How to play Vs. Duck Hunt on Mac

Game summary

Duck Hunt was released as an arcade game in the Nintendo VS. series in 1984 as Vs. Duck Hunt, and is included in the PlayChoice-10 arcade console, an arcade machine with as many as 10 different games previously available only on the NES. The console supports two light guns, allowing two players at once. Gameplay consists of alternating rounds with 12 ducks/targets per round instead of 10 and sometimes requires the player to shoot three ducks/targets at a time instead of two. In addition, the player is given a limited number of lives; every duck/target that is not hit costs one life. When all lives are gone, the game ends. After every second round, a bonus stage is played in which ducks can be shot for points as they fly out of the grass. However, the hunting dog occasionally jumps out, putting himself in the line of fire and creating a distraction. If the player shoots the dog, the bonus stage immediately ends.
First released: Apr 1984

Play Vs. Duck Hunt on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Vs. Duck Hunt 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).

Vs. Duck Hunt 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 Vs. Duck Hunt like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍