With RetroArch with Apple TV, you can play classic PC games from the comfort of your couch. Here’s how to get retro gaming on Apple’s streaming box.
Retro gaming in the Apple ecosystem saw a resurgence in 2024 as Apple updated its App Store review guidelines to allow emulators into the App Store. This change led to a gold rush of emulators hitting the digital storefront, providing ways to play classic titles on your iPhone or iPad.
The change also made it possible to do the same on Apple TV. The set-top box in the living room seems like the perfect set for playing retro games, connected to the big TV and in the most comfortable armchairs in the house.
This sounds ideal, but while the Apple TV has its problems, it can be done using emulators like RetroArch.
Warning
Emulators are used to play old games and emulation is legal. What becomes unclear is the required BIOS and ROM files for the games.
Emulators use ROMs, the original files containing the actual game, which are often downloaded from various unofficial sources online. That is, without the permission of the rightful owner.
It is considered legal if the person doing the emulation has the original hardware and dumps their own BIOS and game data. In many cases, listed BIOSes and ROMs are obtained and used without meaning to.
AppleInsider strongly recommends that prospective players consult local laws to determine their specific legal requirements. While this article discusses the emulator element of the equation, we won’t get into ROM or BIOS extraction at all, nor will we allow links on our forums.
RetroArch
RetroArch is one of the most popular emulators on the App Store and we have previously discussed how it works on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. However, it also works on Apple TV.
It is a free and open source emulator that supports ROMs for a large number of classic devices. This includes consoles like the Sega Genesis and Nintendo Entertainment System, disc platforms like the original Sony Playstation, to handheld items like the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
It also has some useful features as a platform, including support for MFi drivers, netplay, AI translations, keymapping, shaders, and custom overlays and cheats.
It is also a cross-platform emulator. With the right settings, game states can be synced between all your Apple devices, so you can save a game on your iPhone and retrieve it on your iPad, for example.
As far as emulators go, it is one that is robust and has a considerable range, making it one of the best options for Apple users.
Apple TV and persistent storage
While you can use the Apple TV to play your retro games, it will take some effort to get going. More than if you were playing on an iPhone or iPad because Apple TV works.
The problem isn’t installing ROMs into RetroArch, it’s leaving them there.
Periodically, especially if a large amount of storage is consumed or if there are many files, tvOS analyzes the installed files and removes those it considers no longer needed. This can include ROM files that you load onto your Apple TV as well as save files.
Use iCloud to solve persistent Apple TV storage issue.
Deleting games seemingly at random is a problem, but only on the Apple TV. If you use RetroArch on any other platform, this problem does not exist.
With that in mind, it’s worth considering simply repurposing an old Mac for the same job. Even an Intel-based Mac mini is more than enough to handle game emulation duties and won’t take up much more space than an Apple TV.
That’s before you consider that the Apple TV 4K has a maximum of 128GB of storage, which isn’t a lot to work with. Another plus for a full-fledged Mac.
Note that there are workarounds for the Apple TV that will fix the persistence issue, but you don’t have to go that route to begin with.
Install the driver
If you’re playing a retro game, you’ll want to do it with an actual gamepad.
You can go the route of using an Xbox or PlayStation game controller with your Apple TV, or you can choose one of the many Made For iPhone Bluetooth controllers on the market.
The process of connecting them to Apple TV is basically the same.
First, set the controller to pairing mode. This will vary from device to device, so consult the manual.
Then press and hold the TV logo on the Apple TV remote to open Control Center, then select the game controller icon, then the game controller in the list.
RetroArch settings
Using tvOS, open the App Store and search for RetroArch. This is a large download as it will contain the various cores needed to render the games.
When you open the app for the first time, you will see a pop-up welcome window telling you the URLs you can enter into the browser to manage your RetroArch Apple TV installation. Make a note of them and then open the browser in any location on your Mac.
This will bring up a view of the RetroArch Apple TV folder where you can upload files to the Apple TV itself.
While it’s tempting to set up a ROM folder, it’s not advisable due to the lingering storage issue mentioned above.
RetroArch has a cloud component as it can be set up to sync with the user’s iCloud storage. This would save some files, but under RetroArch this only applies to configuration and save files, not the actual ROM files.
One solution is to place the ROMs in the configuration folder. They will still be readable and playable, but they will also be able to use the cloud function.
As a neat byproduct, if you have RetroArch on other platforms that also sync with iCloud, those embedded ROMs will also sync with that hardware.
In the web interface, open the Config folder, click Create Folder and name it “ROM” or “ROM” or add an underscore to make it appear at the beginning of the folder list.
Open this new folder and create a new folder for the ROM platform you want to add. For example, if you plan to play a Sega Genesis game, create a “genesis” folder and open it.
At this point, you can drag the ROM folder or selected ROM files to this folder in the browser and transfer them over the network to the Apple TV.
Again, be aware of the types of ROMs you plan to play. Some disc game ROMs can be quite large and quickly take up space on the limited Apple TV drive.
While you are in the Config folder, you should create a second folder inside it called BIOS. Some consoles require BIOS files to function properly and you should place them here.
RetroArch settings
With the files in place, the next step is to configure RetroArch itself on the Apple TV. Open the app and dismiss the initial welcome notification.
The main interface is usable but not polished, so you might want to replace it with something else. Select Settings and then Drivers from the menu.
You should change the Menu drive to xmb which mimics Sony’s XrossMediaBar. Quit and restart the app using the Apple TV remote by double-clicking the Home button, then swiping up on the app in the tvOS app view.
When you return, select Online Updater in the first column, then Update Controller Profiles. This will ensure that the selected driver is properly supported.
Go to the second column of Settings, then go to Inputs, then Keyboard Shortcuts. Here you can configure specific key combinations that you can press on the controller to toggle various functions such as restarting the game, pausing, and rewinding.
Under Storage in Settings, scroll down and select Cloud Sync. Enable Cloud Sync, then select iCloud under Backend Cloud Sync.
Finally, in Settings, go to Directory, where we tell RetroArch which folders do what. Since we saved the ROM in a different folder than usual, we need to set it up.
For Start Directory, select the option to enter the RetroArch folder, then go to Config, then the ROM folder, then select Use This Directory. Do the same for System/BIOS and navigate to the BIOS folder you set up.
After you finish configuring the application, go back to the first column and select Configuration File, then Save Current Configuration.
You should see a message in the lower left corner that the cloud sync is in progress. This is an Apple TV that stores your new game saves and configuration files, as well as built-in ROM and BIOS folders, on iCloud.
We are now at the point where we can create playlists for games, namely telling RetroArch which cores to use with each system folder created in the ROM folder. You can do this automatically, but we will do it manually for each platform.
In the first column, select Import Content and then Manual Scan. Under Content Directory, select the system folder in the ROM and then select Scan This Directory.
On the next page, use System Name and select the platform these ROMs run on. This will tell RetroArch that all ROMs in this folder are for a specific console.
Under Default Kernel, select the platform and emulator kernel. Then scroll down and select Start Scan.
Once the scan is complete, you will see the platforms with their ROMs listed as playable games. If you want better icons for each, you can use the first column of the main menu and select Online Updater, then select Playlist Thumbnails Updater.
Select a playlist and the thumbnails will update.
With everything set up, you can now select a playlist, select a game from the playlist, and select Run.
Let’s go further
This guide covers the basics of how to get started with RetroArch on Apple TV, including mitigating persistent storage issues. However, you can always go further.
There are many options available regarding how the games are displayed on the screen.
This involves activating shaders that create visual effects that turn your new flat LCD TV into something approaching an old fashioned CRT TV. You can also fast-forward and rewind games, log in to RetroArch achievements, and switch the core used for emulation.
If you’re looking for perfection in your retro gaming adventures, there are many elements you can explore and tweak to fine tune everything.