Ask API. GET https://whichemulator.wtf/ask answers questions from the same data as this page, and it is the only place the setup steps are published. It takes the question as q and, optionally, this page's path as page, and returns JSON with answer, sources and follow_ups, or Markdown with Accept: text/markdown. No key needed.
curl -G 'https://whichemulator.wtf/ask' --data-urlencode 'q=Which Amstrad CPC emulator should I use on a Mac?' --data-urlencode 'page=/cpc/'Questions it answers:
Amstrad CPC 464 / 664 / 6128, Amstrad, 1984. Schneider CPC in Germany.
whichemulator.wtf calls its recommendation for each system the Gold Cartridge pick. For the Amstrad CPC, the Gold Cartridge pick is Caprice32.
Open source, cross-platform and accurate enough for nearly every CPC game. It emulates the 464, 664 and 6128 fully, loads disk, tape, snapshot and cartridge images, and ships with the CPC ROMs, so it works straight away. The Plus range is mostly there, with a few gaps. There are ready-made builds for Windows and macOS; on Linux you build it from source, which is a single make command.
Runs on Windows · Mac · Linux. Open source. Download: https://github.com/ColinPitrat/caprice32/releases
ROMs: Amstrad allows the CPC ROMs to be distributed with emulators, so Caprice32 includes them. You only need your games, usually as .dsk or .cdt files.
The cap32 core's on-screen keyboard helps with games that need typing.
Amstrad launched the CPC 464 in 1984 as a complete package: computer, keyboard, cassette deck and monitor in one box, with the power supply in the monitor. The 664 and 6128 swapped the cassette for a 3” disk drive, and the 6128 doubled the memory to 128KB. It did well in the UK, France, Spain and Germany, where Schneider sold it under its own name.
Games often appeared on both tape and disk. If a game was written for the 464, run it on a 464 machine in the emulator; a few early titles misbehave on the 6128’s newer BASIC.
Disk games come as .dsk files and tape games as .cdt, a CPC version of the Spectrum’s .tzx. In Caprice32, press F1 for the menu to insert a disk, then type cat to list it and run"name to start the game. Disks are quicker to load than tapes and should be your first choice when both exist.
Caprice32 is the pick because it is open source and runs everywhere. ACE-DL is the more accurate of the two and the better choice for demanding demos and Plus software, where Caprice32 still lacks DMA and vectored interrupts, but it is closed source. For playing the usual games you won’t see a difference.
Reference: WEM-CPC-9RWF