How to play The Last Starfighter on Mac

Game summary

The Last Starfighter is based on the 1984 movie of the same name. The hero must single-handedly pilot an extraordinarily powerful starfighter to destroy an enemy armada. The action takes place in outer space from a side-scrolling perspective where the ship always remains lined up in the middle of the screen but is able to turn forwards and backwards while accelerating and decelerating. The ship can also collapse into a slimmer configuration. Enemies come at you from all directions and in all formations. Shoot them as quickly as possible while also disabling the enemy fleet's starcruisers as best you can. The game also features a 2-player mode where each player takes turns fighting the armada.
First released: Jun 1990

Play The Last Starfighter on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play The Last Starfighter 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).

The Last Starfighter 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 The Last Starfighter like you would on any PC.
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