight (2,1 GHz G5 processor, 128MB VRAM) should be able to handle Nintendo 64 games when compared to the original specs of the Nintendo 64.

If I can get some N64 games running on my iMac G5 it would really breath some life into the machine and it would make an awesome retro gaming rig. Thanks in advance for any tips you might have.
 
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Yes, albeit it's a older emulator from about 13 years ago, Sixtyforce 0.9.5 b1 (beta 1) has a universal dmg file found here, https://sixtyforce.com/download/, it will probably work better than my Powerbook G4 12', only have 1gb so yeah. audio might no work either. Unfortunately, they didn't make a ton of emulators for the N64 for PowerPc, I will scavenge for you and try to find one, Sixtyforce runs okay I'd say 40 fps but it's what your preference is.
 
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Okay so it turned out that some ROMs do actually work just fine with Sixtyforce but I wouldn't say that compatibility is great. I was expecting it to support more games. I couldn't get to work any Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or Toy Story 2 (which work great with Project64 in conjunction with Wine). Unfortunately there aren't really great Nintendo 64 emulators out there for Mac, let alone PowerPC Mac. At least I can play some games on my G5 for now (performance isn't too bad with Mario Kart 64 for example) The lack of wider compatibility is a pity however.
 
I've played hours on sixtyforce on my old iBook G4 1.2Ghz. Never had a single problem. I want to say I might've used it on my 500Mhz iBook G3 too, but I don't remember.
I only played a couple games on it, but if it ever had incompatibilities I didn't have them.
 
ltpitt said:
I am very sorry to be that guy derailing the thread or providing a non 100% relevant comment but...
I found myself in a similar situation and ended up buying a dirt cheap N64.
RGB modded it and...

Oh, it was worth it.
Click to expand...

Real hardware > emulators, especially in this day and age. There are so many ways to preserve your games and load backups/home brew on older consoles now.

There’s something nice about dedicated hardware anyway, it’s simplicity, it’s ability to take you back in time in a way...
 
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I just loaded up retroarch on my ibookg4. The app loads up ok & will load a game (You can heat it) but I get a black screen. I imagine it’s some weird driver issue. Any ideas on how to fix it?
 
I have instaled NDS4iOS for playing NDS ROMs but I want to know is there an iOS emulator that can support both NDS and N64 ROMs or I need to install another emulator for playing N64 games.
 
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