I’ve been using an M1 Mac mini for the last several months, and while it’s early days for Apple Silicon, it’s already impressive how much it can handle across the Mac line.
When it comes to games, there’s already a massive library available, mainly thanks to games on iPhone and iPad now able to be played on these devices. However, if someone wants to try and access their Steam library, they’re out of luck.
Well, almost. With Parallels releasing a new version of the virtualization software Parallels Desktop 17, it opened up the opportunity to use Windows 10 ARM on the M1 Macs, and in turn, Valve’s Steam client.
I wanted to see if I could play Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes without using my gaming PC, and if it did, how well the M1 chip from Apple could run it and other games through Parallels. This began my quest.
A Foxhound
Ever since I played the very first Metal Gear Solid on its own demo disc back in 1998, I’ve been a follower of the series ever since. When a fifth entry was finally confirmed in 2014, I waited incessantly for a demo once more.
I had found that playing Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes on PC was the best way of experiencing Big Boss’ adventure set in the early 80s, so I wanted to see if my test of using Steam to download the game could work on the M1 Mac mini.
After installing the beta version of Windows 10 for ARM devices through Parallels Desktop, I installed the game through Steam, just as any other PC running an Intel or AMD CPU would, and once I clicked on ‘Play’, there Snake was.
Granted, the game runs in a 1440x900 resolution and every graphical setting is on low, but it’s playable at roughly 45 FPS, and it’s not through a cloud service, just virtualization. It was a fantastic moment, as this was now running on a Mac, as if it was a native app on its own.
I rescued Kaz and eventually Hideo Kojima himself, with the M1 chip treating the game as if it was nothing it couldn’t handle. After this playthrough, I wanted to discover if other games would run as well as Ground Zeroes did.
A Sonic Adventure on M1
One by one I downloaded the games in my library and left it overnight, wondering whether I would be fighting against Nemesis in Resident Evil 3, or choosing my favored team in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
I chose the following to see whether they would run as well as Ground Zeroes did
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Generations
Streets of Rage
Sekiro
DOOM
Grand Theft Auto IV
Quake
Half Life: Source
Half Life 2: Deathmatch
Tomb Raider II (1997)
Golf it!
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Tekken 7
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy