I need a decent handheld for emulation and I think steam deck is the best choice out of all the options available, the other option I had in mind was the retroid pocket 4 pro but for that price (200 dollars) I might as well save up for another week and get a steam deck (500 dollars).
My problem is I don’t really like spending money at all, I have three issues with spending
1.) Money makes me horny
2.) Money can go to my savings account where it would be safer
3.) Stannis Baratheon crack pipe
I have been enjoying my miyoo mini plus but the system maxes out at PS1 and ideally I want to be playing PS2 emulation
fae spends faer money on slop-branded crack and crack accessories
i have a miyoo too, and its cool for the earlier systems, but i did the same as you want to and got a steam deck, but instead i just got a used LCD one for under $300 on ebay. it's pretty fuckin awesome, i can play saturn, ps2 and gc games pretty flawlessly, and it handles up to OG xbox too. The retroid looks cool but i think it would still be a bit too small for my large hands. The miyoo can be tough enough as it is for me.
The allure from the retroid is its size because I can shove it in my pocket and play it at work whereas the steam deck I would need to keep at home. I’ve also heard there’s a few issues with the retroid, notably screen ghosting and a pink hue instead of whites which is concerning and quite common
yea it's a little hard to trust the build quality of the multitude of emulator handhelds out now.
ideally I want to be playing PS2 emulation
An android phone with a decent Snapdragon processor and Aethersx2 can do this, if the budget is tight. Snapdragon 865 or anything equivalent or better will play all games at full speed at higher resolutions.
I mean I play PS2 games regularly on my android phone with minimal issues. Gran Turismo 4 for instance runs at full speed for me on my phone at 2.5x native resolution.
The main problems people have on Android are using a device that is not powerful enough, a device that lacks the correct processor and/or thermal throttling.
You don't want an android device for ps2 cos there's no active support on that platform. Don't listen to anyone that says anything about ps2 on retroid its bullshit you will have a horrid time with most of the library
Steam deck all the way its the best device for actual decent ps2 emu and the extra buttons help with binding pressure sensitive controls if needed or other emu functions.
I have a retroid but as far as i can go is psp before it hits a wall.
I think YouTubers hype retroid up but then again they aren’t dismissive of the quality PS2 runs at, one reviewer said they max out at 50fps for all titles on PS2 and all the reviewers I watched said there’s lots of tinkering involved in order to get it to play how you want it to. But I had no idea it was this abysmal, you’ve probably saved me 200$ because I was close to getting one last week
I bought one for ps2 only to be let down massively by the youtubers really do hype it up for ps2 which is so odd.
You can forget about NTSC you'll need PAL copies of every game, then you'll need to check it against the compatibility sheet which will mark a game as "playable" only to find even with the tinker steps applied still runs below 100% speed and then has major graphics bugs. Then you'll find out aethersx2 is unsupported then you'll have people hype up nethersx2 when all it does is change internal config the core is still the same shit. And it doesn't end there the fucking controller mapping is bugged. Niche problem but i like binding armoured core camera buttons to the right stick but aethersx2 doesn't stop pressing the button when the stick returns to neutral position it only stops pressing if the stick is in the opposite direction.... Then you'll find that opengl doesn't run on the system well at all and the recommendation is to use vulkan but pcsx2 relied on opengl for best compatibility and the vulkan backend is broken for loads of games. But opengl performance sucks massively.
Welcome to my experience of being sold on a lie then hitting every brick wall. Still love the device tho but if I had a miyoo mini already I'd be fucked right off. I also have two much more powerful smart phones and a tablet i run aethersx2 on but still run into many issues its just not a good platform for ps2.
I have also learned not to listen to any handheld reviewing youtuber and research the device myself. Maybe once Play! hits maturity android might see some decent ps2 support but thats not anytime soon
With aethersx2, you have to use a device with a high end Snapdragon processor and Adreno GPU for it to work properly on OpenGL and Vulkan. Exynos and MediaTek processors with Mali GPUs, even the lastest ones, will perform terribly, especially in OpenGL. The graphics drivers for the Mali GPUs are missing key features. Snapdragon 865 is the minimum needed for full speed emulation. Then you can use most of the same settings and hacks you'd use on PCSX2, and the games work, mostly.
I have an 888+, 8 gen 1 and 8 gen 3 device and even the 888+ struggles just about hitting 100% speed with frequent dips on a lot of games. The gen 1 and 3 chip run it at what I'd deem smooth but at that point the steam deck is just a better option
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that the 888 and first batch of the 8 gen 1 have worse sustained performance than the 865 due to thermal throttling, caused by the inferior Samsung process. It was a massive deal back when the phones with the 888 first came out.
The gen 1 and 3 chip run it at what I'd deem smooth but at that point the steam deck is just a better option.
Yeah that true, at the same price, obviously the steam deck is the far better option.
Have you considered getting a raspberry pi 5/ some joysticks/buttons and a screen? I've heard it's pretty good at emulation and also I just think raspberry pies are neat
You also get to have the DIY tingles hehe. Also imagine having money to save
Just buy the OG one used, that's what I did. Got it for less than $300. It's literally amazing, don't fall for the Newest Thing gamer brainworms.
Same, got a 64 gb LCD one when the OLED was announced for $200 locally. Cleaned it up, bought a dock and an SD card, and I’m super happy with it
Buy the retroid pocket 4 pro so you can save money and post your impressions about it here. Then if you don't like it, I'll take it off your hands
PS2 is awesome on this thing. I actually sold my gaming PC and just dock it and use it for everything. Performance is low on modern games, but it's so cool to have my whole library with me everywhere (i've been traveling for a month and a half). I don't think I would recommend it unless you're looking to play some steam games as well though.
What's the latest generation system you want to emulate through? That would inform whether advising to save on something cheaper or not makes sense.
I love my psp 3000 which can do a lot of emulation including ps1 but not ps2 but it also has its own healthy library of games thats worth exploring. you can get one for around like $80
Yeah technically. I just prefer the buttons and overall build quality of the psp. My vita always feels a little to wide and thin for my hands
What's the latest generation system you want to emulate through? That would inform whether advising to save on something cheaper or not makes sense.
PS3 would be cool also ps2 and game cube, so I think steam deck is worth it because I can emulate but also play games from current gen
Definitely Deck or stronger in that case. I'd look into the Ally and the Legion Go as well but they're probably pushing price range.
If you drop specific PS3 titles I can tell you if they're on the more/less intense spectrum to emulate as well. Also probably worth looking up the steam deck vs. steam deck OLED performance for games of interest on RPCS3 as you might be able to squeeze out some savings there if it makes sense.
Additionally because it's probably of immediate interest look into ported decompilation games too. I'm pretty sure I have a resetera (sorry it's just the best aggregate list I've found) thread on them in the emulation megatherad.
LCD deck is the way to go, it's replaced my aging pc and other handhelds for me (OG Vita from launch and switch). The OLED screen is nice though
