Is the Steam Deck the best place to play Atari today?

[JPF997]

Just ordered one today, should be arriving in a few weeks, I've been wanting to get my hands on a Deck since a friend of mine let me borrow his for a week a few months back, from what I understand Steam has even more Atari games on it's store than the PS5 did, it's probably going to be the best place to play Atari ( and other games of course ) outside of the VCS and 2600+, what do you guys think?

[Lord Mushroom]

For arcade games up to 1984, I am guessing AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade would be optimal (aside from the original cabinets).

[JPF997]

55 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

For arcade games up to 1984, I am guessing AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade would be optimal (aside from the original cabinets).

Sure but to play the Recharged games and all the other games that Atari is making and has acquired these past few years (and will probably be releasing shortly) the Steam Deck or PC gaming in general is probably the best place to play these games.

[M-S]

Are you talking just about legacy games or the new Atari games too? If so, the Steam Deck is certainly not cost effective, there are many other devices that are cheaper and offer the same quality. But what is there to play other than Atari 50, Recharged, Flashback and the Activision games? All of these are on all current consoles

[JPF997]

2 hours ago, M-S said:

Are you talking just about legacy games or the new Atari games too? If so, the Steam Deck is certainly not cost effective, there are many other devices that are cheaper and offer the same quality. But what is there to play other than Atari 50, Recharged, Flashback and the Activision games? All of these are on all current consoles

I mean you can play all legacy Atari games easily on the Deck with emulation, and all modern Atari games ( even more than on modern consoles) are available on Steam, so yeah that kinda makes it the best system right now for Atari stuff ( and a million other things as well).

[+bent_pin]

Can't you do all that for less money with the VCS 800?

[JPF997]

11 minutes ago, bent_pin said:

Can't you do all that for less money with the VCS 800?

Yeah sure If Atari bothered to release the system in Europe I would have bought it already, as it stands Valve is the one getting my money this time, I'm tired of waiting for a VCS European launch.

[+bent_pin]

Just now, JPF997 said:

Yeah sure If Atari bothered to release the system in Europe I would have bought it already, as it stands Valve is the one getting my money this time, I'm tired of waiting for a VCS European launch.

Makes sense

[M-S]

1 hour ago, JPF997 said:

I mean you can play all legacy Atari games easily on the Deck with emulation, and all modern Atari games ( even more than on modern consoles) are available on Steam, so yeah that kinda makes it the best system right now for Atari stuff ( and a million other things as well).

But if you are resorting to unofficial emulation then even those cheap Android can play everything up until the Jaguar, and if I remember correctly the Steam Deck starts at 400U$, I'm just saying it's not a cost effective option.

[Razzie.P]

5 hours ago, JPF997 said:

I mean you can play all legacy Atari games easily on the Deck with emulation, and all modern Atari games ( even more than on modern consoles) are available on Steam, so yeah that kinda makes it the best system right now for Atari stuff ( and a million other things as well).

Yeah, I think you pretty much nailed it there.   VCS might be an equivalent option if it were available for you (but seems like it's not) but definitely not the 2600+.  So sounds like you're on the right path if you're looking for the best of both worlds, old and new.

[roots.genoa]

10 hours ago, JPF997 said:

I mean you can play all legacy Atari games easily on the Deck with emulation

So you're an Atari fan but are willing to illegally download their games? Interesting. 🙂

[JPF997]

24 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

So you're an Atari fan but are willing to illegally download their games? Interesting. 🙂

"Atari games" can mean a lot of things, of course I'm not gonna emulate centipede or asteroids or first party games in general, I was thinking of diving deep into the ST's library, literally thousands of third party games that have never been rereleased just waiting for someone to play them again.

[LatchKeyKid]

It's clearly a great choice if you can afford it as the screen is nice and big for a handheld.  I've seen reviews for tiny portables with smaller screens for even under $50 that work for 8 bit games including Atari also but they seem to be obsessed with their "pocket" size.   The sweet spot for me would be something under $100 with SNES style button #/layout and a larger screen in a 4:3 ratio with low specs (able to play anything up to 16 bit SNES/Genesis flawlessly at 60hz) with a card slot to add your own ROMs.  That's my personal goldilocks handheld for retro gaming.

[telengard]

On 10/30/2023 at 8:54 AM, LatchKeyKid said:

It's clearly a great choice if you can afford it as the screen is nice and big for a handheld.  I've seen reviews for tiny portables with smaller screens for even under $50 that work for 8 bit games including Atari also but they seem to be obsessed with their "pocket" size.   The sweet spot for me would be something under $100 with SNES style button #/layout and a larger screen in a 4:3 ratio with low specs (able to play anything up to 16 bit SNES/Genesis flawlessly at 60hz) with a card slot to add your own ROMs.  That's my personal goldilocks handheld for retro gaming.

This seems pretty close to that description, a little over $100. 

 

https://anbernic.com/products/anbernic-rg353p

 

I'm happy with the 4:3 screen, but it's not as big as the Steem Deck.  Great device for emulation.  I have just about everything imaginable on it via retroarch and android.  The Daijisho frontend works great too.

 

If the the next Steem Deck is lighter, I'll probably get one.

[LatchKeyKid]

1 hour ago, telengard said:

This seems pretty close to that description, a little over $100. 

 

https://anbernic.com/products/anbernic-rg353p

 

I'm happy with the 4:3 screen, but it's not as big as the Steem Deck.  Great device for emulation.  I have just about everything imaginable on it via retroarch and android.  The Daijisho frontend works great too.

 

If the the next Steem Deck is lighter, I'll probably get one.

It definitely matches the asthetic but the screen is too tiny for me at 3.5".   I don't expect something as big as the Steam Deck (7") or even the Switch (6") but I'd want it to be at least 5" personally as my near vision isn't as great as it used to be when the games I would be playing weren't retro.     I fully admit though that I might have unrealistic expectations though I'd love to think that the low specs of what I'd want (only able to play up to 16 bit era at 60hz so limited RAM and low spec processor needed) might mitigate the cost of the screen.

Edited November 2, 2023 by LatchKeyKid