The Steam Deck is gaining more prominence with each passing day. It is a PC with a portable console body, and although it was not the first of its kind, it is the one that has popularized the concept. With it, you can do everything, both use it as a normal computer and to play games, and the latter also includes emulation. What is best to emulate on the Steam Deck?
Whether something is better or worse is usually subjective. Yeah there are several options and they are still in active development it is because they have their audience. Therefore, here we are going to talk about three of them, which are perhaps the most popular: EmuDeck, RetroDECK and Batocera. In essence they are the same, but at the same time very different. Let's then explain what or who each option is for, starting by mentioning what they have in common.
What EmuDeck, RetroDECK and Batocera have in common
In all three cases, they use loose emulators or LibRetro cores in combination with the ES-DE interface, although EmuDeck also offers options to install other services. ES-DE is the new name of EmulationStation Desktop Edition, which is an interface from which we will launch all our ROMs. In all three cases we are the ones who have to look for the ROMs, bios and others, and we will have to put them in routes that will depend on the chosen program.
I think it is important to highlight what has been explained at this point, but I will say it another way: Neither EmuDeck, RetroDECK nor Batocera are emulators; EmuDeck is a tool to install and configure them, then they are launched with ES-DE, and the other two are ES-DE + emulators and/or LibRetro (RetroArch) cores. Therefore, if someone is wondering if a game works well in one of the options, they have to think about a specific emulator. To give an example: to the question "Does game X work well on EmuDeck?", the answer is that it depends on the emulator, and that is valid for all three options.
That does not mean that everything is the same, since some options are configured in one way and others in another. But, in general, what is important are the emulators that ES-DE launches.
From here on the similarities ended. We are going to talk to you about each of the options. We will do it a little above, telling the details that give personality to each of them.
Emulation on the Steam Deck
EmuDeck: you are in control of what and how
I think I'm not wrong when I say that EmuDeck is the preferred option in the community from the Steam Deck. Whether you're in a chat, reading Reddit, or joining a forum, it's what you're going to see the most. EmuDeck is a program that allows us to configure everything in our emulation center. Although it has a graphical interface, it is like a script with which we can install the emulators that we want, use bezels on the consoles and several other things.
Considering everything it is capable of, I could write a lot about EmuDeck. If the community tends to opt for this software for emulation on the Deck, it is because of things like the fact that it is easier for the games to appear with their covers in the SteamOS game mode. This is what it has to offer many configuration options.
EmuDeck is installed on the operating system, and can be added in game mode.
RetroDECK: perhaps the simplest
RetroDECK is a mammoth emulator. It weighs several gigabytes, and here's the first difference from EmuDeck: you can't choose which emulators to install; They all come by default. And how it is only in flatpak format – link to flathub -, since each emulator weighs a little more than it should if it were installed from official repositories or by compiling its code. Although it also allows a lot of configuration, it is not as versatile as EmuDeck.
The best thing about RetroDECK is that it is basically use a wizard, insert ROMs and start playing. For example, RPCS3 even downloads the PlayStation 3 firmware so it can work. Since I don't need everything that EmuDeck offers, it is the option that I was using for a while... until I decided on the last one on this list. It is also installed in the operating system, and can be added in game mode.
Incidentally, can be installed on any x86_64 PC, but not everything may work as expected, since it is developed with the Steam Deck, its controls, hardware, etc. in mind.
Batocera: Linux distribution to play
Batocera is a Linux distribution one of those that have only what is necessary for something specific, in this case playing. It is installed on an external drive - with Etcher or similar -, and what we will obtain will be an ES-DE prepared for use on our Steam Decks.
If I opt for this option it is because I can keep things separate: it can be recorded on an SD whose size depends on the number of games we want to save and start from it. After installation, the games are placed in the corresponding folders, and the same with the bios. What remains is to do the scrapping so that the games have their screenshots, logos and all that, this is optional, and let's start playing. It's just what I did on my old laptop and previous gaming and emulation hub, so nothing new under the sun, not for me.
The only bad thing about Batocera on the Steam Deck is that, being a totally different operating system, we cannot access the options to control FPS, TDP and those settings that we can play on SteamOS.
Choose what you prefer for your Emulation
In Linux, we users are the ones who usually can choose what to do and how, and with the Steam Deck it is no different: if you want to control what is installed and configure things in a simpler way, what you are looking for is EmuDeck; If you want a more install-and-play experience, you might prefer RetroDECK; and if you want your Steam Deck to run only PC games and not sacrifice any hard drive, you'll probably prefer an SD card with Batocera.