Just chiming in... love emulation on my Steam Deck. Recently been playing through a couple old PS1 favorites from back in the day. Demolition Derby and Soviet Strike. I've also been slowly playing through Final Fantasy IX which I never played.

The save state feature makes these games so much more accessible than they were back then.

Late to the party, but I LOVE my steam deck.

Has anyone had the chance to get their hands on a legion go 2 w/ ryzen z2 extreme? If have,I'd like to get your thoughts on it. I thought about a steam deck. Just wish they had a more up to date one.

Well I DID get the PS portal for Christmas and it is amazing. It's a mini PS5. I highly recommend it!

I have the lenovo handheld with steam os, and love it.

Lenovo Steam OS Handheld

I bought a used Retroid Pocket 3 Plus recently. It's a 2-3 year old android os device that looks a lot like a PSP. The device came reset, no games.

This is not a toy. It is a project / puzzle / learning opportunity for someone interested in collecting retro games from the PS2 on back. It handles up to PS1 and PSP games really well. I've only played God of War from the PS2 on it, and it went into slow motion. I may be able to fix that within the settings. All I really wanted was a PSP, Sega Genesis, and Gameboy Advance machine. I've discovered I like some Dreamcast stuff, and I'll probably discover a few more systems. I've had a lot of fun with it after a few days of setting it up, including multiple device resets. (okay, maybe its a toy after all that work is done).

I don't play most games for more than a few minutes. I get in, get my dopamine, and switch games. I've spent the most time on Puzzle Quest, which is a match 3 game, like a million games in the IOS app store! Live and learn. It was a fun experience, and I can now play Contra, Goldeneye, Sonic, or GTA Vice City Stories any time I want.

Ive had a Raspberry Pi Zero W laying around for years in search of a good project and I landed on this: https://retroflag.com/gpi_case_2w.html


should be able to run everything up to Genesis pretty well and I can likely overclock it to get better Super Nintendo performance, but really in it for Gameboy, NES, GBA, and Genesis. Havent gotten it up and running yet, but it looks promising.

This is sick. I was expecting it to be more expensive than that.

yeah its been around a while and i think theyre trying to liquidate their stockroom.

If I am a technology idiot and want to use Steam, am I going to have a hard time using something other than the Steamdeck since it is out of stock for the foreseeable future?

Is it worth it to wait on it to come back into stock?

What is the closest viable alternative that can run Steam for someone who is old/an idiot?

Steam runs on any major operating system, not just a SteamDeck. It's just a game store and app that installs/runs games for you.

So if you're looking for a PC handheld that runs Steam games, Asus and Lenovo both have offerings that, while more expensive than the Deck, are slightly beefier and are available.

You want something described as a "PC handheld." Android can now do some Steam games, it's going to be limited to indie games and Xbox 360/PS3 era PC games.

I don't really have much interest in playing new releases - are the ones in the $500 to $600 ranges going to perform well enough for playing older games and maybe some newer ones that aren't so graphic intense? Or is it worth it so spring for the $1k models if I don't plan on replacing for many years?

Most alternative systems are better than the SteamDeck in performance. The SteamDeck is dated. Lenovo offers the Legion Go with SteamOS installed but it's like $800. You might get away with an ASUS ROG Ally, but you may have to do some work to get SteamOS installed. If you're serious, I would act fast. This RAM crisis is getting out of hand. At this rate, it'll be 2021 again with laptops.

SteamDeck sold out because it was the plug and play option and cheap.

Pman17 said:

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Most alternative systems are better than the SteamDeck in performance. The SteamDeck is dated.

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Eh, maybe. The SteamDeck is also crazy optimized and performs above its specs. Its combination of battery life & performance is hard to beat. But, who knows when it will be back in stock so it's a moot point for now.

The question above about not really wanting to play the most modern game, I think you'll be fine with whatever you can find. All of the medium to higher end handhelds are more than capable of playing almost any game from 2015 and earlier at decent settings / frame rates. They can play a lot of modern AAA games too, but you'll be playing at 30 FPS and reduced settings.

And, of course, there are a ton of new releases (Indy type games) that don't require a ton of horsepower and you'll run all those games just fine. Those types of games and emulation of old school Arcade/Nintendo/Sega/Playstation game is where I spend most of my time on handhelds.

Is this reasonable for what I'm looking to do, or would I need to spring for the 1TB version?

Amazon.com: ASUS ROG Xbox Ally 7" 1080p 120Hz Touchscreen Gaming Handheld, 3-month Xbox Game Pass Premium included, AMD Ryzen Z2 A, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, White : Toys & Games

That'll do what you want. And you can always upgrade the SSD later if you think it's necessary.

The ROG Xbox is supposed to be pretty cool. It's not as streamlined as a SteamDeck, but they did good things with the software to make it more console like (even though it's still a Windows device).

The integration with Gamepass is also really great (something the steamdeck is very much lacking). With Gamepass alone you'll have an excellent library of games. Some of the top Indy games are also on Gamepass so it's a great fit with a handheld.

If you end up getting one let us know how you like it!

I spilled water down the back exhaust port on mine. I think the motherboard is messed up because some of the buttons and sticks no longer work on either side and the screen is dark orange and flickers. Even after disassembly, cleaning and drying the same symptoms occurred.

Motherboards are as costly as an used steamdeck. So I reached out to their repair service. They're doing an RMA, paying for the shipping, will either fix it or send it back if unfixable (no cost). They said repair cost could be as much as $180. That's a much better deal than buying the parts myself.

We'll see how it goes.

I have the original Rog Ally, and it has been pretty great. I haven't found any games that it couldn't handle. The main limitation is with emulators for newer systems needing to be developed. Not from a limitation of the Ally's hardware.

The battery life is pretty abysmal. Not sure if the newer models have gotten better.

Spent the last week getting this off the ground and it's been pretty awesome. If someone is starting from scratch with this I'd say go ahead with the Rpi zero 2w. Been playing a modded rom of GB Tetris and some other stuff. GB, GBA, Genesis have been flawless, but SNES needed some tweaks and still isn't quite full speed. Fine for RPGs but platforming is iffy and don't bother with games like StarFox and MarioRPG. Still have some issues but I think it's hardware based as I've abused that rpi, leaving it out to collect dust for long stretches of time.

Back in 2019 I bought a used psp, modded it and used it to play NES and SNES games. I tried to get my oldest interested to no avail, she liked her switch and has since shifted to what i consider stupid ipad games, mostly toca world.

Anyways, my psp ended up sitting in a drawer collecting dust for years. My middle really likes games, remembered it and pulled it out a few months ago. The battery has degraded to a point where it needs to stay plugged in. I have an ANBERNIC RG40XX H coming so I will try and report back.

Question for anybody that streams games to their handhelds (either from the cloud or a console). Does the input delay bother anybody else and make it hard to play, or is it just me?

I sometimes stream my PS5 to my SteamDeck (I use PX Play software), but it's usually short term because I just can't get use to the input delay. The current consoles/controllers have such low latency (my TV does too) that the difference is very noticeable when I'm streaming.

I sometimes wonder if my home setup isn't ideal (even though my mesh network seems to be super fast for every other task) or if I'm just being picky.

I've only done it from steam on a high end gaming desktop PC to my steam deck, but no problems. All wireless with a Google mesh system that is at least a decade old.

PC streaming has been better than PS5 streaming using PX Play in my experience. PS5 and PC both connected via Ethernet.

Funny enough, PXPlay just released their 2.0 update.

The latency appears to be much better. I quickly tried out platforming, driving, and shooting and it all felt like it worked as opposed to me fighting the controls.

We have had the RG40XX H for about a week. The thing is really impressive for the price. Screen looks great, controls and buttons are nice. The UI is easy enough. It came loaded with more games than he could ever play but was missing a lot of the top tier games, but loading roms is easy and it comes with a downloader to get whatever you are looking for. He mostly wants pokemon. The battery life is great. He is happy. I have been enjoying it as well.

Refurbished in stock. Act quick

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamdeckrefurbished/?media_id=3856978140753666315_63329336647&media_author_id=63329336647&ranking_info_token=GCAzYjY4YWUwYjIxMGM0NjRlOWRhMzhmZjliOTBmNDEzYSWmsvQCFcgBFrTb6ZsNGBMzODU2OTc4MTQwNzUzNjY2MzE1KANuaGEA

Pman17 said:

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Refurbished in stock. Act quick

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamdeckrefurbished/?media_id=3856978140753666315_63329336647&media_author_id=63329336647&ranking_info_token=GCAzYjY4YWUwYjIxMGM0NjRlOWRhMzhmZjliOTBmNDEzYSWmsvQCFcgBFrTb6ZsNGBMzODU2OTc4MTQwNzUzNjY2MzE1KANuaGEA

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Noooo I missed it by maybe 1 minute. Had it in my cart then it said out of stock!

Not for modern games but I love my Retroid Pocket 5. I've got retro games all the way up to PS2 running. I was a huge PSP and Vita mark so this thing is perfect. It travels with me. Tired of gaming, swap over to Metflix and watch a show!

I bought a used Retroid Pocket 3+ earlier this year. It has exactly what I wanted in that it plays everything from PSP and Dreamcast back. I think it can play PS1, but I haven't messed with that yet. Definitely not good with PS2.

I'm also realizing that a huge percentage of retro games are either fighting games or racing games. When 3D came around, I guess shooters started taking over. (What are we teaching our kids!?)

I'm spending most of my time on sports games, including boxing, basketball, tennis, and football. I'm also enjoying replays of the two PSP God of Wars, which really stand the test of time.

Philo B 93 said:

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I bought a used Retroid Pocket 3+ earlier this year. It has exactly what I wanted in that it plays everything from PSP and Dreamcast back. I think it can play PS1, but I haven't messed with that yet. Definitely not good with PS2.

I'm also realizing that a huge percentage of retro games are either fighting games or racing games. When 3D came around, I guess shooters started taking over. (What are we teaching our kids!?)

I'm spending most of my time on sports games, including boxing, basketball, tennis, and football. I'm also enjoying replays of the two PSP God of Wars, which really stand the test of time.

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Did you have to load games on it yourself? Or was it preloaded?

My R36 Max (loaded GameBoy knockoff) has been great, but PSP and PS1 and N64 can be a little l****. To be clear, has been great and accomplishes what I wanted. But curious for future reference.

All Retroid devices are not going to come with any games on them and require you to load them yourself.

Retroid makes great stuff though, the 3 (not the plus) was my first device in this retro-handheld space and I got a ton of use out of it before upgrading.

CaptAmerica03 said:

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Philo B 93 said:

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I bought a used Retroid Pocket 3+ earlier this year. It has exactly what I wanted in that it plays everything from PSP and Dreamcast back. I think it can play PS1, but I haven't messed with that yet. Definitely not good with PS2.

I'm also realizing that a huge percentage of retro games are either fighting games or racing games. When 3D came around, I guess shooters started taking over. (What are we teaching our kids!?)

I'm spending most of my time on sports games, including boxing, basketball, tennis, and football. I'm also enjoying replays of the two PSP God of Wars, which really stand the test of time.

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Did you have to load games on it yourself? Or was it preloaded?

My R36 Max (loaded GameBoy knockoff) has been great, but PSP and PS1 and N64 can be a little l****. To be clear, has been great and accomplishes what I wanted. But curious for future reference.

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There are great sources on YT that show you how to set up retroid pockets. From getting emulators (the backends that run the games), the games themselves, and frontends (the way you want your device to look like)

AvsB said:

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CaptAmerica03 said:

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Philo B 93 said:

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I bought a used Retroid Pocket 3+ earlier this year. It has exactly what I wanted in that it plays everything from PSP and Dreamcast back. I think it can play PS1, but I haven't messed with that yet. Definitely not good with PS2.

I'm also realizing that a huge percentage of retro games are either fighting games or racing games. When 3D came around, I guess shooters started taking over. (What are we teaching our kids!?)

I'm spending most of my time on sports games, including boxing, basketball, tennis, and football. I'm also enjoying replays of the two PSP God of Wars, which really stand the test of time.

---

Did you have to load games on it yourself? Or was it preloaded?

My R36 Max (loaded GameBoy knockoff) has been great, but PSP and PS1 and N64 can be a little l****. To be clear, has been great and accomplishes what I wanted. But curious for future reference.

---

There are great sources on YT that show you how to set up retroid pockets. From getting emulators (the backends that run the games), the games themselves, and frontends (the way you want your device to look like)

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I have everything figured out except the front-end. I wish it looked better than than just retroarch (I think) and a ppsspp separate app, but I can play any game I download. Last night I figured out how to add PS1 games to the mix.

I bought it used, so it had the former owners' games. I reset it and deleted all of his games. My main goal was PSP, but I'm getting to try out SNES, NES, N64, GBA, Dreamcast, Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Sega Genesis, Sega Gamegear, and PS1 games. I'm realizing that all I really need is still PSP. For example, basketball on the Atari 7800 is pretty rough, and I'm pretty sure its just called "Basketball".