Your Apple TV Is Now a Retro Games Console
Apple removed its restrictions on emulator apps for iPhone, iPad, and perhaps best of all, the Apple TV. If you have an Apple TV and virtually any Bluetooth controller, you've just suddenly come into possession of an amazing retro game emulator system already hooked up to your TV.
Apps Are Still Scarce
It seems that emulator app developers were caught a little off guard, because even weeks after these restrictions were removed there hasn't been a flood of apps for Apple's device ecosystem. For example, Delta is only available for the iPhone, with an iPad version promised with the next major release. Likewise, I've been using Provenance on my iPad to play PlayStation 1 games. It's all very exciting!
RIght now, however, your only real option on Apple TV is RetroArch, which is now available on Apple TV. So that's what I'll be covering here, and the first thing you should do is install the RetroArch Apple TV app.
A Word on Controllers
Believe it or not, you can use your Apple TV's remote to play games on RetroArch. It's not something I would recommend, but if you really just want to try it out and you don't have a controller, you don't strictly need one. That said, Apple's devices support just about every Bluetooth controller you can think of, and they are easy to connect as well.
Xbox and PlayStation controllers are the most popular choices, and you can check out our guides for connecting Xbox or PlayStation controllers to an ATV for detailed steps. However, the generic process for all Bluetooth controllers is:
- Put the controller in pairing mode. Refer to its documentation if you don't know how.
- On your Apple TV go to Settings>Remotes and Devices>Other Devices>Bluetooth.
- Look for the controller to appear in the list of Bluetooth devices and then select it to pair.
Once you've done this, you can control the Apple TV itself with the controller as well, so you can set its own remote aside.
Getting ROMs on RetroArch
On an iPhone or iPad, it's dead
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