I love my Steam Deck, but thanks to a very simple process with just 20 minutes of work, it turned into one of the best emulators I’ve ever used.
Backwards compatibility has always been a weird topic for game consoles, from Microsoft building it into the Xbox Series X and Series S that Sony was a bit clumsy about it and put up classic titles PS Plus Premium. Not to mention Nintendo pretending that game preservation doesn’t exist.
That’s where the Steam Deck comes in – a portable console like no other with massive levels of power and most importantly, incredible levels of accessibility to the backend.
Thanks to the addition of a desktop mode alongside the streamlined Linux-based SteamOS, I’ve been able to play games on the go and even get some work done while on the go. In fact, I typed all this on the Steam Deck.
But you’re not here to read about my weird work setup (tell us on) Twitter if you want to read about that separately). Thanks to EmuDeck, the process of turning this into a damn good emulator is an absolute cinch – and the performance is hugely impressive too.
Disclaimer
Emulating games falls into a huge legal gray area. So, I’ll start by saying it’s technically okay, provided you make ROMs of your own games.
This has been decided in a few different cases, such as: Sony Computer Entertainment America v. Bleem, Sega v. Accoladeand Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v Nintendo of America, Inc.
There are plenty of websites that offer ROMs and console BIOS for free download, which are technically illegal, so we strongly advise against using them. You have been warned.
How To Transform Your Steam Deck Into A Retro Emulator
I’ll keep this bit short; there are many video tutorials out there. But unlike the Xbox Series S Emulatorthis is a very simple process that took me 30 minutes to do – and it’s free.
1. First of all, you need to switch to the Linux desktop mode in your Steam Deck. Press and hold the power button and select “Switch to desktop.”
At this point, you can use the correct trackpad and on-screen keyboard, but I recommend connecting a mouse and keyboard to make navigation a lot easier. I used my Logitech MX Master 3S and Logitech MX Mechanical Keyboard without any problem.
2. Then right click on the steam icon in the bottom right corner and exit Steam. This affects the file manager.
3 Then open the default web browser (Firefox) and go to emudeck.com. Scroll down and download the app.
4 After downloading, click the EmuDeck Icon which has now appeared on the desktop, select where you want to save the games (internal storage or your SD card) and you will see all the emulators installed.
5. When the installation is complete, you will see a dialog box with the file extension name where you can place your games and your BIOS files. Make sure to place (unzipped) BIOS files for each respective console you want to play in their respective folders.
6. And for games, it’s a similar process. Extract the game file and drag it to the appropriate console folder. It is important that you add all your game and bios files before The next stepas we are now going to add them to your Steam library, to appear in SteamOS.
7. Then open the new one Steam ROM Manager icon that appeared on the desktop after installing EmuDeck. The user interface is a bit complicated, but don’t worry – you only have to touch one option.
8. Click “Example” and select “Generate app list.” Here you will see a list of all emulators and all games that the ROM manager has found on your Steam Deck. Double-check that everything you’ve added has appeared.
9. Finally click ‘Save app list’ and voilà! All your emulators and games will now appear in the Steam library. When you’re done, click “Back to Game Mode”, and under “Collections” all your old games will appear in your Steam Deck library – organized by console.
The portable emulator of dreams
What do your efforts yield? One of the best emulators out there in my opinion. The Steam Deck has a similar Zen 2 + RDNA 2 architecture, which is why AAA games perform surprisingly well on this thing, and by extension, retro games absolutely fly.
At the moment, there are some minor hiccups in game performance that you should be aware of. SSX Tricky on PS2 and Dead or Alive 3 on Xbox, for example, slows down to half speed when elements on the screen start to build up. Crowds, fireworks and competitors bring SSX down and the more detailed levels on DOA do too.
Will these problems be permanent? No. These emulators are updated almost weekly. At some point, PCSX2 and XEMU will be upgraded to a point where these issues are resolved.
But for the vast majority of games, performance is impeccable, even on hard-to-match titles. A good example is RPCS3. Emulating the PS3 is an insanely CPU intensive task. So much so that the Steam Deck’s processor is constantly running at 100%.
Even with this challenge, the Deck manages to hold its own admirably, with Demon’s Souls and Skate 3 hitting a solid 30fps with no hitches. That’s insanely good performance, and it just makes one of the most versatile handheld consoles even better.
It can only get better from here
This is just the beginning of Steam Deck’s journey to one of the ultimate machines for preserving classic games. I just spent an entire evening playing Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King, old Pokémon games and Sonic Adventure 2.
For fans of retro games, life is good and it can only get better from here. Developers are busy improving emulators for the Steam Deck and streamlining the process of adding games.
You may already have a belter from a Steam game library, but it can always be bigger. This is an incredible way to unlock the full potential of your Steam Deck.
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