I love how you summed it up in the beginning taki the fact that you’re always on the search for that one emulator portable that does it all and as us viewers we’re looking for the same exact thing and the reason why we subscribed to you and watch your videos. Keep up the great work!!
@@halcyonramirez6469 My wife was playing God of War on hers and couldn't enjoy it because of the battery life. I tried to tell her. I just limit my cordless play to lower performance indie games and emulation (some games during switch emulation run for 4-5 hours at 60fps).
There are no words to describe what a hero you are. I had been trying to remember a game for over 10 years, and even though the clip you played was only a few seconds, it was enough to remember it and get the name. It was Threads of Fate. You are the man.
The color washing on the Steam Deck can be corrected if you download Decky Loader and its “Vibrant Deck” plugin. You can significantly alter the contrast which makes games all the more beautiful
Still planning to use a portable DAC and decent IEM headphones with mine most of the time, but I agree, tge speakers are fantastic, better than any laptop I've ever owned
@@Florianski In theory your right, but in practice I've already spoiled myself with testing my Fiio FH3'S connected via balanced to my Fiio M9 running from Bluetooth LDAC and enjoyed the results (just not the hefty delay the M9 has in bluetooth mode) Worst case I can use the Moondrop Moonriver 2 with my laptop and phone too, that and I've loaded my music library into the Streamdeck too so I can run my own music with games when I feel like it, or when in desktop mode, I've really just been enjoying it too much to not want to upgrade it however I can, sooner or later I want to swap out the 256gig ssd for a 1tb or more ssd and get the hall-effect joysticks, maybe even a OLED screen mod if someone finds/makes a kit that'll work, so giving it a tricked out DAC is just stage 1 in my decent into madness after having built my desktop pc and modded my cheap laptops previously I can't resist trying to give the 'Deck everything I can and still keep it portable (unlike LTT's monstrosity with the external heatsink)
@@UNSCPILOT i feel you, I spoiled myself with some 64Audio u18t's paired with a shanling m6 pro ;) But for gaming the zsn pro is good enough for me and i usually dont listen to music on the deck.
@@Florianski I have been using my ZS10 Pros since they have a regular 3.5mm jack on them still, it's decent without a doubt. But I've deffinitly been spoiled enough to hear the DAC in the Deck struggling a bit when things get busy ie; music, sfx, and dialog overlapping or just particularly complicated it gets a little noisy and distorted to my ears, even when a particular game is running at a stable locked 30 or 40 fps. And besides, it kinda makes the steamdeck into a mini version of my desktop in a way given I use a USB DAC with a small hybrid tube amp to drive my headphones there, probably won't bother trying to find a extra mini tube amp unless I can get one of those Korg Nutube things, really that's half the fun of any good device, finding cool ways to customize it, IMO
The support community part is massive. It's unbelievable how many obscure games and problems I've been able to find threads, resolutions, guides, and videos for over just the last few weeks alone.
Great baseline video for emulators on the Deck. The good is that as the emulators improve in optimization on the Deck, the games' performances improve as well. Plus, remember, this value here doesn't even take into account the massive Steam library that is on hand as well.
8:57 Heads up, for PAL games running at 50hz (or DOS and arcade games and such running at weird refresh rates) the refresh rate slider in the Quick Access Menu is great for smoothing out performance to where it should be. I don't know of any other handheld that can do that, it's sweet.
Opendingux beta will auto switch the screen to 50hz when using pal roms if the emulator have it implemented (pretty much all do, bare handhelds emulators obviously)
Likewise if you set your default refresh to 40hz watch out for systems that expect 50 or 60 like the SNES, it was ruining performance and audio until I noticed what the problem was.
I actually really enjoy GBA on a larger screen. The GBA was arguably the last console/handheld that was only really capable of 2D (though there were always exceptions). There's so much great pixel art on the handheld, and I like a spacious screen for those games.
@@sirtimatbob I recently played through Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, and it was fantastic. The Metroid Fusion and Mother 3 are incredible. Pokemon Emerald is probably the best Pokemon game on the GBA.
I have a massive collection of retro emulation consoles. 2 shelfs full of every model and color variant. The steam deck came along and I've seriously considered selling all of this because it takes the cake. Hands down the best emulation device I've ever owned. It gave me the same nostalgic feel when I was a little kid holding a game gear for the first time. I love that its massive and chonky!
Do it bro. The money you'll get from selling all tha redundant consoles that you can play on the Deck can be used for something useful(or a second Deck lol). Maybe upgrade the sticks to Hall Sensors so they never wear down/drift. Upgrading the display, connecting a battery pack to the rear, or beefing up the ssd is also a viable option. Cheers from Philippines!! 💜🍻🇵🇭
@@othinus nah i think the main part of collecting the consoles is history, sorta like a museum, its easy to make like 500 dollars and buy a new steam deck, but replacing your old consoles you had a connection with is priceless.
@@schwarzi95 its my opinion comparing to all the emulation consoles on my shelf. Im going to sell them all one by one. Its all the same chipset in a new body anyway
It just looks so uncomfortable and bulky. If they could fit it in the same footprint as the switch (doesn't need to be as thin) I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
The way this video is laid out and segmented so perfectly is so amazing I love it. I would hit the like button on this video like I was playing cookie clicker if I could. Much love man
Fantastic video! I love emulation on the Steam Deck. I got a 1 TB microSD and loaded that baby up with full collections of some systems, and a handful of my favorites for other systems that take up more space. And the fact that this thing can play recent AAA titles, can stream XBOX Game Pass to it, and can dual boot Windows or Batocera is phenomenal.
@@loumona76 Not sure what you mean? I went to a website. I clicked the buy button. It came to my house. What do you mean by "easy" and "accessible" FREE??? Not happening.
Owning a steam deck feels like back in the good ol days of using a modded PSP. But this time it's back... WITH A VENGEANCE. Glad to see you giving it the praise it deserves man. :D
@@sparhawk2195 Do you have any Idea what you're talking about? Actually no... You have no idea what you're talking about, the bloody thing uses desktop based hardware more specifically laptop based, you can run literally anything you want on it as long as it runs at reasonable frame rates. This is much better than the Psp ever could be, that sucker was locked down to start.
This is only the option I’d prefer over emulation on a flagship android although it seems ps2 on android emulates better depending. Probably because aethersx2 is already really optimized even compared to pcsx2
To fix some stuttering that would appear from the dolphin emulator, install the powertools plugin from decky loader and set it to the 4 or 3 threads with SMT off and have manual gpu clock control on and set it to 1200. So if you have some stutters from the dolphin emulator then I recommend these settings
@@matthewbelike Schools don't really teach IT you learn it yourself, on the internet. Then you go for IT. Yeah it's literally a meme. A rocket scientist could tell you to get gud. I got gud at avoiding doctors since they just gave me crap medicine that doesn't work but costs me hundreds. Amazing how many cheap alternatives there are for regular stuff. Hah!
@@matthewbelike I'm assuming you know what Dolphin is if you're on a video about emulation. I'll grant you that the powertools plugin install via decky is pretty obscure, but you can easily google this stuff instead of telling random people on TH-cam who weren't addressing you directly that they're not making sense. Setting powertools to use 3/4 threads with SMT off is self explanatory if you actually install the application and take a look at the settings, so I don't think that's gibberish. Manual GPU clock control is also a default setting on the steam deck and can be changed with 2 button presses. No computer science degree needed. I'm glad you're a nurse, but I'm not sure why you saw fit to flex your major in this thread.
Steamdeck is currently dusting $1000 gaming laptops. It's a no-brainer to get a steamdeck, even to just replace your laptop for work, such as I have done. Valve oozes quality and their customer support is the best I've ever experienced. I feel luck to be around and be able to afford such a thing, it's really an amazing device! Can't wait for the Deckard!
@@user1hdud62htus5 fair, but that's not portable. also, you'd have a hard time building a full PC for the price of the steam deck (when you consider case, PSU, mobo, etc). while you COULD, I think the point is no portable laptop anywhere near this price point has the same level of performance.
Agree about the weight, it's distributed very well across the Steam Deck. I had the same initial feeling until I looked up the other day and realized I had played several continuous hours (4+) of Vampire Survivors with no wrist/finger fatigue. I would also like to point out of the devices I'd like to own, the Steam Deck was ironically the easiest to obtain when compared to the Analogue, Odin, or Ayn series.
I wanted the Analogue just to have one for my little console collection but then I realised it would hardly find use over the RG351V and instead bought a deck, now I wait for delivery!
That's really surprising because it looks super annoying to hold and use due to size/weight. I was going to stick to my OLED switch with a usb c dock glued to a hori mini arcade stick (weighs about the same as just the steam deck!)
It's kind of funny, I love that the Switch Lite is so lightweight, but my ring and pinky fingers fall asleep when I play it too long. There's definitely a sweet spot when it comes to weight.
@@scrub_jay Good for 20-min play sessions and easier to pack into a bag, and the Lite is only $200 or something. The Deck is more comfy to hold for a long time.
I hope so. It’s so tacky and ghetto when Switch games are emulated. Just you wait, if too many people pirate, consoles will lock down their games and make them online stream only. That’ll slow down piracy immensely.
For future Nintendo DS performance testing, consider working Solatorobo: Red the Hunter into the mix. It was a VERY late DS game and has chugging on some DS flash carts, but its real-time cutscenes using rendering tricks and beautiful art are an excellent benchmark.
Ooh! I have Solatorobo on my Deck! It works just fine, and looks beautiful too. So far I've tested up to the first 2 missions past the intro. The rom says "DSi enhanced," but I'm not sure if it makes a big difference. On a real DSi, you can take a photo as your profile picture. The same picture shows up somewhere late game. (I won't spoil) if the same game is played on a "normal" DS, it will just replace the picture with a generic one instead.
@@snailgirl6 I've never tried the DSi enhancements, I had no idea that was a thing! With every passing day I want a physical copy of the game more and more -_-
I have been into retro gaming recently and I am loving the Steam Deck with emulation. It works amazingly. Along with some Steam games I got on sale and now it's like a having choice overload but in a good way. I've been chatting with my close friends and they love the Steam Deck too for how well it achieves emulation, lol. I own these physical games on their original systems, but it's so nice to have these games in portable format on Steam Deck in my 1 TB micro SD card and 512 GB storage. I'll be traveling soon but for now I love playing on my Steam Deck in bed after a long day.
Excellent video! I'm an emulators girl, love playing so many oldie games and being able to play all of them on the Steam Deck is simply great, now I wish Valve ships to Mexico soon because I really want to get me one, I dunno how long we're going to wait for that to happen, it's painful :/
But your the one who would know what you own and want to play? Just nail it down to your top 25 games to emulate and stick with that and add more. Otherwise shove is all into emulationstation
@@Dracossaint that's like saying "it's not hard, you just gotta do it." there's no way in hell I could make you a random list of 25 games let alone ones I want to play. And if you have too many games downloaded, the decision paralysis is still present. Nobody's brains are similar, and in most cases, if the answer seems stupid and obvious, it's because they already considered it
@@ProjectAudrey search for the best games for each console There are Hundreds of lists like that Showing some of the most popular or important games for each console Use that to get some game and then get some of your own childhood favourites or get some underated ones
Which is why I mention it’s not bad having a couple of choices but stick to one and beat that one game first. I had the issue before then I started just beating a game at a time in completion and with emulation it’s ok if you miss a thing or two on android and steam deck or iPhone but with ps4 if I didn’t get every trophy in a game or it was next to impossible due to not available anymore cause it’s a online trophy that can’t be done or etc which is why I left console gaming all together and went emulation cause I couldn’t stop feening to get platinum trophies lol
choice overload? Just get all of them and then decide on the fly.. Obviously for legal reasons you would have to buy every single rom you own, but you know.
I just bought a Steam Deck cos of this amazing video! Thanks so much for an amazing overview of the great retro capabilities of this incredible device!
I agree with you on all points. The Steam Deck is by far the best handheld for emulation. It also has by far the best price-performance ratio. The Steam Deck is the king of handhelds :) 🎉
I got the steamdeck after your 2nd deck video, and I am so happy with it. It has done everything I’ve asked of it, and as updates continue, the handheld just keeps getting better. I’ve had an issue with duckstation too and I’ll have to do what you did. My only issue I have is in GC playing XtremeG3 racing. For some reason the “A” button gives up and I have to press the button again. It’s only happened a couple of times, but it was odd and caused me to lose the race. Outside of that, I haven’t really had any other issues.
Are you able to choose a different core or different ps1 emulator? I know duckstation is generally really decent but it is newer than the other emulators.
I still have zero interest in any of these devices but I continue gladly watching the videos lol. Kinda funny how the same device can play every Resident Evil game via emulation but then also play the remakes. I'm also impressed at the fact you manage to record the screen without it looking like absolute garbage.
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e There is no point to buy something like this for emulation.Every phone with sd888 8.1 can run everything up to ps2 plus there are already two switch emulators for android which they get better day by day.
I was honestly shocked when i held it.. I had figured from all the reviews that it was going to be massive but it's not at all. It is bigger but it's perfect for me. I do wish it was bezel less tbh
Completely agree. That black bezels are way too big. A 7.5 or maybe an 8 inch display wouldn't make the Deck any bigger, while improving the experience a lot, especially for console and PC games which aren't designed for a small screen.
Yeah it's big but not in way that makes holding it cumbersome or unwieldy. Honestly it's very ergonomic and comfortable. It's clear Valve really put a lot of thought into the design.
@@atmosrepair I guess a full-blown PC, or something else that isn't handheld? There's no way any third party emulation devices come close on performance
@@hb-robo There are other handheld devices out and/or coming out that have newer AMD chips and the ability to set a higher TDP iirc, but outside of youtube reviewers I am not sure if anyone have gotten their orders yet, and the prices are usually 2-3x + the base deck excluding shipping and import fees so difficult to justify really for most, though given the amount that people were paying scalpers for decks they will no doubt all be sold out anyway haha.
@@spookymunky1 Whoa, 2-3x?? I didn't even know there was a class of emu handhelds at that price bracket. Not sure of the appeal when SD also has a supported interface for, well, Steam, but to each their own. $800 for a Windows handheld seems like such a hard sell at this point.
@@hb-robo yes, lol.. well.. that is the standard price for these devices, it is just because valve is so huge that they are able to sell the deck both in huge numbers which lowers production costs but also at what I have to assume is quite a large loss 🤭, the same as m$ and sony and nintendo usually do at launch. You can always put steam os on them now if you want, and some will probably start coming with it as an option, but since they are relatively low in production and nearly always sold out I don't think that the deck will have a huge impact in their operations really, no idea hehe... if anything it has probably helped them become much less of a niche unknown product.
I still can’t get over how well PS2 and GC play on this. I put ps2 at 6x res and I play my favorite games, KH2, FFX, and Dark Cloud (these are the ps2 games I own physical copies of and I haven’t expanded my library).
Using automatic drift in Mario Kart Wii and tapping the joystick to occasionally turn to make it through the whole bend instead of using the joystick with manual drifting through the whole bend in one go almost gave me an aneurism, I never thought anyone even used the automatic drifting feature.
So many good games showed up in this video. I found myself humming along to all the old bgms i used to listen to endlessly as a kid. Thanks for that :)
I have my steam deck already 512gb + another 512 sd. I’m still tinkering and have a collection of Emu/Roma and AAA games. Yet here I am still watching Steam Deck videos 😂
The fact that, today, I can basically have a portable PS3 is insane. I remember when people were taking apart the Dreamcast and putting it inside a Leap Frog and shit. Electronics nerds used to sell portable systems they made themselves for like $700, but now you can just have pretty much every system on one device. Crazy
i was scared that the steam deck would be uncomfortable to play but its honestly perfect. love that i can play anywhere. it really is the switch pro although i do wish it had better battery life but thankfully i have a really good chunky battery pack
Got my Steam Deck in Q3 and yes it is vastly superior to my Switch. I love that I can run Sword and Shield, Legends Arceus with Improved Textures and higher framerates. But more than that it is truly just a joy to use.
But it looks so annoying to use due to its size and weight, even in this video you see Taki is resting it on the table while he uses it. Doesn't it get tiring/annoying to hold for longer durations?
@@100toeface he rests all devices for videos dude..... You do realize he needs to point it at a camera right? And yes it is heavy, but not heavy enough that you can't withstand an hour gaming
@@100toeface I don’t get tired holding the device. But then again I am not gaming on a handheld for more than a few hours straight (because I have a life). I don’t think anything would be comfortable to hold for six or eight hours straight lol
@@hectord3013 Doesn't run all games perfect. Welcome to emulation, not even N46 is perfected. PS3, PS2. All still have some issues. However the fact of the matter is that those games I mentioned run at 40-60 with Patches and CPU Power Draw Increase. Switch only runs them at 30 and has garbage textures for them at the same time.
So tempted to buy one because of this review. I just invested heavily into the FPGA Mister, so I think I’ll wait until the next iteration of the Steam Deck hardware.
Buying the Steam Deck was a no brainer for me with its cloud saving feature. Being able to play a game on my PC or Steam Deck, then turn it off and have my save files instantly upload to the other platform is so nice. Also owning 2,000 games on my Steam Profile certainly helps too.
@@casedistorted I don't have as many as you (490 something) but having a nice little handheld to bring to the couch when I'm hanging out with the gf is nice. I've cut a serious gash in my backlog
I've got a fully loaded MiSTer as well, awesome little thing. When a handheld comes out that uses FPGA (like Analogue Pocket) I'll be all over it, but emulation isn't for me. Replication is where it's at.
@@slliks67 Not really - it’s about the same as the Switch when playing similar games. Someone managed to get over 8 hours in dead souls for example. It’s only when playing games that the switch can’t even run, like RDR2 or GoW, that battery suffers.
I love the steam deck so much you can take with you. I have an sd card loaded with 3000 games for almost every console, and a separate sd card that boots to windows when I wanna play modern warefare or fall guys. That not even counting the 20+ games from steam I have on the actual ssd. Crazy.
I knew the Steam Deck was a contender for best emulation when I booted up God of War 1&2 and it immediately worked with no lines going across the screen with no special configuration. For those that don't know, GoW is notorious to get working right on PCSX2. It can be done, but by god, it took me forever to figure out the secret sauce (that was awhile back, so maybe things are better). But I would always get these weird lines going through the screen. With EmuDeck, bam, works perfectly.
I really wish they went with a better panel too, but I understand why they didn't. They wanted the first iteration of the steam deck in as many hands as possible, and that meant the cheapest prices possible, which meant a cheaper display
I'd love a video from Taki on tweaking settings in various emulators, the deck itself, powertools etc. So much bad info floating around causing bad performance.
I would actually love to see a video on choice overload. And how to avoid it. It's something I struggled with a lot when I'd first got into using emulation handhelds
Now that the OLED is out, you can get great colors on all of these now. The only shortcoming is still the CPU and overall power itself, but everything else is near perfect
FFX into FFX-II into FFXII really hit me right in my nostalgia I must have spent like 2k hours across all those games in my lifetime, god I love Spira and Ivalice
My only complaint (and I mean only) is that the library menu bugs out frequently. Nothing too terrible, but it's annoying having to switch pages to fix the issue. Otherwise, this thing has been amazing. I've been itching to play Twilight Princess again, but didn't want to break out the Wii U or gamecube. Steam deck runs it flawlessly. Never finished Drakengard 3, and hey, the PS3 emulation is surprisingly good. It is amazing. The community is amazing.
This is why I am sooo stoked to recieve mine. Im aure its not super easy to do, but having a backlog of all these classics at my fingertips is what im looking forard to most. Ordered last night and cant wait
@Knightphall any tutorials you recommend. I had a backlog of roms and tried emulation station. Used the wizard and only a handful of Sega games load with bad audio. Haven't messed with it since
The steam deck is a perfect emulation device for me. EMUDeck hade it so accessible by configuring the emulators for us. Currently the systems I've been playing the post are GBA and WiiU
It has to fit inside my pocket to be the ultimate portable machine for me. Currently this is the best we can get though and if one has a backpack when they go outside, then steam deck is a no brainer. But hopefully we will get a steam deck mini in next 2-3 years that will be the size of a psp.
@@mortemincarnatam2836 well... pulls out keys, wired earbuds, a wallet, a USB stick and small USB-C to A adapter, a drawing glove and finally a smartphone that's small enough to fit. I don't know, I abuse mine.
@@mortemincarnatam2836 People who don't want to lug around a backpack all day, risk losing it, and look like a backpacker? What if you are out biking and get a flat tire and have to wait by the road for an hour, your steam deck won't be in your pocket but your miyo mini will be, and you won't even notice it in your pocket either.
I don't think a pocket sized device will be playing AAA PC games any time soon, unless AMD's RDNA 3 is a gigantic leap in power efficiency. Processing consumes power, and power consumption produces heat, and heat requires cooling. The Steam Deck has a giant cooling solution and that's why it's so big. Not even the regular Nintendo Switch, the most portable handheld console in current gen, fits in most people's pockets (you can remove the joycons and maybe fit just the screen with very big ones). Not to mention, even for it's time, the Switch was considered an underpowered device (they wanted it to be as small as can be for console-esque performance). Your expectations are too unrealistic for *only* 2-3 years. There was a 6 year gap between the Maxwell architecture on the Switch and the RDNA 2 architecture on Steam Deck (same used in PS5 and Xbox Series X) And the Steam Deck requires significantly more cooling than even the Switch. Give it another 6-8 years and maybe something might come out that meets your expectations.
A big tip I have is even if your getting bored (it can happen with a “free game” that your emulating) just stick to one. I have a couple but been sticking to ff9 on my old google pixel xl android. It adds to the experience when you beat one at a time don’t go shifting through multiple you’ll get burned and more bored that way. I also do emulation as a primary way of gaming now I need to get back to the switch to beat a few games tho but otherwise ps4 and that sit it out android I can emulate anywhere
I'm pretty smitten with my Steam Deck and Odin Lite. I don't foresee a purchase for another device for quite a while. The Odin Lite is really the crown jewel IMO, even with the different screen, battery life is crazy good.
@@coxxycabee yeah the sound reproduction in general isn't great. You can tell there's something off if you regularly watch YT or shows on another device, then pick it up on the Odin. Sounds like the mids are too pronounced, and people you've listened to recently sound completely different or off key. It's fine if you're playing a game though. I do wish the lowest volume setting was quieter just above mute as well. But I use BT 90% of the time so it's not that big of a deal usually. Still miles ahead of the competition if you picked it up with early pricing.
@@sagepirotess6312 unless android games get really demanding or emulation gets earth-shattering progress on Android, the target audience will still be the same in 2024. What exactly do you want performance wise out of a handheld with a screen so small?
@@seouljah760 not true. Your thinking western logic. Globally phone games do better as they are in hands of consumers 24.7, anywhere due to phones. Second, most asia and other countries dont have consoles in house. Hence Japan, Korea, China and such. Thus digital takes carrying and storing a cartridge away. Why do you think pc c as fe game rooms are popular over Asia? Because consoles dont exist in their households.
I thought the steam deck was great when I first got it, played my current library and installed my own roms and emus. Then the icing was using every controller I have including my arcade sticks, just plug and play or wireless! The real problem with my steam deck now is my kids, we have to do something about the kids Marty! Steam Deck Junior so these heathens can let me play mines for once!
For the kids why not get them a Switch Lite or Nintendo Switch if you don't mind me asking? That way the kids have their own portable devices and you get to keep playing on your Steam Deck 👍 Unless the kids already have a Switch but really wants to play on your Steam Deck, then that's an issue...
@@paolaanimator yep that is exactly the issue, and these kids love retro games so much easier on the deck, my pocket is going to be hurting this holiday. When I broke out my old original game boy a few years ago, all they wanted to play was that over the Switch, Xbox, PS4 and PC. Not to mention they have their own Steam accounts. I never should have introduced them to retro gaming lol!
@@isurf239 Ahhhh gotcha, so they want to play what you're playing despite them having newer systems or their own accounts, lol. I still have my Gameboy Advance SP I played when I was a kid. I do play newer games but I still play older games from time to time. I'm glad you introduced your kids to retro gaming because there's a lot of golden gems in retro gaming. The great thing is that lots of older games plays amazing on Steam Deck.
did you disable smt with powertools for ps2/gamecube/wii? helps alot for some games. Helps for some more single/dual thread bound switch games as well.
Have you tried disabling some cores on emulators that don’t work well with multi-core? I’ve read that this can drastically increase single core performance.
you can get a surprising amount of battery out of switch emulation actually, on par with an original switch i'd say, you dont need a ton of watts and you can generally crank down gpu and cpu a bit
I recently bought two steam decks. The 1TB OLED and the cheaper 64gb LCD model for my sister. (she wanted my switch and I said nah) Installed Emudeck on both and we’re having a great time. She’s playing 3DS games and PS2 like it’s nothing and doesn’t mind the screen or refresh rate. Valve have really done something amazing with this device to have its cheapest model the same price as a Switch OLED.
I totally agree with this, but my problem is I don't know how to do emulation lols. I don't know how to get the games/roms. So I'm not really utilizing my deck to its full potential. I'm enjoying Persona 5 royal, cult of the lamb, and Octopath Traveler for now. I wanted to play windwaker hd and other pokemon games on my SD so bad but still couldn't figure out how to do it lols.
As much as I really want to love the steam deck, the size is really the biggest issue I have with it, as I find myself never really taking it out with me because of how much space it takes up and end up just leaving it at home. 😢
Ya I took it with me across country flying and it was a bit awkward to get the massive case and steam deck out of my backpack in the terminal and on the planes.
@@vasili1207 lol i mean there are plenty of situations where you might have some downtime when out and about but sure I guess. It's just not super convenient to stuff in a backpack or take it back out, whether you're at a cafe or the airport or on a plane.
@@Idontwantahandle1111 yes this is exactly what I was thinking, it might make sense to stuff in a carry on or checked bag for when you have some downtime at your hotel but it's super awkward trying to pull out of stuff back into your bag in a tight space.
note with lowering the amount of threads/cpu cores dolphin uses for wii and gamecube you can hit 60 fps on everygame. I just played sunshine all the way through on 60fps locked
@@c5cha7 all the metroid prime games are great on steam deck. actually there is a dedicated version of dolphin called prime hack that improves performance and gives gamecube controls to the wii triliogy game if you use that. you get for free with an install of emu deck
I thought I'd buy this and not actually end up getting much use out of it because I have a high end PC but I really quickly realized the sheer amount of options this thing opens up. I've used it for tons of emulation and it's also so nice to be able to stop my game on PC and jump on the steam deck to keep playing while I'm in bed with my girlfriend. The streaming is fantastic too. I've had it since the first wave and I still use it a lot.
Thanks for an excellent and extensive video! Been thinking about buying a Steam Deck, but I haven't been fully convinced. I'm still thinking about it, but this was a positive push into my "strongly consider buying-zone" :)
What is the next cheapest handheld after the Steam Deck? I've looked at other handhelds and the next cheapest I e found comes in at $1049. For $400 for the base model, this is not just a steal but international robbery.
If you want a weaker version of a PC, a shittier version of a console, a controller that is inferior to any other real controller, a screen that is worse than the cheapest monitors and touch screens out there... If all that packed into one overpriced device seems good to you, then go right ahead.
I had the original steam deck then upgraded to the OLED when it released. Even after a year plus, this is the first 'console' I have been excited for in a loooooooooong time and I love looking at videos like this.
The age of gaming handhelds is better than I could have imagined at this point! I cant wait to see what crazy things can be done on handhelds in 3-5 years. Love my Legion Go for things especially with th3 controllers taken off
Steam Deck Accessories: amzn.to/3NjnZr4
Order a Deck: store.steampowered.com/steamdeck
I love how you summed it up in the beginning taki the fact that you’re always on the search for that one emulator portable that does it all and as us viewers we’re looking for the same exact thing and the reason why we subscribed to you and watch your videos. Keep up the great work!!
I love the overall layout and size of the screen. I just wish the battery life wasn't so short 😪. It's definitely the best bang for the buck 💯
this is a dumb video... of course its better than any chyna crap
Please do a technical review of ClockworkPi's new uConsole!
Do no 360 games work? Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragin would be a dream come true on the Steam Deck.
the sheer versatility of this device is insane. i even watched this video on a steam deck
its a pc what did u expect sorry Linux lol
If only it lasted more than an hour.
the portability is negated by that abysmal battery life
No way I commented here from inside the digital world
@@halcyonramirez6469 My wife was playing God of War on hers and couldn't enjoy it because of the battery life. I tried to tell her. I just limit my cordless play to lower performance indie games and emulation (some games during switch emulation run for 4-5 hours at 60fps).
I watched it on the toilet, big deal.
There are no words to describe what a hero you are. I had been trying to remember a game for over 10 years, and even though the clip you played was only a few seconds, it was enough to remember it and get the name. It was Threads of Fate. You are the man.
Threads of Fate was one of my favorite PS era titles. Always has a spot in my ROM list
@@Russianranger4747 ah nostalgia eh dude? My personal favourite sonic adventure Mario sunshine and wind Waker all classics 😁
the story was so great, wish it got a show or something
Lol, I could never forget that game. Mint is best princess. World Domination! 🌎
@pug indeed 😁
The Steam Deck is without a doubt the coolest piece of hardware to have come out in a long time. I was blown away by mine when I received it.
The color washing on the Steam Deck can be corrected if you download Decky Loader and its “Vibrant Deck” plugin. You can significantly alter the contrast which makes games all the more beautiful
No need anymore! Valve updated the Steam Deck with the ability to change the color settings.
@@Zer0Moodhow do I change color settings?
@@Zer0MoodNo need anymore! Valve just dropped the Steam Deck OLED!
@@TheNatureVideosyou go to display settings > then to Adjust display colors > then saturation/vibrance
The speakers are something I don't see enough praise for. They are legitimately good. Better than most laptop or smartphones.
Still planning to use a portable DAC and decent IEM headphones with mine most of the time, but I agree, tge speakers are fantastic, better than any laptop I've ever owned
@@UNSCPILOT honestly, for gaming some cheap iems like the kz zsn pro are more than enough imo. And you dont even need an external dac for them.
@@Florianski In theory your right, but in practice I've already spoiled myself with testing my Fiio FH3'S connected via balanced to my Fiio M9 running from Bluetooth LDAC and enjoyed the results (just not the hefty delay the M9 has in bluetooth mode)
Worst case I can use the Moondrop Moonriver 2 with my laptop and phone too, that and I've loaded my music library into the Streamdeck too so I can run my own music with games when I feel like it, or when in desktop mode, I've really just been enjoying it too much to not want to upgrade it however I can, sooner or later I want to swap out the 256gig ssd for a 1tb or more ssd and get the hall-effect joysticks, maybe even a OLED screen mod if someone finds/makes a kit that'll work, so giving it a tricked out DAC is just stage 1 in my decent into madness after having built my desktop pc and modded my cheap laptops previously I can't resist trying to give the 'Deck everything I can and still keep it portable (unlike LTT's monstrosity with the external heatsink)
@@UNSCPILOT i feel you, I spoiled myself with some 64Audio u18t's paired with a shanling m6 pro ;)
But for gaming the zsn pro is good enough for me and i usually dont listen to music on the deck.
@@Florianski I have been using my ZS10 Pros since they have a regular 3.5mm jack on them still, it's decent without a doubt.
But I've deffinitly been spoiled enough to hear the DAC in the Deck struggling a bit when things get busy ie; music, sfx, and dialog overlapping or just particularly complicated it gets a little noisy and distorted to my ears, even when a particular game is running at a stable locked 30 or 40 fps.
And besides, it kinda makes the steamdeck into a mini version of my desktop in a way given I use a USB DAC with a small hybrid tube amp to drive my headphones there, probably won't bother trying to find a extra mini tube amp unless I can get one of those Korg Nutube things, really that's half the fun of any good device, finding cool ways to customize it, IMO
The support community part is massive. It's unbelievable how many obscure games and problems I've been able to find threads, resolutions, guides, and videos for over just the last few weeks alone.
Great baseline video for emulators on the Deck. The good is that as the emulators improve in optimization on the Deck, the games' performances improve as well. Plus, remember, this value here doesn't even take into account the massive Steam library that is on hand as well.
We wanna be able to play ALL THE GAMES
8:57 Heads up, for PAL games running at 50hz (or DOS and arcade games and such running at weird refresh rates) the refresh rate slider in the Quick Access Menu is great for smoothing out performance to where it should be. I don't know of any other handheld that can do that, it's sweet.
This
I can't approve of this statement enough! When I found out some months ago I was just positively shocked! ^^
Opendingux beta will auto switch the screen to 50hz when using pal roms if the emulator have it implemented (pretty much all do, bare handhelds emulators obviously)
Likewise if you set your default refresh to 40hz watch out for systems that expect 50 or 60 like the SNES, it was ruining performance and audio until I noticed what the problem was.
I actually really enjoy GBA on a larger screen. The GBA was arguably the last console/handheld that was only really capable of 2D (though there were always exceptions). There's so much great pixel art on the handheld, and I like a spacious screen for those games.
Any particular GBA must play games?
@@sirtimatbob I recently played through Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, and it was fantastic. The Metroid Fusion and Mother 3 are incredible. Pokemon Emerald is probably the best Pokemon game on the GBA.
Mario golf advanced tour, golden sun and mario kart super circuit are a couple of my favorites.
So true, I can't get into the newer pokemon games because of this because the old ones were just perfect imo - the 3D kind of changes the experience.
@@sirtimatbob Golden Sun, Legacy of Goku, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Minish Cap
I have a massive collection of retro emulation consoles. 2 shelfs full of every model and color variant. The steam deck came along and I've seriously considered selling all of this because it takes the cake. Hands down the best emulation device I've ever owned. It gave me the same nostalgic feel when I was a little kid holding a game gear for the first time. I love that its massive and chonky!
Do it bro. The money you'll get from selling all tha redundant consoles that you can play on the Deck can be used for something useful(or a second Deck lol). Maybe upgrade the sticks to Hall Sensors so they never wear down/drift. Upgrading the display, connecting a battery pack to the rear, or beefing up the ssd is also a viable option.
Cheers from Philippines!! 💜🍻🇵🇭
@@othinus nah i think the main part of collecting the consoles is history, sorta like a museum, its easy to make like 500 dollars and buy a new steam deck, but replacing your old consoles you had a connection with is priceless.
best emulation console? never xD
@@schwarzi95 its my opinion comparing to all the emulation consoles on my shelf. Im going to sell them all one by one. Its all the same chipset in a new body anyway
It just looks so uncomfortable and bulky. If they could fit it in the same footprint as the switch (doesn't need to be as thin) I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
The way this video is laid out and segmented so perfectly is so amazing I love it. I would hit the like button on this video like I was playing cookie clicker if I could. Much love man
Fantastic video! I love emulation on the Steam Deck. I got a 1 TB microSD and loaded that baby up with full collections of some systems, and a handful of my favorites for other systems that take up more space. And the fact that this thing can play recent AAA titles, can stream XBOX Game Pass to it, and can dual boot Windows or Batocera is phenomenal.
@@loumona76 Not sure what you mean? I went to a website. I clicked the buy button. It came to my house. What do you mean by "easy" and "accessible" FREE??? Not happening.
Owning a steam deck feels like back in the good ol days of using a modded PSP.
But this time it's back... WITH A VENGEANCE.
Glad to see you giving it the praise it deserves man. :D
and like the psp it will die off in a couple years.
@@sparhawk2195 Do you have any Idea what you're talking about?
Actually no... You have no idea what you're talking about, the bloody thing uses desktop based hardware more specifically laptop based, you can run literally anything you want on it as long as it runs at reasonable frame rates. This is much better than the Psp ever could be, that sucker was locked down to start.
this is actually wild how well it performs. definitely gonna pick one up sometime next year.
This is only the option I’d prefer over emulation on a flagship android although it seems ps2 on android emulates better depending. Probably because aethersx2 is already really optimized even compared to pcsx2
To fix some stuttering that would appear from the dolphin emulator, install the powertools plugin from decky loader and set it to the 4 or 3 threads with SMT off and have manual gpu clock control on and set it to 1200. So if you have some stutters from the dolphin emulator then I recommend these settings
That’s what Russ at Retro Game Corps did and it produced remarkable results.
@@matthewbelike Get gud scrub
@@matthewbelike Schools don't really teach IT you learn it yourself, on the internet. Then you go for IT.
Yeah it's literally a meme. A rocket scientist could tell you to get gud. I got gud at avoiding doctors since they just gave me crap medicine that doesn't work but costs me hundreds. Amazing how many cheap alternatives there are for regular stuff.
Hah!
@@matthewbelike bro relax
@@matthewbelike I'm assuming you know what Dolphin is if you're on a video about emulation. I'll grant you that the powertools plugin install via decky is pretty obscure, but you can easily google this stuff instead of telling random people on TH-cam who weren't addressing you directly that they're not making sense. Setting powertools to use 3/4 threads with SMT off is self explanatory if you actually install the application and take a look at the settings, so I don't think that's gibberish. Manual GPU clock control is also a default setting on the steam deck and can be changed with 2 button presses. No computer science degree needed. I'm glad you're a nurse, but I'm not sure why you saw fit to flex your major in this thread.
Steamdeck is currently dusting $1000 gaming laptops.
It's a no-brainer to get a steamdeck, even to just replace your laptop for work, such as I have done. Valve oozes quality and their customer support is the best I've ever experienced. I feel luck to be around and be able to afford such a thing, it's really an amazing device! Can't wait for the Deckard!
interesting! do you code with it?
@@bernardogalvao4448 u can
this does not come close to outclassing a 1000$ pc. a generic i5 9300h and 1650 with added ram outclass it for around the same price.
I can’t wait til I get mine I’m gonna use it as a gaming pc desktop and as a gaming laptop
@@user1hdud62htus5 fair, but that's not portable. also, you'd have a hard time building a full PC for the price of the steam deck (when you consider case, PSU, mobo, etc). while you COULD, I think the point is no portable laptop anywhere near this price point has the same level of performance.
Agree about the weight, it's distributed very well across the Steam Deck. I had the same initial feeling until I looked up the other day and realized I had played several continuous hours (4+) of Vampire Survivors with no wrist/finger fatigue. I would also like to point out of the devices I'd like to own, the Steam Deck was ironically the easiest to obtain when compared to the Analogue, Odin, or Ayn series.
I wanted the Analogue just to have one for my little console collection but then I realised it would hardly find use over the RG351V and instead bought a deck, now I wait for delivery!
@Vaphi The ability of the steamdeck is limitless!
That's really surprising because it looks super annoying to hold and use due to size/weight. I was going to stick to my OLED switch with a usb c dock glued to a hori mini arcade stick (weighs about the same as just the steam deck!)
It's kind of funny, I love that the Switch Lite is so lightweight, but my ring and pinky fingers fall asleep when I play it too long. There's definitely a sweet spot when it comes to weight.
@@scrub_jay Good for 20-min play sessions and easier to pack into a bag, and the Lite is only $200 or something. The Deck is more comfy to hold for a long time.
Feeling daring showing that Nintendo switch emulation 😅. The ninjas are probably on their way.
*activate stealth mode*
I hope so. It’s so tacky and ghetto when Switch games are emulated.
Just you wait, if too many people pirate, consoles will lock down their games and make them online stream only. That’ll slow down piracy immensely.
This is why I don't see myself buying another Nintendo console.
Your selection and taste for games is amazing! Can you do a list for each system by any chance?
For future Nintendo DS performance testing, consider working Solatorobo: Red the Hunter into the mix. It was a VERY late DS game and has chugging on some DS flash carts, but its real-time cutscenes using rendering tricks and beautiful art are an excellent benchmark.
Ooh! I have Solatorobo on my Deck! It works just fine, and looks beautiful too. So far I've tested up to the first 2 missions past the intro.
The rom says "DSi enhanced," but I'm not sure if it makes a big difference. On a real DSi, you can take a photo as your profile picture. The same picture shows up somewhere late game. (I won't spoil) if the same game is played on a "normal" DS, it will just replace the picture with a generic one instead.
@@snailgirl6 I've never tried the DSi enhancements, I had no idea that was a thing! With every passing day I want a physical copy of the game more and more -_-
I have been into retro gaming recently and I am loving the Steam Deck with emulation. It works amazingly. Along with some Steam games I got on sale and now it's like a having choice overload but in a good way. I've been chatting with my close friends and they love the Steam Deck too for how well it achieves emulation, lol. I own these physical games on their original systems, but it's so nice to have these games in portable format on Steam Deck in my 1 TB micro SD card and 512 GB storage. I'll be traveling soon but for now I love playing on my Steam Deck in bed after a long day.
Excellent video! I'm an emulators girl, love playing so many oldie games and being able to play all of them on the Steam Deck is simply great, now I wish Valve ships to Mexico soon because I really want to get me one, I dunno how long we're going to wait for that to happen, it's painful :/
@@loumona76 I want it to play my Steam games on the go mostly xD but yeah, it doesn't ship here yet, that's disappointing.
I would love to see a list of all the games you chose for your library because choice overload is honestly one of the hardest things 😅
But your the one who would know what you own and want to play? Just nail it down to your top 25 games to emulate and stick with that and add more. Otherwise shove is all into emulationstation
@@Dracossaint that's like saying "it's not hard, you just gotta do it." there's no way in hell I could make you a random list of 25 games let alone ones I want to play. And if you have too many games downloaded, the decision paralysis is still present. Nobody's brains are similar, and in most cases, if the answer seems stupid and obvious, it's because they already considered it
@@ProjectAudrey search for the best games for each console
There are Hundreds of lists like that
Showing some of the most popular or important games for each console
Use that to get some game and then get some of your own childhood favourites or get some underated ones
Which is why I mention it’s not bad having a couple of choices but stick to one and beat that one game first. I had the issue before then I started just beating a game at a time in completion and with emulation it’s ok if you miss a thing or two on android and steam deck or iPhone but with ps4 if I didn’t get every trophy in a game or it was next to impossible due to not available anymore cause it’s a online trophy that can’t be done or etc which is why I left console gaming all together and went emulation cause I couldn’t stop feening to get platinum trophies lol
choice overload? Just get all of them and then decide on the fly.. Obviously for legal reasons you would have to buy every single rom you own, but you know.
I just bought a Steam Deck cos of this amazing video! Thanks so much for an amazing overview of the great retro capabilities of this incredible device!
I agree with you on all points. The Steam Deck is by far the best handheld for emulation. It also has by far the best price-performance ratio. The Steam Deck is the king of handhelds :) 🎉
Display IPS 400 nits like phones from 2016, uncomfortable layout buttons, skateboard handheld? "The best".
The battery life is an absolute no go for me. I was extremely disappointed, I've literally never gotten more thwn 2 hours 🤷♂️.
what you expect powkiddy to beat it ? Chinese shite vs a proper company who's bread and butter is games
@@X862go I can get up to 6 hours of battery life lol
6h of battery life streaming or emulating the stuff other 6h devices emulate
I know that was not the goal of that video but I discovered so many retro games watching this lol
It was a hidden goal!
I got the steamdeck after your 2nd deck video, and I am so happy with it. It has done everything I’ve asked of it, and as updates continue, the handheld just keeps getting better. I’ve had an issue with duckstation too and I’ll have to do what you did. My only issue I have is in GC playing XtremeG3 racing. For some reason the “A” button gives up and I have to press the button again. It’s only happened a couple of times, but it was odd and caused me to lose the race. Outside of that, I haven’t really had any other issues.
Are you able to choose a different core or different ps1 emulator? I know duckstation is generally really decent but it is newer than the other emulators.
Thanks for the demos! I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Now time to decide between this and a PS5
I still have zero interest in any of these devices but I continue gladly watching the videos lol. Kinda funny how the same device can play every Resident Evil game via emulation but then also play the remakes.
I'm also impressed at the fact you manage to record the screen without it looking like absolute garbage.
It's a good screen!
How can you NOT be interested?
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e I have no need for mobile gaming lol.
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e There is no point to buy something like this for emulation.Every phone with sd888 8.1 can run everything up to ps2 plus there are already two switch emulators for android which they get better day by day.
@@michaeltz4911 But can a phone play pc games and have more user support than the steam community? Emudeck exists for a reason.
I was honestly shocked when i held it..
I had figured from all the reviews that it was going to be massive but it's not at all.
It is bigger but it's perfect for me.
I do wish it was bezel less tbh
Completely agree. That black bezels are way too big. A 7.5 or maybe an 8 inch display wouldn't make the Deck any bigger, while improving the experience a lot, especially for console and PC games which aren't designed for a small screen.
@@sovo1212 I think there will be a revision or steam deck 2 to address this which I will upgrade at that time 😁
Same way I felt buying a PS5…got it out of the box and isn’t much bigger than a fat PS3, not very big at all.
@@Guitario666 they literally just got caught up on the supply chains last month, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Yeah it's big but not in way that makes holding it cumbersome or unwieldy.
Honestly it's very ergonomic and comfortable. It's clear Valve really put a lot of thought into the design.
steam deck isn't the strongest but that price to performance ratio is absolutely insane. No scalpers now that reservations are closed too.
Which is strongest?
@@atmosrepair I guess a full-blown PC, or something else that isn't handheld? There's no way any third party emulation devices come close on performance
@@hb-robo There are other handheld devices out and/or coming out that have newer AMD chips and the ability to set a higher TDP iirc, but outside of youtube reviewers I am not sure if anyone have gotten their orders yet, and the prices are usually 2-3x + the base deck excluding shipping and import fees so difficult to justify really for most, though given the amount that people were paying scalpers for decks they will no doubt all be sold out anyway haha.
@@spookymunky1 Whoa, 2-3x?? I didn't even know there was a class of emu handhelds at that price bracket. Not sure of the appeal when SD also has a supported interface for, well, Steam, but to each their own. $800 for a Windows handheld seems like such a hard sell at this point.
@@hb-robo yes, lol.. well.. that is the standard price for these devices, it is just because valve is so huge that they are able to sell the deck both in huge numbers which lowers production costs but also at what I have to assume is quite a large loss 🤭, the same as m$ and sony and nintendo usually do at launch.
You can always put steam os on them now if you want, and some will probably start coming with it as an option, but since they are relatively low in production and nearly always sold out I don't think that the deck will have a huge impact in their operations really, no idea hehe... if anything it has probably helped them become much less of a niche unknown product.
I still can’t get over how well PS2 and GC play on this. I put ps2 at 6x res and I play my favorite games, KH2, FFX, and Dark Cloud (these are the ps2 games I own physical copies of and I haven’t expanded my library).
Hum if you're playing on the internal screen, no need to go past 3x i'd think. The screen is 1280/800 and the ps2 is mostly 480p/480i
@@goeland4585 The native resolution is the native resolution? Goddamn!
@@user-vp6cq4sv3d ?
What are you trying to say? He said he was 6x'ing the resolution so I told him why that wasn't needed on the steamdeck's screen.
@@goeland4585 Yeah you were stating the obvious is what you were doing. Why you felt compelled to perplexes me.
@@user-vp6cq4sv3d What's obvious to me or you isn't obvious to everyone? That's obvious to me but obviously not to you.
Using automatic drift in Mario Kart Wii and tapping the joystick to occasionally turn to make it through the whole bend instead of using the joystick with manual drifting through the whole bend in one go almost gave me an aneurism, I never thought anyone even used the automatic drifting feature.
So many good games showed up in this video. I found myself humming along to all the old bgms i used to listen to endlessly as a kid. Thanks for that :)
this video really sold the steam deck for me... looking into it right now. emulators are a game changer
I have my steam deck already 512gb + another 512 sd. I’m still tinkering and have a collection of Emu/Roma and AAA games. Yet here I am still watching Steam Deck videos 😂
How is the battery
Yes!!! I got it for that reason. It’s a monster…and the fact it can run the latest games is insane. Switch, etc.
Why does it look like a coaxial cable or antenna is coming out of the device? Top left cable 0:43
Headphone cable
The fact that, today, I can basically have a portable PS3 is insane.
I remember when people were taking apart the Dreamcast and putting it inside a Leap Frog and shit. Electronics nerds used to sell portable systems they made themselves for like $700, but now you can just have pretty much every system on one device.
Crazy
i was scared that the steam deck would be uncomfortable to play but its honestly perfect. love that i can play anywhere. it really is the switch pro although i do wish it had better battery life but thankfully i have a really good chunky battery pack
Hey, just since you said switch pro, can I assume you have a switch? Is the steam deck bigger? or the same size?
@@charmedpipper1 for sure bigger. probably 2 inches bigger corner to corner
@@noedidit. Thank you! 😊
Got my Steam Deck in Q3 and yes it is vastly superior to my Switch. I love that I can run Sword and Shield, Legends Arceus with Improved Textures and higher framerates. But more than that it is truly just a joy to use.
But it looks so annoying to use due to its size and weight, even in this video you see Taki is resting it on the table while he uses it. Doesn't it get tiring/annoying to hold for longer durations?
@@100toeface he rests all devices for videos dude..... You do realize he needs to point it at a camera right?
And yes it is heavy, but not heavy enough that you can't withstand an hour gaming
no it runs worse, and actually it can't run a lot of switch games like all the launches of this year like xenoblade chronicles 3 or bayonetta 3
@@100toeface I don’t get tired holding the device. But then again I am not gaming on a handheld for more than a few hours straight (because I have a life). I don’t think anything would be comfortable to hold for six or eight hours straight lol
@@hectord3013 Doesn't run all games perfect. Welcome to emulation, not even N46 is perfected. PS3, PS2. All still have some issues.
However the fact of the matter is that those games I mentioned run at 40-60 with Patches and CPU Power Draw Increase. Switch only runs them at 30 and has garbage textures for them at the same time.
So tempted to buy one because of this review. I just invested heavily into the FPGA Mister, so I think I’ll wait until the next iteration of the Steam Deck hardware.
Buying the Steam Deck was a no brainer for me with its cloud saving feature. Being able to play a game on my PC or Steam Deck, then turn it off and have my save files instantly upload to the other platform is so nice. Also owning 2,000 games on my Steam Profile certainly helps too.
@@casedistorted I don't have as many as you (490 something) but having a nice little handheld to bring to the couch when I'm hanging out with the gf is nice. I've cut a serious gash in my backlog
I've got a fully loaded MiSTer as well, awesome little thing. When a handheld comes out that uses FPGA (like Analogue Pocket) I'll be all over it, but emulation isn't for me. Replication is where it's at.
Better look at other reviews the battery seems to be underperforming thus dampening the portability aspect.
@@slliks67 Not really - it’s about the same as the Switch when playing similar games. Someone managed to get over 8 hours in dead souls for example.
It’s only when playing games that the switch can’t even run, like RDR2 or GoW, that battery suffers.
I love the steam deck so much you can take with you. I have an sd card loaded with 3000 games for almost every console, and a separate sd card that boots to windows when I wanna play modern warefare or fall guys. That not even counting the 20+ games from steam I have on the actual ssd. Crazy.
I knew the Steam Deck was a contender for best emulation when I booted up God of War 1&2 and it immediately worked with no lines going across the screen with no special configuration. For those that don't know, GoW is notorious to get working right on PCSX2. It can be done, but by god, it took me forever to figure out the secret sauce (that was awhile back, so maybe things are better). But I would always get these weird lines going through the screen. With EmuDeck, bam, works perfectly.
I really wish they went with a better panel too, but I understand why they didn't. They wanted the first iteration of the steam deck in as many hands as possible, and that meant the cheapest prices possible, which meant a cheaper display
So many people bang on about the display, it's perfect in my opinion.
I'd love a video from Taki on tweaking settings in various emulators, the deck itself, powertools etc. So much bad info floating around causing bad performance.
They really should put an OLED screen. I can't go back to LCD after Switch OLED and LG TV...
like that'll ever happen
One only can dream
Your wish was fulfilled m8e
Aged like fine wine
@@netnutellahi there
I bought one after your first video, then you uploaded this an I am happy to see you love this just as much as I do!
Great video showing playable games...all the time and work gone into this THANK YOU!!!
I would actually love to see a video on choice overload. And how to avoid it. It's something I struggled with a lot when I'd first got into using emulation handhelds
bro just pick your favorite game and play it
@@zachprice355 Alot of options man. Major burnout. Unlike dinner.
Steam Deck running Pokemon SHield at 30 fps is actually very impressive
Steam deck is just so damn crazy. I haven't even touched my Switch ever since I got it last month!
Same... should we just sell our Switches?
my switch is only set up still because of splatoon, otherwise it'd be collecting dust in the shadow of my Steam Deck lol
One of the better vids on the steam deck. The sheer emulation this can do is really pushing me to make the purchase. Great video!
Have you bought one yet?
Now that the OLED is out, you can get great colors on all of these now. The only shortcoming is still the CPU and overall power itself, but everything else is near perfect
FFX into FFX-II into FFXII really hit me right in my nostalgia
I must have spent like 2k hours across all those games in my lifetime, god I love Spira and Ivalice
My only complaint (and I mean only) is that the library menu bugs out frequently. Nothing too terrible, but it's annoying having to switch pages to fix the issue. Otherwise, this thing has been amazing. I've been itching to play Twilight Princess again, but didn't want to break out the Wii U or gamecube. Steam deck runs it flawlessly. Never finished Drakengard 3, and hey, the PS3 emulation is surprisingly good. It is amazing. The community is amazing.
This video feels really incomplete without any talking about powertools, helps a lot with ps2 and dolphin
It's used in this video, but I didn't want to spend too much time getting into the weeds of software in this video.
@@TakiUdon oh, cool
Yeah L comment
This is why I am sooo stoked to recieve mine. Im aure its not super easy to do, but having a backlog of all these classics at my fingertips is what im looking forard to most. Ordered last night and cant wait
SAAAME! Just ordered mine last night as of this. Hope ya enjoying it! Can't wait for mine!
It IS easy. I had everything running in under an hour
@Knightphall any tutorials you recommend. I had a backlog of roms and tried emulation station. Used the wizard and only a handful of Sega games load with bad audio. Haven't messed with it since
Can't wait for it to drop in Australia. Been looking forward to doing this from day 1
The steam deck is a perfect emulation device for me. EMUDeck hade it so accessible by configuring the emulators for us. Currently the systems I've been playing the post are GBA and WiiU
❤🎉
Absolutely fantastic video! I love all the gameplay footage you included and also it was filmed very professionally!
It has to fit inside my pocket to be the ultimate portable machine for me.
Currently this is the best we can get though and if one has a backpack when they go outside, then steam deck is a no brainer.
But hopefully we will get a steam deck mini in next 2-3 years that will be the size of a psp.
what kind of freak still uses his pockets.
@@mortemincarnatam2836 well... pulls out keys, wired earbuds, a wallet, a USB stick and small USB-C to A adapter, a drawing glove and finally a smartphone that's small enough to fit.
I don't know, I abuse mine.
@@mortemincarnatam2836 normal people?
@@mortemincarnatam2836 People who don't want to lug around a backpack all day, risk losing it, and look like a backpacker? What if you are out biking and get a flat tire and have to wait by the road for an hour, your steam deck won't be in your pocket but your miyo mini will be, and you won't even notice it in your pocket either.
I don't think a pocket sized device will be playing AAA PC games any time soon, unless AMD's RDNA 3 is a gigantic leap in power efficiency.
Processing consumes power, and power consumption produces heat, and heat requires cooling. The Steam Deck has a giant cooling solution and that's why it's so big.
Not even the regular Nintendo Switch, the most portable handheld console in current gen, fits in most people's pockets (you can remove the joycons and maybe fit just the screen with very big ones).
Not to mention, even for it's time, the Switch was considered an underpowered device (they wanted it to be as small as can be for console-esque performance).
Your expectations are too unrealistic for *only* 2-3 years.
There was a 6 year gap between the Maxwell architecture on the Switch and the RDNA 2 architecture on Steam Deck (same used in PS5 and Xbox Series X) And the Steam Deck requires significantly more cooling than even the Switch.
Give it another 6-8 years and maybe something might come out that meets your expectations.
This is the video we have all been waiting for!
Great video! Also showing off a load of games I've never seen or heard of!
A big tip I have is even if your getting bored (it can happen with a “free game” that your emulating) just stick to one. I have a couple but been sticking to ff9 on my old google pixel xl android. It adds to the experience when you beat one at a time don’t go shifting through multiple you’ll get burned and more bored that way. I also do emulation as a primary way of gaming now I need to get back to the switch to beat a few games tho but otherwise ps4 and that sit it out android I can emulate anywhere
I'm pretty smitten with my Steam Deck and Odin Lite. I don't foresee a purchase for another device for quite a while. The Odin Lite is really the crown jewel IMO, even with the different screen, battery life is crazy good.
I love my Odin as well but it really should have had front firing speakers like the Steam Deck.
@@coxxycabee yeah the sound reproduction in general isn't great. You can tell there's something off if you regularly watch YT or shows on another device, then pick it up on the Odin. Sounds like the mids are too pronounced, and people you've listened to recently sound completely different or off key. It's fine if you're playing a game though. I do wish the lowest volume setting was quieter just above mute as well. But I use BT 90% of the time so it's not that big of a deal usually. Still miles ahead of the competition if you picked it up with early pricing.
Odin will be trash by 2024.
@@sagepirotess6312 unless android games get really demanding or emulation gets earth-shattering progress on Android, the target audience will still be the same in 2024. What exactly do you want performance wise out of a handheld with a screen so small?
@@seouljah760 not true. Your thinking western logic. Globally phone games do better as they are in hands of consumers 24.7, anywhere due to phones.
Second, most asia and other countries dont have consoles in house. Hence Japan, Korea, China and such. Thus digital takes carrying and storing a cartridge away.
Why do you think pc c as fe game rooms are popular over Asia? Because consoles dont exist in their households.
I thought the steam deck was great when I first got it, played my current library and installed my own roms and emus. Then the icing was using every controller I have including my arcade sticks, just plug and play or wireless! The real problem with my steam deck now is my kids, we have to do something about the kids Marty! Steam Deck Junior so these heathens can let me play mines for once!
For the kids why not get them a Switch Lite or Nintendo Switch if you don't mind me asking? That way the kids have their own portable devices and you get to keep playing on your Steam Deck 👍 Unless the kids already have a Switch but really wants to play on your Steam Deck, then that's an issue...
@@paolaanimator yep that is exactly the issue, and these kids love retro games so much easier on the deck, my pocket is going to be hurting this holiday. When I broke out my old original game boy a few years ago, all they wanted to play was that over the Switch, Xbox, PS4 and PC. Not to mention they have their own Steam accounts. I never should have introduced them to retro gaming lol!
@@isurf239 Ahhhh gotcha, so they want to play what you're playing despite them having newer systems or their own accounts, lol. I still have my Gameboy Advance SP I played when I was a kid. I do play newer games but I still play older games from time to time. I'm glad you introduced your kids to retro gaming because there's a lot of golden gems in retro gaming. The great thing is that lots of older games plays amazing on Steam Deck.
This is exactly the video I've been looking for! Thanks a lot!
the dedication to showing all the video games emulated wow!
did you disable smt with powertools for ps2/gamecube/wii? helps alot for some games. Helps for some more single/dual thread bound switch games as well.
*a lot
Two words, not one. Think of it like this: a few, a little, a bunch, a _whole_ bunch, a lot, a _whole_ lot.
Have you tried disabling some cores on emulators that don’t work well with multi-core? I’ve read that this can drastically increase single core performance.
Yes. It was used throughout this video.
@@TakiUdon Hm.. Which games are these?
you can get a surprising amount of battery out of switch emulation actually, on par with an original switch i'd say, you dont need a ton of watts and you can generally crank down gpu and cpu a bit
I recently bought two steam decks. The 1TB OLED and the cheaper 64gb LCD model for my sister. (she wanted my switch and I said nah)
Installed Emudeck on both and we’re having a great time. She’s playing 3DS games and PS2 like it’s nothing and doesn’t mind the screen or refresh rate.
Valve have really done something amazing with this device to have its cheapest model the same price as a Switch OLED.
excellent video. i imagine the work to record this amount of games. subbed.
If steam deck emulation gets more attention, this could be a huge win!
Emulation =\= gaming
Steam Deck emulation is nigh on perfect as it is.
Seeing AMD's new GPU line up, I really want to see a steam deck 2
I am waiting for the second version of the steam deck to buy but putting money away each paycheck.
The fact that you started with SUPER MARIO RPG makes me want this
Looks awesome & lovely to hold.
I totally agree with this, but my problem is I don't know how to do emulation lols. I don't know how to get the games/roms. So I'm not really utilizing my deck to its full potential. I'm enjoying Persona 5 royal, cult of the lamb, and Octopath Traveler for now. I wanted to play windwaker hd and other pokemon games on my SD so bad but still couldn't figure out how to do it lols.
Vimm's lair cough cough...
CDRomance too! ;)
Piracy
Thanks guys! I will definitely do some research on those suggestions, sorry I’m such a dummy on these things. Lols.
@@midleno8364 Pirating Nintendo games is morally correct.
As much as I really want to love the steam deck, the size is really the biggest issue I have with it, as I find myself never really taking it out with me because of how much space it takes up and end up just leaving it at home. 😢
shouldn't be gaming outside anyways u unsocial person its rude as F
Ya I took it with me across country flying and it was a bit awkward to get the massive case and steam deck out of my backpack in the terminal and on the planes.
@@vasili1207 lol i mean there are plenty of situations where you might have some downtime when out and about but sure I guess. It's just not super convenient to stuff in a backpack or take it back out, whether you're at a cafe or the airport or on a plane.
@@Idontwantahandle1111 yes this is exactly what I was thinking, it might make sense to stuff in a carry on or checked bag for when you have some downtime at your hotel but it's super awkward trying to pull out of stuff back into your bag in a tight space.
note with lowering the amount of threads/cpu cores dolphin uses for wii and gamecube you can hit 60 fps on everygame. I just played sunshine all the way through on 60fps locked
Not every game, try play Metroid prime 2 Echos, runs like garbage
*every game
Anyone tried Metroid prime 1? Tired of waiting for Nintendo to remaster it and would love to get a steamdeck to play it
@@562.anthony2 must be your settings I am getting 60 fps 98% of the time with smt off, 3 cores, and gpu at 1200mhz
@@c5cha7 all the metroid prime games are great on steam deck. actually there is a dedicated version of dolphin called prime hack that improves performance and gives gamecube controls to the wii triliogy game if you use that. you get for free with an install of emu deck
Always loved your channel. Keep it up man!
I'm sold. Thanks for the great video. Will order one!
this is why people should avoid shady tiktok/wish handhelds, this will be well supported by valve
Yeah. My problem is that it's too big
For me it is a "semi-portable", doesn't look good to play on bus, for example.
It’s about the same size as a Switch with a Hori Split Pad Pro
It's not too big. It's just right.
I thought I'd buy this and not actually end up getting much use out of it because I have a high end PC but I really quickly realized the sheer amount of options this thing opens up. I've used it for tons of emulation and it's also so nice to be able to stop my game on PC and jump on the steam deck to keep playing while I'm in bed with my girlfriend. The streaming is fantastic too. I've had it since the first wave and I still use it a lot.
LOL. "... jump on the steam deck to keep playing while I'm in bed with my girlfriend."
girlfriend bragging -12313213 points
Thanks for an excellent and extensive video!
Been thinking about buying a Steam Deck, but I haven't been fully convinced. I'm still thinking about it, but this was a positive push into my "strongly consider buying-zone" :)
Thanks for including OG Xbox. Happy to see JSRF running well. Was looking to try playing this again.
The fact the steam deck is a better switch than the switch (most of the time) is just crazy
What is the next cheapest handheld after the Steam Deck? I've looked at other handhelds and the next cheapest I e found comes in at $1049.
For $400 for the base model, this is not just a steal but international robbery.
Completely agree
Valve has the power to sell it at $400, while the others don't.
@@lucassantossj either way wind for the consumer
Loki, but it's not shipping yet.
If you want a weaker version of a PC, a shittier version of a console, a controller that is inferior to any other real controller, a screen that is worse than the cheapest monitors and touch screens out there... If all that packed into one overpriced device seems good to you, then go right ahead.
You've never played on a Steam Deck? You're missing out.
@@Nickbaldeagle02 Owned it. Sold it because it's a terrible waste of money since literally anything else out there gaming-wise is 10x better.
seethe comment that could only have ever been posted by a nintendie
Can’t wait to get mine! It is arriving tomorrow!
Great vid bro. Thanks for the time and effort. Very well done
1:46 Crosscode enjoyer identified, liking video
I had the original steam deck then upgraded to the OLED when it released. Even after a year plus, this is the first 'console' I have been excited for in a loooooooooong time and I love looking at videos like this.
you're the first human I've seen play starfox adventures on an emulation video, it's my favorite GameCube game, it's so good
The age of gaming handhelds is better than I could have imagined at this point! I cant wait to see what crazy things can be done on handhelds in 3-5 years.
Love my Legion Go for things especially with th3 controllers taken off