diff --git a/src/video/cocoa/SDL_cocoaopengl.m b/src/video/cocoa/SDL_cocoaopengl.m
--- a/src/video/cocoa/SDL_cocoaopengl.m
+++ b/src/video/cocoa/SDL_cocoaopengl.m
@@ -48,17 +48,14 @@
 @end
 #endif
 
-#ifndef kCGLPFAOpenGLProfile
-#define kCGLPFAOpenGLProfile 99
+#ifndef NSOpenGLPFAOpenGLProfile
+#define NSOpenGLPFAOpenGLProfile 99
 #endif
-#ifndef kCGLOGLPVersion_Legacy
-#define kCGLOGLPVersion_Legacy 0x1000
+#ifndef NSOpenGLProfileVersionLegacy
+#define NSOpenGLProfileVersionLegacy 0x1000
 #endif
-#ifndef kCGLOGLPVersion_GL3_Core
-#define kCGLOGLPVersion_GL3_Core 0x3200
-#endif
-#ifndef kCGLOGLPVersion_GL4_Core
-#define kCGLOGLPVersion_GL4_Core 0x4100
+#ifndef NSOpenGLProfileVersion3_2Core
+#define NSOpenGLProfileVersion3_2Core 0x3200
 #endif
 
 @implementation SDLOpenGLContext : NSOpenGLContext
@@ -186,30 +183,26 @@
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    /* Sadly, we'll have to update this as life progresses, since we need to
-       set an enum for context profiles, not a context version number */
-    if (wantver > 0x0401) {
-        SDL_SetError ("OpenGL > 4.1 is not supported on this platform");
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
     pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
 
     /* specify a profile if we're on Lion (10.7) or later. */
     if (data->osversion >= 0x1070) {
-        NSOpenGLPixelFormatAttribute profile = kCGLOGLPVersion_Legacy;
+        NSOpenGLPixelFormatAttribute profile = NSOpenGLProfileVersionLegacy;
         if (_this->gl_config.profile_mask == SDL_GL_CONTEXT_PROFILE_CORE) {
+            /* We can only ask for a general core profile context. We check what
+             * we acually get below. */
             if (wantver == 0x0302) {
-                profile = kCGLOGLPVersion_GL3_Core;
-            } else if ((wantver == 0x0401) && (data->osversion >= 0x1090)) {
-                profile = kCGLOGLPVersion_GL4_Core;
+                profile = NSOpenGLProfileVersion3_2Core;
+            } else if ((wantver == 0x303 || wantver >= 0x0400)
+                       && (data->osversion >= 0x1090)) {
+                profile = NSOpenGLProfileVersion3_2Core;
             } else {
                 SDL_SetError("Requested GL version is not supported on this platform");
                 [pool release];
                 return NULL;
             }
         }
-        attr[i++] = kCGLPFAOpenGLProfile;
+        attr[i++] = NSOpenGLPFAOpenGLProfile;
         attr[i++] = profile;
     }
 
@@ -289,9 +282,40 @@
 
     if ( Cocoa_GL_MakeCurrent(_this, window, context) < 0 ) {
         Cocoa_GL_DeleteContext(_this, context);
+        SDL_SetError("Failed to make context current");
         return NULL;
     }
 
+    /* The context's version must not be less than the requested version. We
+     * do the check just for GL 3.0+ in order to match the behaviour of SDL's
+     * GLX and WGL backend code. SDL also requests GL 2.1 by default, so we
+     * don't want to unconditionally fail on pre-2.1 systems if the default
+     * values are used. */
+    if (wantver >= 0x300) {
+        const GLubyte *glversion = glGetString(GL_VERSION);
+        GLubyte major;
+        GLubyte minor;
+        int realver;
+
+        if (glversion == NULL) {
+            Cocoa_GL_DeleteContext(_this, context);
+            SDL_SetError("Could not determine context version");
+            return NULL;
+        }
+
+        /* The version string starts with "major.minor". */
+        major = glversion[0] - '0';
+        minor = glversion[2] - '0';
+
+        realver = ((int) major << 8) | minor;
+
+        if (realver < wantver) {
+            Cocoa_GL_DeleteContext(_this, context);
+            SDL_SetError("Requested GL version is not supported");
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
     return context;
 }