Is there any reason to have a Switch and a Steamdeck,

I mean, I have a steam deck and a switch. Just beat Totk on the switch and recently started BG3 on the deck.

The trick is to put one console down and pick the other one up.

True gamers play both at the same time

Vague and unpopular opinion incoming:

Despite the Steam Deck being better than the Switch at nearly everything, there is still something that keeps pulling me back to the Switch. The only things I can think of is how much thinner and lighter it is combined with the simplified software. I'm not saying the Switch software is good, because it's not. It's slow despite how slimmed down it is. Meanwhile the Steam Deck is much faster, smoother, and has many more features. But the Steam Deck still just feels clunky compared to the Switch. It might be due to the Steam Deck using a full desktop operating system with a modified UI while the Switch OS is made solely for playing games. Despite being very well designed and using optimized software, something about the Steam Deck makes it feel like a tech demo rather than a handheld game console. I still really like the Steam Deck, but I keep getting pulled back to the Switch.

Put simply: Weight aside, the Steam Deck is significantly better at every individual factor than the Switch. But there is still something about the final product of the Switch that I enjoy using more than the Steam Deck.

Like the sibling comment it feels the opposite way round to me. The Switch feels like a child's toy - light, small and not wildly comfortable to hold for a long period of time. The Deck feels much more ergonomic and solid to hold in my hands - I still enjoy the feeling of just picking it up (had it for 7 months) because it just feels like it fits.

Some of this is because I have big hands and the Switch obviously has to work for kids hands and the Switch being lighter is actually better for longer sessions but when I got back to the Switch now it feels cheap and flimsy.
Heh, completely opposite to me.

maybe some games you don’t want to spend time tweaking the launch options, the graphics, the sliders, the mods etc and you just want to play the game as the devs intended. Switch is good for that.
maybe there are times you don’t want to deal with all the hassles of a handled pc as a gaming system. Switch is good for that.
maybe you want to play Nintendo games, but you don’t want to go through all the hassle of emulation (especially switch games). Switch is good for that.
maybe there is an indie dev you want to support, and you know their game is more expensive on switch than on pc, but it’s well within your budget and you want to give them extra coin. Switch is good for that.
while switch games are generally low fidelity and low frame rate, you know what to generally expect going in.
maybe your group of friends mostly own switch and play switch online compared to steam.

Truth be told, once I got my steam deck, I sold my switch. Not because the switch was terrible by any means, but I realised that I missed my pc game library, I didn’t care for online multiplayer, and I didn’t care for Nintendo games. Also, I grew up with Linux and tinkering both Windows and Linux - it’s in my blood at this point, so getting a steam deck was just pure joy for me, even if I spent 90% of the time configuring the thing and 10% playing games.

know their game is more expensive on switch than on pc, but it’s well within your budget and you want to give them extra coin

With the (probably doesn't need to be stated but here I go anyway) caveat: how much of that coin is going to the dev, and how much is going to Nintendo? The game might be cheaper on (for instance) Epic, but Epic takes a smaller cut.
maybe some games you don’t want to spend time tweaking the launch options, the graphics, the sliders, the mods etc and you just want to play the game as the devs intended. Switch is good for that

Is it? 2D indie stuff generally don't have meaningful graphics options and defaults to the same thing either way. 3D stuff with settings is cut way down from the developer's vision to run on the switch at all.
- I didn't really consider 2D indie games. For 3D indie games, some games are cut down while others are "good enough" to the average Switch end user.
  
  At the end of the day, if the ability to play 3D games from about 5-10 years ago in 30-60fps sounds like a dream to you and you are willing to jump through some Launch Properties/Proton version hoops for some games in order to get that perfect gameplay (for example, I have GTA 3/Vice City/San Andreas OG games, and I spent days modding the games on the SD to get it running close to flawlessly as possible) rather than settle for compromised ports - which for the average person playing video games, they wouldn't care too much about framerates or graphical fidelity as so much as the convenience to push Play and just go), then Steam Deck is for you.
  
  Otherwise, Switch is perhaps preferrable. OR, if you care more about visual fidelity more than anything, maybe consider getting a PS5/XSX. I say this as I do love my Steam Deck for GTA5 sessions, but for RE games I often go to my XSX.

Switch emulation is a bit hit and miss. Some games work fairly well, others underperform or have serious issues. Also, online multiplayer currently only works with a real Switch.

So far, I’ve been pretty lucky with switch emulation. When I really looked at it, just about all the games that are switch exclusive l, that I’m interested in work well.

Plus, I still have my switch incase it will not run.

For me there isn't. I already had a Switch and since I bought the Deck, it pretty much just sits there. The only time I've used it is when we were in a plane and both me and my partner wanted to play, so we brought both Deck and Switch. If there was some cross-play, I'd actually find a use, but since no one gives a fuck about it, we mostly can't even play together (Fall Guys being the exception). And I'm very much over paying a fee for accessing servers with my console. I cancelled my Nintendo subscription because I don't use it and recently wanted to play some level on Mario Maker, turns out you can't do that without paying for subscription. So I just turned off the Switch again.

I've been using more my switch lately than my deck, but that's due to the fact I have a local library with many switch games available. While me and my spouse are super pro emulating we don't want to bother with emulating switch because:

We're not willing to hack our Switches yet.
I'm extremely uninformed on where to find another bios

In addition, the steam deck display isn't as pretty to look at as the OLED.

I have the first switch version, so it was pretty easy to mod and the screen should be about the same as the steam decks. But I bed the oled switch is really nice to look at.

Steam Deck does feel like a superset of Switch. It offers almost all of what Switch offers in a bit heavier and a lot more comfortable package. You get absolute freedom to do what you want with the device (I buy almost all my games from GOG), the trackpads become pretty much mandatory once you get used to them. You have the option of playing AAA titles with shorter battery life, but don't actually compare that badly agaist a Switch if you play games that Switch can run. You gain access to a lot more games, a lot cheaper games.

People convince eachother that the two devices somehow serve different functions and audiences, but that just feels like unwarranted courtesy towards Switch. I don't have a Switch, to be clear, but it does seem like an obvious upgrade from what I can tell.

Since I got my Steam Deck, I use my Switch for playing local-multiplayer Mario Kart and... Yea that's it

Yeah, it seems that the switch can easily be replaced by the steam deck.

I think all the switch exclusive games that I care for emulate perfectly or at least good enough. I think the only game I’m not too sure about is tears of the kingdom, but I imagine the emulator devs give that game a lot of attention. So I’m sure it will be a very compatible game.
- I finished the game while ago, but the last set of mods from HolographicWings/TOTK-Mods-collection/ that were out before I was done gave me correct button hints, 16:10 aspect ratio, with a pegged 30 fps for most of the game when not loading shaders, with a minimum of 20 fps at lookout landing.

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There is not any place where I can see one in person where I live. So sadly, I can’t get a feel for it.

But I’m thinking that the weight will not bother me too much, if it does, I think it’s preferable to the hand cramping and joint pain I get from the switch.

Additionally I’m just playing it in the house. I just don’t like being tied to the desktop.
- I can't play a bare Switch for more than 15-20 minutes without pain, but with a Satisfye asymmetric grip, I can play for hours. Not a shill, just a huge fan of the product. :)

I don't really bother with emulating Switch on my Steam Deck because my Switch is lighter, quieter, has better battery life, and a far better (OLED) screen. I do love my Steam Deck as well though.

Plus, if you have a SO the Switch is a lot cheaper to keep both of you preoccupied...
That’s a good point. I have to remind myself, that there’s no point in emulating switch as I have one and most of the games have a pc version. So I can just play the pc version of the game.

I'm in a similar boat, I have a steam deck and a modded switch that I can transfer games/saves over to my PC and deck.

The switch still gets use for the following reasons:

online play (when the deck is not booted into custom firmware)
some games don't run well when emulated. This is getting better all the time, but is still an issue, especially with newly released games. I wasn't satisfied with ToTK performance on release for my deck so I ended up playing it exclusively on my switch. Also you need shader caches for games to run well, and the games stutter and hang a lot while generating those in new areas.
the games that do run well still aren't very efficient in terms of power consumption, and you'll get longer battery life out of the switch for most emulated titles.

The Deck does have significant advantages over the switch, like bigger screen, bigger storage, more comfortable to hold, PC games, etc. If there's a PC port of a switch game it will run better on deck than on switch, with comparable battery on comparable graphics levels.

I have both. I had the switch long before the steam deck was available. I will say that I have not touched my switch to play games since I received the deck. I got my deck in the second big batch of deliveries when it first released, so I have had it for more than year at this point.

When I want to play Nintendo exclusives, I purchase them and then use my switch rip them to play using yuzu on my deck.

Thanks! I was thinking about doing the exact same thing. Although, I rarely am playing switch exclusives at this point. But I’m sure I’ll do a second run of totk in a few years.

I have both. I haven't tried emulating Switch games on the Steam Deck yet. I use my Switch for Nintendo exclusives and local multiplayer games since it's less of a pita to set up

I've tried emulating a couple switch games, the experience hasn't been great. Perhaps playable, but I'd rather use the first party hardware.
Thanks! I don’t do any multiplayer stuff except for stardew valley, but no so much anymore.

I think the steam deck will satisfy me.

The only use my switch has now is for my girlfriend playing animal crossing, I haven't used it myself since I bought the steamdeck. I was tempted to buy TOTK when it came out, but I've got too many games in my backlog already

I don't use my switch since getting the steam deck. I played a little of tears of the kingdom but the fact that it wasn't on the deck (without effort to emulate and move saves) is most of the reason I stopped playing.

The switch created the handheld real console revolution, but it also kind of sucks to use. Joycons are awful, the ergonomics of joycons are awful, and while you can get third party replacement options for the joycons, they all still have really awful sticks that make playing anything that uses them painful.

My hands cramp and my thumb joints hurt with certain games on the switch. The left joycon broke (not stuck drift) so I replaced it and then like a week later the right joycon broke.

I am still kinda pissed at how expensive the joycons are. If I knew they were both going to break, I would have just bought a Steamdeck instead.
- Binbok on Amazon were the least bad ones I found. They're shaped about like half a normal controller, and the joysticks were almost tolerable compared to the joke the hori Nintendo licensed ones are.
  
  But they're still a lot worse than a real controller. The steam deck isn't.

If you'd like to play Nintendo games without emulation whatsoever. Tracking down a Switch that is easy enough to hack, and dumping all your games and saves can be a big ask for your average Switch/Deck fan. I only use my Switch to dump new releases I buy to play on either my Steam Deck or main rig. I beat ToTK fully through emulation, though that was on my main rig. I also could absolutely not live without the massive backlog that is the Steam library.

Any emulation problems with tears of the kingdom?

I’ve already finished it on the switch, so not super concerned about occasional crashes. The game seems to auto save pretty often anyway.
- No major issues from my experience, but in my case the Deck is struggling to keep 20-30 fps

I find playing connected to a television far easier with the Switch. But, TBH, I don't find much worth playing on the Switch.

Yeah, I did an inventory of my games and most are also on PC. The only exceptions that I care about are Mario odyssey, Metroid, and tears of the kingdom.
- I guess it boils down to
  
  You want to play Nintendo Exclusive Games
  
  Portability, since the switch is a bit smaller and battery life is solid.
  
  Other than that, Steam Deck is a beast. For me that's not worth having a switch. But whatever suits your boat. In the end we are all gamers and I respect all the various possibilities.

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I have both and use both of them more than I used the PS3, PS2, and Dreamcast.

Emulation can be ok but often you spend as much time fiddling as playing. Switch just works.

Steam Deck mostly just works for most Steam games, and can do a lot more if you want to tinker. It's a computer and supports normal computer things like keyboard and mouse. Basically no restrictions.

Have you tried using the emudeck software? It seems that it kind of self configures.

I started tears of the kingdom on an emulator on my desktop PC, and wanted to see how it would work on my steam deck. After setting it up with autosync using NextCloud for saves, not only is it a better experience than the switch because I can sometimes play on my desktop at 4k with frame rates consistently higher than what the switch can do, but playing on the steam deck has comparable performance to the switch albeit at the cost of shorter battery life. I loaned my switch to a friend who doesn't have one so he could play totk, then I moved across the country and just decided to let him hang on to it until he's done. The only thing I miss is Tetris 99, but that's not a big loss.

It’s crazy to think about syncing game saves like that, as I really view the Steamdeck as a console.

What’s the battery life like while emulating?
- It's short. Maybe 90 minutes? Basically running full tilt the whole time.

Yeah my wife is playing animal crossing right now, while I am playing bg3

I have both.

I've had my switch for many years at this point, while my SteamDeck is barely 1 year old. I probably wouldn't buy a switch today if I didn't already have one but since I already have one I still use it very occasionally for exclusives I'm excited for (well, actually used it a ton for TotK recently). I don't have my Switch hacked and would just rather not go through the hassle of finding clean roms to download. The only Switch game I played on my Deck was Diablo III (because the PC version has no controller support or controller-friendly UI) but with Diablo IV now it's unnecessary.

All that being said, there's very few Switch exclusives I'm interested in for $60 anymore, even on the horizon, Zelda was probably the last one unless Mario Odyssey 2 is released before the end of the system's lifetime. And Zelda TotK was honestly the first game I bought for Switch in probably the last 2+ years... my wife played a few things on it but I had switched to PC exclusively (+Steamdeck) and PS5