Can I play old games on my new MacBook Pro?

[dangyal]

I'd like to play some old games, namely the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series (2, 3 and 4).
These games were made for PowerPC based Macs, therefore the newest macOS does not support them.

I read that I can purchase OSX Snow Leopard and I can install it to a VirtualBox/VMWware/Parallels virtual machine. Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) supports PowerPC apps.

My questions is: Can I run 3D games on a virtual machine?
I am interested only in (3D) games, no other app is important.
I'm afraid the virtual machine will have some VGA driver problem and will not be able to support games.
Does anyone have any experience with games and virtual machines?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

You can yes, but it is possible as you mention that there will be significant issues since the games and OS are so old. It may vary greatly from game to game, so the only solution really is to just give it a go and see.

 

[JohnDS]

Here is a possibility: "SheepShaver": http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver
[doublepost=1485528021][/doublepost]Alternatively, you could buy a used PPC Mac for a couple of hundred dollars:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Apple-PowerPC-G4-Desktops/111418/bn_649845/i.html

 

[dangyal]

Here is a possibility: "SheepShaver": http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver
[doublepost=1485528021][/doublepost]Alternatively, you could buy a used PPC Mac for a couple of hundred dollars:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Apple-PowerPC-G4-Desktops/111418/bn_649845/i.html

"Some of SheepShaver's features: Runs MacOS 7.5.2 thru 9.0.4. MacOS X as a guest is not supported."

Unfortunately, it won't be enogh for THPS4.

I don't want to buy an old hardware, I'd like to play these games on my notebook.

As a possible alternative solution... There are apps for macOS that support Windows games, e.g., CrossOver; and since the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series is also available for Windows, maybe it's easier to run the Windows versions of these games, instead of their PowerPC Mac versions.

Does anyone have any experience with emulators like CrossOver? Which one is the best available?