How to play Return of the Invaders on Mac

Game summary

The player must use a 2-way joystick to direct a cannon (this time, referred to as "Xerovy") across the bottom of the screen while using a single button to fire shots up at formations of descending invaders (this time, the regular invaders are referred to as "Flector", and the new "deflector" and "master" ones are referred to as "Legard" and "Zicon" respectively); the shields (or "barricades") are also referred to as "Xero-Guards", and the lights in them will change colour from blue to yellow to red, as they are hit, before blowing out and exploding. From the third stage onwards they will also occasionally move and try to block your shots - also, the UFOs that occasionally fly over the formations will also occasionally be carrying a powerup (the blue "Gazel", the yellow "Goral", and the red "Gowl"), which (if you do not shoot the UFO dead-centre) will fall down onto the Xerovy, and bestow its powers upon it, altering its appearance in the process. Also, if there are three or more "Zicon" left for the end of any stage, it will invoke a new "Challenging Stage" (as they fly up to the top of the screen, transform into one of three different "Mother Ships" and fly around above you while sending out eight types of "bonus" invaders).
First released: Dec 1985

Play Return of the Invaders on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Return of the Invaders 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).

Return of the Invaders 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 Return of the Invaders like you would on any PC.
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