Valve's handheld is an emulation powerhouse.
As someone with a keen interest in gaming history, I use emulators a lot. Games are, unfortunately, a very disposable medium and a combination of technological advances and a lack of interest or passion on behalf of publishers mean getting your hands on the best games of yesteryear via entirely legal or official means is next to impossible. Games like Paper Mario, Eternal Darkness, or even Silent Hill 2 are available almost exclusively through emulators for many people.
Hooray for emulation then, where would we be without it? But what's the best way to get started? It can be a hassle to get them running on consoles, and there's a little tethering about playing them on a PC. That's where the Steam Deck comes in - the perfect handheld emulation station.
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Getting emulators up and running was a very simple process. If you've ever dipped your toe into the waters of emulation before, there's nothing here that's going to take you off guard. It's easy to forget the Steam Deck is a fully functional PC, but it absolutely is, which made getting stalwart emulators like PCSX2 (PS2), Dolphin (GameCube), SNES9X (SNES) and the like installed totally hassle-free. I was playing Dragon Quest before I knew it.
Don't be put off by the fact that the Steam Deck runs a modified form of Linux either. I know that particular OS frightens people more than black magic, but Valve have done a great job making it feel familiar, and you don't need to use the terminal. Most of what you need is available through a pre-installed app store, and just to put the cherry on top, most emulators are automatically compatible with your gamepad.
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Games from more recent generations - Playstation 2 and 3 in particular - run surprisingly well. I managed to get Demon's Souls running at a solid 30fps, and Skate 3 ran at 60fps with only a few minor dips. PS2 games run even better. Even Shadow of the Colossus runs at well north of 45fps, and less demanding games like Ratchet: Deadlocked and Jak 2 never went below 50fps. It's remarkable that these games run at all, to have so many ready to play was a nice surprise. Being able to leave the house with games from that era in my backpack is something I never thought I'd be able to do.
As a fan of retro games, Valve's handheld really shone for me when playing simple, older games on the go. As much as I love the PS2 and the PS3, games like Earthbound and the SquareSoft RPGs just feel so cosy on the Steam Deck. Their relative simplicity makes them perfect to play in short bursts, they don't really benefit from being blown up on a 32-inch gaming monitor, and the smaller Steam Deck screen keeps those pixels compressed and those images sharp.
Portable Game Boy games like Pokémon are great on Steam Deck too. Playing Pokémon Emerald while waiting for a bus, or doing a spot of farming in Harvest Moon between lectures at university felt amazing. I even found time to play through a bit of Super Mario RPG in my dentist's waiting room - I never thought I'd live to see the day!
Something always felt wrong playing SNES games at the same desk that I work at, but curled up on the couch they're an entirely different proposition. I want an emulator to help me claw back some of that old-school console magic, and that's exactly what the Steam Deck does.
The hybrid nature of the Steam Deck is what makes it so successful. It's a strong value proposition and has all the convenience and the low barrier to entry of a console, but the power and customisability of a PC. It'll take just about anything in its stride and emulating my favourite games is a breeze. I don't know if Valve were targeting emulation specifically, but they couldn't have done a better job if they were. Freedom really is the keyword. The Steam Deck has so many strengths, and so few caveats, that it's a natural emulation powerhouse.
There is another reason to emulate games on the Steam Deck that places Valve in a slightly less favourable light. As much as the Deck impresses on a hardware front, the number of games that are currently rated as "Great on Deck" isn't quite as high as it should be. That number will almost certainly increase as time goes on, but right now, you might feel as though there are only one or two significant gaps in your handheld library. We have a list of incompatible games right here.
I have more than 200 games in my Steam Library, only 49 of which have been given the green light by Valve, while games like Halo Infinite and Destiny 2 don't work at all because they use incompatible anti-cheat software. Emulators fill the gap perfectly while we wait for the Deck to ramp up its collection of games that are confirmed to work well with it.
If you're like me, you might find yourself using emulators more than SteamOS itself.
Next: Returnal On PC Speculation Continues As Steam Deck Support Spotted
Robert (He/Him) has been writing about games since he was 16 years old. He believes in gaming as an exciting new art form and loves to try and shed light on the often overlooked aspects of the medium. If he's not gaming, he's probably playing guitar.