Simulation on the Steam platform has become more convenient
When the Steam platform launched in February I’m already excited about it as an emulation device. After setting up the retro console emulator, I spent hours of test time playing games like Metroid Prime and Persona 3 on the deck, which was just a bit fiddly (the biggest inconvenience was having to use the trackpad when it’s really for a desktop) . Not bad if you already know how to use an emulator, but launching an emulator definitely requires more work than anything in the Steam library.
Just over a month after the Steam platform launched, setting up a simulation has become fairly easy – my simulation games now live side by side with my PC games in my Steam library, and I can launch them with a single click.
A number of tools have appeared recently to simplify the configuration of simulations on the Steam deck, but the tool I use to simplify the setup is Emudek, which captivated me with its simple five-step setup. Is it really that easy? Actually, yes, almost.
EmuDeck does something. It installs another app, Steam Rom Manager, which automatically downloads cover art for your games and adds them to your Steam library for easy access to them. It also automatically installs a bunch of emulators and then configures them with controller key bindings and other settings. I especially like that it sets some generic hotkeys like saving/loading game state that I would otherwise have to do in every emulator.
Launching a retro game is now as easy for me as pressing the “A” button in the SteamOS interface. The emulator launches directly into this game and I don’t even have to look at the emulator interface.
EmuDeck is so popular that its creators keep updating it with new features, and I hope it will become a more powerful tool over time. Now it leans towards simplicity over customization (for example, it currently doesn’t allow you to choose which emulator to install). But the update is coming so quickly that any YouTube video you find on EmuDeck may be out of date. Thankfully, it’s easy to set up, A brief guide on the EmuDeck website is all you need.
I’ve spent so many years tinkering with emulators and configuring this or that esoteric setting to make a particular game work the way I want it to feel like I’m cheating, launching the game directly through Steam without even seeing the emulator’s menu. I wish I would still open the emulator from time to time to tweak it to my liking. But if you’re just as excited about Deck’s emulation potential and vigilant about the setup involved, EmuDeck more or less eliminates these headaches.
There are also some exciting tools for Deck simulation that don’t simplify things to this extent. EmuDeck is also associated with an application called EmulationStation Desktop Edition, where you can keep all your emulation content separate from your Steam library. YouTuber ETA Prime provides a good walkthrough here:
In the long run, I think EmulationStation DE will provide a better emulation experience than simply launching the game through Steam, as its interface is built specifically for retro game libraries and will likely provide easier access to individual emulators Set futzing.
It’s unbelievable how quickly things have progressed since Deck launched, even though the emulator developers themselves don’t have access to the Steam Deck to optimize the hardware. I can’t wait to see how much has changed a year later.