I’ve been playing Super Mario World on my Apple TV, and I absolutely love it. I’m able to do this by loading an emulator called Provenance on my Apple TV. You won’t find Provenance in the App Store, but Apple has given us the ability to sideload apps ourselves, and Provenance is one such app that can be sideloaded.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to sideload Provenance, and how to start playing old Nintendo and Sega Classics on your Apple TV, including the NES, SNES, GBA, Genesis, Game Gear, and more. If you like classic games, then you simply don’t want to miss this.

How to play classic games on your Apple TV

First and foremost, watch the video above to get a grasp for how this is done.

Step 1: Connect your Apple TV to your computer via a USB Type-C cable

Step 2: Connect your Apple TV to power

Step 3: Go to Provenance’s GitHub page and copy the clone URL

Step 4: Launch Xcode → Source Control → Check Out and paste the clone URL in the Repository box and click Next

Step 5: Select the Master branch and click Next

Step 6: Click Download

Step 7: Select Provenance

Step 8: In the drop-down box select ProvenanceTV-release and select your connected Apple TV

Step 9: Once file processing is completed, click the Play button to build the app

Step 10: You may be asked to select a development login for provisioning. You can use a free Apple Developer account in order to do this.

Step 11: Once the app is built, you will see a message that says Running Provenance on Apple TV. Disconnect your Apple TV from your Mac, and connect it back to your television.

Step 12: Launch the Provenance app, and click Import Roms

Step 13: Browse to the IP address given to access the Provenance web interface on your computer. From there, you can upload Nintendo and Sega ROMs to your Apple TV

Be sure to watch our video above for the step-by-step process. For more info on sideloading apps, see our official sideloading post.

Provenance works with the Siri Remote, but to be honest, the Siri Remote isn’t built for playing classic games. You really need to pair a traditional controller. We’ll be back with more coverage of the SteelSeries Nimbus Wireless Controller, and talk about how it works with Provenance.

Are you excited to have the ability to play classic games on your Apple TV? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts on the matter.