I Turned My Apple TV Into a Sega Genesis [RetroArch Explained]

The retro game emulator app RetroArch brings a cool new twist to Apple TV, but there’s a catch with tvOS that holds it back. CNET’s Bridget Carey shows how to use RetroArch and get Sega Genesis games to run on Apple TV.

00:00 How RetroArch Turned My Apple TV Into a Sega Genesis
01:18 RetroArch on AppleTV Is Easier Than It Seems
02:02 How to Find Legal ROMs for RetroArch
03:20 Pair a Nintendo Switch Controller with AppleTV
04:01 Apple’s tvOS App Storage is Very Limited
05:46 Thoughts on Apple TV with HomePod Speakers
07:15 tvOS Updates Might Come at WWDC

#apple #sega #applenews #appletv4k #segagenesis

[thecunninlynguist]

cnet doing retroarch vids. Never thought I'd see the day they promote emulation, haha. Gotta love that section of finding legal roms, hehe.

[BlackArroToons]

Genesis Golden Axe, Streets of Rage 1, 2 and 3, Sonic, etc. Great classic games that are still fun all these years later.

[applea.m.h.]

AirPlay emulator from iPhone and you can get all the save files you want. I didn’t notice any latency issues and you can connect multiple controllers as well.

[nathanmerritt]

I always knew she was a Sega fan. That is just a sign of great tastes lol

[gdot]

More Apple normies discovering Emulation = bigger Emulation community to fight back against Nintendo's anti Emulation BS.

[ninjanerdstudent]

There should be a way to transfer the save files back to a computer over the network, and transfer it back before game time.

[bmannepalli]

Great video! Thanks for posting it. Apple actually tried to get Netflix to integrate with its TV app/universal search functionality so that when you search for a show or a movie, it will show you all the apps where you can watch that show or movie, including Netflix. But Netflix has steadfastly refused to do so. So this is on Netflix, not Apple. It’s not for a lack of Apple trying.

[pipp]

I believe Netflix not being integrated with Up Next and Search on Apple TV is Netflix's choice. It's the only streaming service I use that doesn't integrate so it ends up being backburnered for me a lot. I tried moving the app to the dock so most recently watched items would show up if I go to the app screen and highlight it but it still ends up a little out of sight, out of mind when all of the other stuff I'm watching automatically pops new episodes etc up in the Up Next section.

[ross-carlson]

@4:02 - Bridget I know you're new to RetroArch and I haven't used it on AppleTV _but_ standard RetroArch lets you "Save State" of a game, so you can reset to that point if you die, very much like a "save" button except you pick the exact moment you want to save to restart from. It's great if you're having trouble with a tricky point, etc.

Your daughter (who is very cute) will love it!!!

EDIT: Looks like save states can't be transfered just yet but I'm guessing that'll get fixed soon so be on the look out for "save states".

[MrSamPhoenix]

I have the 2nd-Gen Apple TV 4K. It’s now also a PS1 & Sega Saturn 🪐. This thing has an A12 processor that easily makes quick work of emulation code.

[TheCloveart]

With Delta, you can mirror your iPhone to your TV and connect a controller to the iPhone. That is a way to get around the Apple TV storage issues.

But the Delta app only uses roms from Nintendo up to N64.

[Alex_Power]

Good explanation of the issue with persistent storage

[NeroVingian]

For people just getting into Retroarch, it really is just like how she said it; it looks intimidating, but once you understand where things goes and how things flow, it will all make sense. Most settings wouldn’t even need to tinkered with, they should all work by default (only a few settings needs to be changed, depending on your device). Retroarch is like an Android device; you think you need to change every settings in order for things to even work because the app lets you do that, but in reality, you don’t have to, things works fine by default.

Watch a starter/beginner guide for Retroarch on YouTube and you’ll be set.

[vlg]

So much potential in the Apple TV and tvOS, I agree, just allow the apps to use the storage!

[johnbod]

Great video. Just a note to the editor, it seems that you messed up somewhere around the 3:30 mark in including the “you can’t use an Apple Remote” explanation after already saying it and explaining how to setup the controller. Doesn’t make sense being there.

[destructodisk]

If you can store your ROMs on your computer and load them into RetroArch via a server the emulator created.. you can do the same thing with save files. C'mon Delta get this going.

[richv]

An external hard drive if Apple TV can take advantage of one for all game files.

[joeyg]

Haha, you’re not the only one enjoying Oregon Trail. There is even a board game version of it that’s pretty fun!

[JimPryde]

Now that I'm finished with grad school, I'm looking to start playing with retro gaming on my Apple TV. I had a Raspberry Pi for this function, but it suffered hardware failure. I appreciate the review and the heads-up about saving file data in TV OS. I'll end by saying that I absolutely love my Apple TV, save for 1 thing: Its remote needs to die a fiery death. Disconnects, odd issues with games, and horrid sensitivity issues with the integrated touchpad.

[laurencet]

With arcade… I think apple are onto a good thing with many devs on board, many games - a lot of originals and exclusives among them - are on this platform with more coming all the time, also there are “ad free” versions of many “freemium” games to consider too.

Another issue aside from the tvOS software mentioned is that even on their phones as well as on their TV boxes, extended playtimes on certain games tend to overheat the device, causing a thermal throttle and slowing the game down/stutter frame rates etc (wreckfest seems to be apple’s Crysis based on the online scribblings I have found so far ). if apple were serious about making games from their arcade service play well, they need to sell hardware to reflect this. The latest tv boxes don’t come with any sort of cooling on their (at time of writing, Bionic range of) CPU’s. I would LOVE to see an actively cooled M-chip in an Apple TV box/device. The potential for gaming -retro to emulation to more modern titles- would be incredible!!