How to play Exa Innova on Mac

Game summary

I believe this is Compile's first vertically scrolling shooting game, and contains many elements they'd later incorporate into the Zanac / Aleste series. The title screen credits "Programmers-3" but I have seen re-releases crediting Compile. Plus, the sprite for the enemy that splits into two halves is exactly the same as the one in Zanac!
First released: Aug 1984

Play Exa Innova on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Exa Innova on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Exa Innova installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Exa Innova like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍