Steam deck for a TV party game emulation machine?
Hello all, I was hoping to pick up a machine for 1080p gaming on a TV primarily for playing couch party games on emulators (switch, ps3, wii, etc) and was wondering if the deck would be a good fit? I've heard before that there were some problems with docks but not sure if that's been resolved. Any insight is appreciated
The ONLY problem I have had with this, is the controller on the system itself defaults as controller 1, so SOME games it takes a little fiddling to use different controllers. But I have done this and it works great.
I've used a handful of different USB to HDMI docks, and I haven't had any problems with any of them. I just use an anker dock that supports gigabit ethernet, 100W power passthrough, and HDMI, and it works just fine.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087QZVQJX/
You can use just about any controllers using Bluetooth, I really like the wireless XBox controllers (only supported over Bluetooth) for this. But I've also used the Switch controllers and they work fine.
It's really just a slightly expensive setup for what it is, but it's also very portable, so...
The ONLY problem I have had with this, is the controller on the system itself defaults as controller 1, so SOME games it takes a little fiddling to use different controllers. But I have done this and it works great.
I don't know if you're talking about in-game fiddling or Steam Input but to clarify for others here: Steam allows to reorder the controllers, so the thing I usually do at the beginning of game party is to move the Deck's integrated inputs to the last place.
Appreciate the tip and the dock suggestion! And portability is a big motivation behind this setup so glad to hear
I will be very disappointed if this doesn't support my wii controller.
Should work fine, although I found connecting 4 bluetooth controllers at once to the LCD deck didn't always work reliably. The OLED model has a better wireless chip, so this shouldn't be an issue. The OLED model also supports waking up when you turn on a controller, but this only works if the controller supports bluetooth low energy (BLE). Xbox controllers do, but if you're using a different controller you'll need to check if it supports it or not (if you want this feature).
Dock's have become much more reliable. The official dock is overly expensive imo, but it recently was updated to support CEC where the deck can turn the TV on and switch inputs to the Deck, which makes it a lot nicer for Docked play. I don't know if any of the cheaper 3rd party docks support CEC yet.
You mentioned switch emulation, but not all switch games run well. You'll need to check on the specific games you want to play.
When emulating, the Deck's built in controls will usually default to player 1. You can rearrange the controller order in both the quick-access-menu (on the deck press the ". . ." button, on other controllers hold the "home" button and press A), and in the steam input menu.
Didn't know about the controller wake up or the CEC features so that's cool to hear! And do you know if using a controller with a 2.4G dongle like some 8bitdo would be better for stability than a bluetooth controller?
I would assume it would work better, at least for that controller.
I can only speak for Wii emulation, it works great.
OLED deck have excellent Bluetooth compatibility with WiiMotes, I can hook up 4 of them using emulated bluetooth mode. (Can't get passthru mode working tho)
Some configuration beforehand such as changing all four controller slots into "real WiiMote" & enable continues scanning is all you need to do.
Just a side note. Switching between handheld and docked mode is a dull process. In order to switch input source you have to go to desktop mode every time.
I regularly use mine as a couch co-op party system, though usually we are playing Steam games, not emulated games. I have played emulated WiiU, Wii, PS2, GameCube games, however, and have found that multi-controller support can be a pain with the emulators needed to play.
Hardware wise, it's rock solid for Bluetooth controllers up to four, but no more. If you need more than four controllers, you will want to wire them in with a USB hub. We've played plenty of six-person Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brawler using four Xbox controllers, one person with a wired steam controller, and one person holding the steam deck as the last controller.
If you go for older retro games, N64 or earlier, it gets a lot easier as retroarch is easy to play around with in game mode, where if you need to get into dolphin or something you have to go into desktop mode to make tweaks and it's just a pain, imo. This is why we typically play older stuff or steam stuff. Steam stuff is easy because it just works.
It's also super portable and I can bring the whole setup in a backpack and just requires a USB C laptop charger, my usb c dock and a HDMI cord.
If you want an emulation machine for classic games, homebrew Wii can do a lot. Not sure what good options exist for switch and ps3 though.
If the game is available on the Wii U (cough Breath cough) you'll be better off using that version, but Switch has come a long way.
I don't think PS3 is very viable though, given it's power and strange architecture.
Wait, how does connecting four controllers to the steam deck to play smash bros would work?
I use a combination of PS4, PS5, and Nintendo pro controllers, all over Bluetooth. Works great.
I do this with Xbox controllers and it's very easy. Depending on the emulator you usually have to assign which physical controller should be used for which console input. Usually this is a one time setup unless you switch back and forth a lot between the built in a Steam Deck controller and an external one.
I recommend launching the emulator from Steam when setting that up so there isn't any confusion between connecting directly to the controllers vs using Steam Input. Once the setup is done you can launch individual ROMs directly from Steam.
You can even mix and match controllers. I've played Smash Bros with a mix of Xbox, GCN and PS4 controllers on the Deck.
With a dock with USB ports you could connect the GameCube controller adapter. 4 controllers ez.
It should work. But if you don't need something to carry around you could probably build a more powerful PC for the same price.
Honestly the LCD decks are so cheap, especially with sales, I don't think you could build a gaming PC for that price.
I suppose I should have mentioned this in the post but I already have a computer I use for gaming at home, was specifically looking for something budget friendly to bring to friends houses and play games. Otherwise I prob would just build a sffpc
Switch emulation works pretty great. But be advised; there are problems with getting Mariokart 8 Delux splitscreen working; the game tends to soft lock on the controller applet. Rayman Legends the complete edition has no such problem and I've had a blast playing with my family.
PlayStation 2 works great and can even be pushed to render games at higher than native resolutions. I'm currently playing Spyro The Eternal Night and Ratchet Gladiator.
Since it can run PlayStation 2 that good I don't see any problems with the Deck running GameCube or Wii games... Except for the instances where Wii games may need motion controls.
PlayStation 3 requires fiddling with the settings on a per-game basis. And then still you'll probably have to downscale the native resolution and limit the framerate on games to make them run well. But the PS3 emu comes with FSR built in and I can't really complain.
The latest yuzu version has a bug with Mariokart multiplayer (I believe this is the one that you're referencing). It can easily be avoided by pressing L+R on the first screen with any controller that isn't Player 1.
From my experience, it does not work very well. I like playing coop games with my kids, but sometimes the controllers stop working for some reason. But to change the controller config, I have to leave the game, switch to desktop mode, change settings and start the game again (in game mode).
It's possible, but a native console will likely work better.
Can I ask if these were bluetooth controllers? Seems to be a trend
yes
I can't speak on multiplayer experiences, but i have several emulators set up on my OLED deck. GameCube, N64, switch, ps2. They work well, and i have a 3DO pro2 i use while it's docked to my 4k tv, sound through a surround sound bar with woofer - amazing sound. I mostly run skyrim and Balder's Gate 3 at the moment, but i enjoyed BotW and my son likes sonic.
Still happy to hear your experience, is the deck running at 4k?
It's configured to run at the native resolution of the device, and looks good, but I'm not sure it is really at 4k.
Skyrim performs flawlessly, but Baldur's Gate gets sbout 15 fps at this rez, so I have to lower the graphics setting. I'm nesr endgame, so there is a lot of city animation.