How to play Xexex on Mac

Game summary

Is a 1991 side-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game by Konami. It draws on Irem's R-Type and Konami's other shoot 'em up Gradius, while adding the tentacle mechanics of Irem's other shoot 'em up XMultiply. The game is notable for different gameplay mechanics between the original Japanese release and the overseas releases. The gameplay is similar to R-Type and X-Multiply. The player's ship, the Flintlock, has a detachable orb attachment called the Flint, which behaves similar to R-Type's Force Device. Powerups can be obtained in the Japanese version to increase the Flint's power, movement speed, change the main weapon, or even give the player an extra life. The overseas versions introduce a variety of changes, with the most notable being the removal of all but one upgradable weapon. The enemy patterns are also changed slightly. In the game, players pilot a ship called the Flintlock in order to save a blue haired princess named Irene of the planet E-Square from an evil lord named Klaus. Each stage is punctuated with a cutscene of the princess crying for help as she is tortured. In the ending, the Flintlock sends the orb back through the atmosphere of the planet, where it morphs into a naked fairy.
First released: Apr 1991

Play Xexex on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Xexex 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).

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