Retroized
A live CRT overlay for retro games on macOS.
Play NES, SNES, arcade, and PS1 on a Mac the way they looked on a tube. Retroized sits on top of the window already on screen. You click through it. You keep playing. No capture card, no extra box, no baking a filter into a recording.
Works with OpenEmu, RetroArch, and Steam
This is not an OpenEmu plugin and not a RetroArch slang preset. The emulator stays sharp; Retroized is a layer over the display. Same overlay on Steam, a video window, or an editor if you want it. Gaming is the job.
Turn off the emulator’s own CRT or scanline filter so the two looks do not stack. Nearest-neighbor pixels in, tube on top.
How it sits on your Mac
- Virtual display Put the emulator on Virtual display 2 and capture that screen. This is the supported path for play. Virtual display needs macOS 13 or later.
- Click-through Cover the laptop. Clicks and keys go through the shader on the primary display. On Monterey 12.5–12.7 this is the whole product: those Macs cannot create Virtual display 2.
- Preview A normal window, for lining up the look before you play.
Laptop plus virtual display is the supported setup. Mirror often works. Extended multi-monitor is unreliable — do not plan on casting to a TV yet.
CRT looks, not a cabinet museum
Nine looks named for the glass games actually ran on: living-room sets, arcade cabinets, Trinitrons, and the PVMs tournament cabinets used. Arcade, living-room TV, Trinitron, Sony PVM, plus Vintage TV, Portable CRT, Broadcast CRT, Sony BVM, and Flat monitor.
Thirty-five factory mains to start from — Retro Arcade '88, PVM Arcade Night, Sweaty Cabinet, Trinitron Living Room among them. Save your own. Curvature, phosphor mask and pitch, persistence, bloom, scanlines, chromatic aberration, and glass are live sliders. Color grades and noise/signal stacks (RF snow, tape, cable fuzz) are optional. You do not need them to play.
Record the CRT view
Record what you see to MP4 or a loopable GIF, with named takes and an optional before-FX file. ⌘⌥R starts, ⌘⌥T stops. The recording is the live overlay, not a separate file transcoder.
Watch the overlay
Official trailer: Retroized as a live CRT layer over a game on macOS.
Open the trailer on YouTube · @Retroized
Requirements
- macOS 12.5 or later. Older versions cannot run this app. The download will not be blocked — check System Settings → General → About before buying.
- One zip for Apple Silicon and Intel.
- First launch: grant Screen Recording to Retroized.
- Keep one copy of Retroized.app (Applications or a single folder). Unzipping a new folder next to the old one looks like a new app to macOS.
- Virtual display 2 needs macOS 13+. Photosensitive flicker, scanlines, and bloom — start mild.
FAQ
Does Retroized work with OpenEmu?
Yes. It is a desktop overlay. Put OpenEmu on Virtual display 2, or run click-through over the laptop. You do not install a slang shader inside OpenEmu.
How is this different from OpenEmu’s built-in CRT shader?
OpenEmu’s filter lives inside that one window. Retroized captures a display and draws a CRT layer on top of whatever is already there. Turn off the emulator’s own CRT so you are not stacking two looks.
Is this ShaderGlass for Mac?
Same job: a live shader on top of the screen, not baked into a recording. Retroized is a native macOS app with click-through on the primary display, a virtual display for emulators, CRT looks, and overlay recording. It is not a ShaderGlass port.
Why does macOS ask for Screen Recording?
The overlay has to see the display it is shading. Grant Screen Recording to Retroized.app. Keep one copy of the app so macOS does not treat a second unzip as a new program.
Does it run on Intel Macs?
Yes. One zip covers Apple Silicon and Intel. macOS 12.5 or later. Virtual display 2 needs macOS 13. On Monterey 12.5–12.7, capture the built-in display and use click-through.
Does click-through work on the virtual display?
No. Click-through is primary-display only. Virtual display 2 is a separate screen you capture; that overlay is a viewer.
What is PhosphorVision?
PhosphorVision was the working title for the first .app. The product is Retroized. phosphorvision.com redirects here.
Download
The Mac app is on itch.io. Pay what you want. That is the store; this site is the product page.