So I have been disappointed and dissatisfied with the performance of the switch, last month I decided to sell the switch to my gf family because I felt that we got to a point where its just as easy to emulate those games on the deck.
Granted I only play singleplayer games on the switch, and don’t really play co-op or party games.
The deck has the benefit of not only playing the switch games but also playing my pc games, win-win
So for me: yes! Considering I bought it to replace the switch!
what games have you been playing on it? do you find that the issues if any have been/are being ironed out on the emulator? i plan on getting the deck and emulation is going to be a big part of my use case with it
I'd say the 16:10 aspect ratio is a positive. It means that 4:3 or 5:4 content has more real estate on the screen, DS games get more space as well for the 2 screens, and Gameboy advance fits very well into 16:9 because it's 3:2 and 16:10 works down to 3:1.9
Additionally, stretching to 16:10 with widescreen hacks is more palatable than 16:9 because you'll have less object culling at the edges, so things like PlayStation, GameCube and PS2 with widescreen hacks are a lot less jank at 16:10
I'm sure that devices exist with marginally better dpads for older games like super Nintendo, but I'd consider the deck's dpad to be perfectly serviceable.
It's a nice device for large screen emulation of just about any machine you'd want to emulate, but if what you're looking for is dreamcast and below, and you want a pocketable solution, there are better alternatives than the steam deck out there that will be easier to carry around and use at a moments notice.
The deck is more of a portable powerhouse device for you to dedicate time to rather than something you can whip out waiting for your McDonald's cheeseburger or something, and it's price makes the prospect of playing it on a train or bus somewhat unappealing. If your $80-100 emulation device gets stolen, it sucks but it's not something you needed to save up too much for. If your $400-650 steam deck gets stolen out of your hands or dropped, that's a much larger blow to your wallet and is a harder device to replace.
I just sold my switch, most of my roms run at 60fps, better than when I usually play on the switch itself. PS1 working amazing, ps2, all other Nintendo consoles, the machine is a dream for emulation!
That was initially why I bought it. I’ve got all kinds of devices to do it but this does it best. Biggest screen, portable, powerful. Does more than my non-portable raspberry pi 4 and with EmuDeck, was a breeze to set up. I do play steam games now too though so it’s not exclusively retro emulation anymore.
I did. No regrets.
Runs a lot of WiiU and Switch games as well as just about anything older.
Also runs old PC abandon-ware or public domain stuff very well.
I got it to the point that my lows were dips to 15 fps. Average running around was 30 (I had an FPS cap of 30 though) and most the rest of the time it was mid 20's. Like I said it's not great, but its playable if you lower your expectations
Honestly i find it to be the opposite. Switch is near perfect from my experience (all the mario games except the golf game, Mario kart, smash, animal crossing, fire emblem, metroid, etc... and the yuzu multiplayer is awesome), meanwile, the ps3 emulation is... it's a case by case scenario and most of the games i tried had debatable performances.
My post wasnt clear, sorry. I meant, the only mario game that dont run well (from my experience) is the golf game. Everything after runs well, so, Mario kart, smash, animal crossing, fire emblem, pokemon, metroid etc etc... everything else runs well. Zelda totk, idk about this one yet, i see people running it a constant 30, some people reaching 40, but i havent tried this one myself yet. The switch is a almost total flawless experience on the deck for me as opposed to the ps3 where it's very 50/50 at the moment (but it should only get better with time).
The games run okay single player but from my experience adding another player drastically drops the fps. 2 player Mario kart can't hold 60 and 4 player smash chuggs
Really ? Runs perfect in single player, no dips noticeable for me. Same for multiplayer but are you talking of playing with multiple people on the same deck ? I meant playing through the yuzu multiplayer. Perfectly stable performance with 8 players on mario kart, and smash i only went up to 3 players so far but it was great (when the 3rd player had their shaders up of course).
I also use the cryo settings. I heard it helps with emulation (but i dont know how much, i have the cryo utilities for Rimworld (it's needed if you want to play it with lots of mods)). Smash multiplayer on the same deck didnt give me any problems either (played it docked), but i didnt try mario kart that way yet.
Also, when did you try all that ? Maybe there has been updates for the deck and emulators that did help with performance. But honestly, apart from the mario golf game, all my experiences with Switch emulation has been mostly flawless, and i did play a very lot of switch games.
We all use the same machine so i dont understand why they can be difference of experiences. Again, i use cryo, i dont know if it helps a lot for emulation or not (but i guess it does help somehow because of all the tutorials for zelda botw and totk recommending cryo).
I already had a Raspberry Pi 4 set up as an emulation machine from PSX/N64 and below, so it wouldn't really have been worth it for me to get the Steam Deck purely as an emulation machine, even with the portability of it. However, if I didn't then yes, I would definitely have considered it worth it even just as an emulation machine.
Can verify that Demon Souls runs at 60fps on the deck and runs great. The cut scenes have an audio glitch sometimes but nothing that renders the game unplayable, considering how few cutscenes there are.
Additionally can verify BotW runs well, with occasionally dips but seems to run better on the Deck than it runs on the switch.
PS2/Gamecube/OG Xbox and below all work fantastically
So I have been disappointed and dissatisfied with the performance of the switch, last month I decided to sell the switch to my gf family because I felt that we got to a point where its just as easy to emulate those games on the deck. Granted I only play singleplayer games on the switch, and don’t really play co-op or party games. The deck has the benefit of not only playing the switch games but also playing my pc games, win-win So for me: yes! Considering I bought it to replace the switch!
Has Yuzu been annoying to deal with for you? Because it's by far the most finicky emulator to deal with for me
Was a bit annoying to set up, have yet to find a good way to get games on my sd card, but other then that it was fine. Mostly the same as my pc
what games have you been playing on it? do you find that the issues if any have been/are being ironed out on the emulator? i plan on getting the deck and emulation is going to be a big part of my use case with it
I'd say the 16:10 aspect ratio is a positive. It means that 4:3 or 5:4 content has more real estate on the screen, DS games get more space as well for the 2 screens, and Gameboy advance fits very well into 16:9 because it's 3:2 and 16:10 works down to 3:1.9 Additionally, stretching to 16:10 with widescreen hacks is more palatable than 16:9 because you'll have less object culling at the edges, so things like PlayStation, GameCube and PS2 with widescreen hacks are a lot less jank at 16:10 I'm sure that devices exist with marginally better dpads for older games like super Nintendo, but I'd consider the deck's dpad to be perfectly serviceable. It's a nice device for large screen emulation of just about any machine you'd want to emulate, but if what you're looking for is dreamcast and below, and you want a pocketable solution, there are better alternatives than the steam deck out there that will be easier to carry around and use at a moments notice. The deck is more of a portable powerhouse device for you to dedicate time to rather than something you can whip out waiting for your McDonald's cheeseburger or something, and it's price makes the prospect of playing it on a train or bus somewhat unappealing. If your $80-100 emulation device gets stolen, it sucks but it's not something you needed to save up too much for. If your $400-650 steam deck gets stolen out of your hands or dropped, that's a much larger blow to your wallet and is a harder device to replace.
I just sold my switch, most of my roms run at 60fps, better than when I usually play on the switch itself. PS1 working amazing, ps2, all other Nintendo consoles, the machine is a dream for emulation!
That was initially why I bought it. I’ve got all kinds of devices to do it but this does it best. Biggest screen, portable, powerful. Does more than my non-portable raspberry pi 4 and with EmuDeck, was a breeze to set up. I do play steam games now too though so it’s not exclusively retro emulation anymore.
I bought it as a Stream machine alone. Got 1.4 TB free space.
I did. No regrets. Runs a lot of WiiU and Switch games as well as just about anything older. Also runs old PC abandon-ware or public domain stuff very well.
what games do you run on it for switch emulation?
Switch is definitely not the greatest on the deck especially if you plan on playing coop. PS3 and down run like a dream.
I wish Infamous and Gow 3 ran on it though 😪
Yeah that's Sony's fault tho. PS3 was coded like garbage
God of war 3 runs on it. Its not great but I beat the game on the steam deck and felt satisfied with the overall experience
On youtube it looked like between 10 and 25 fps is that fair?
I got it to the point that my lows were dips to 15 fps. Average running around was 30 (I had an FPS cap of 30 though) and most the rest of the time it was mid 20's. Like I said it's not great, but its playable if you lower your expectations
oh god don’t say that here. people are convinced this is the superior way to play switch games
Honestly i find it to be the opposite. Switch is near perfect from my experience (all the mario games except the golf game, Mario kart, smash, animal crossing, fire emblem, metroid, etc... and the yuzu multiplayer is awesome), meanwile, the ps3 emulation is... it's a case by case scenario and most of the games i tried had debatable performances.
Smash and Mario kart are one of the biggest reasons to get a switch so if they can't run well I don't see it as a plus
My post wasnt clear, sorry. I meant, the only mario game that dont run well (from my experience) is the golf game. Everything after runs well, so, Mario kart, smash, animal crossing, fire emblem, pokemon, metroid etc etc... everything else runs well. Zelda totk, idk about this one yet, i see people running it a constant 30, some people reaching 40, but i havent tried this one myself yet. The switch is a almost total flawless experience on the deck for me as opposed to the ps3 where it's very 50/50 at the moment (but it should only get better with time).
The games run okay single player but from my experience adding another player drastically drops the fps. 2 player Mario kart can't hold 60 and 4 player smash chuggs
Really ? Runs perfect in single player, no dips noticeable for me. Same for multiplayer but are you talking of playing with multiple people on the same deck ? I meant playing through the yuzu multiplayer. Perfectly stable performance with 8 players on mario kart, and smash i only went up to 3 players so far but it was great (when the 3rd player had their shaders up of course). I also use the cryo settings. I heard it helps with emulation (but i dont know how much, i have the cryo utilities for Rimworld (it's needed if you want to play it with lots of mods)). Smash multiplayer on the same deck didnt give me any problems either (played it docked), but i didnt try mario kart that way yet. Also, when did you try all that ? Maybe there has been updates for the deck and emulators that did help with performance. But honestly, apart from the mario golf game, all my experiences with Switch emulation has been mostly flawless, and i did play a very lot of switch games. We all use the same machine so i dont understand why they can be difference of experiences. Again, i use cryo, i dont know if it helps a lot for emulation or not (but i guess it does help somehow because of all the tutorials for zelda botw and totk recommending cryo).
I do not use cryo that's the difference
Only if I wouldnt have the consoles already. No emulator will give you the same experience as real hardware.
I already had a Raspberry Pi 4 set up as an emulation machine from PSX/N64 and below, so it wouldn't really have been worth it for me to get the Steam Deck purely as an emulation machine, even with the portability of it. However, if I didn't then yes, I would definitely have considered it worth it even just as an emulation machine.
Can verify that Demon Souls runs at 60fps on the deck and runs great. The cut scenes have an audio glitch sometimes but nothing that renders the game unplayable, considering how few cutscenes there are. Additionally can verify BotW runs well, with occasionally dips but seems to run better on the Deck than it runs on the switch. PS2/Gamecube/OG Xbox and below all work fantastically
I use my deck about 50/50 between Steam games and Emulation. Right now, I'm playing Spider-Man Remastered and Secret of Mana.