How to play Space Bandits on Mac

Game summary

Space Bandits is quite possibly the most unique game out of all the MBX titles. You take control of a robot who must collect Earth's Energy Crystals that were stolen by "Computer Controlled Androids". The uniqueness of the game comes from the fact that not only can you walk up and down the corridors on the bottom of the screen, but also on the sides and top of the screen. Therefore, the game has a 3D aspect to it which makes your mission much harder to complete, especially considering that the controls change accordingly with the different sides of the screen (if you are controlling your robot on the bottom part of the screen all that is needed to move forward is a press "up" on the joystick. However, once on the top of the screen, a press "down" on the joystick moves you forward). This change of joystick movement helps create a more realistic feel that really helps the game out and makes it more fun to play, however frustrating it may be first. After you have the controls for the game down, which can prove to be very tricky, the next step is to go about completing your mission to get back all the of the Earth's Energy Crystals, which are represented by little red diamonds throughout the 3D maze. However, there are a few curve balls thrown in. If you are unable to collect the crystals after 40 seconds, they become radioactive. This means that if you touch a crystal once it's radioactive (they turn white after becoming so) you will lose a life and fall off into space towards a purple alien ship which appears in the center of the screen. On the other hand, if you do collect all 4 crystals from that round, you might think your job is done, but that's not the case. Even after all the crystals are collected you must still blast the white androids which follow you throughout the maze. Only after all of the androids have been killed will you be able to advance forward. The robot you control in the game is also equipped with an electronic vapor gun that will shoot a puls
First released: Feb 1983

Play Space Bandits on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Space Bandits 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).

Space Bandits 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 Space Bandits like you would on any PC.
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