Once complete, you can launch games from the Non-Steam section.Ī quick tip before we begin: connect an external mouse and keyboard. This frontend will insert game files into your Steam Library. To do that, we’ll be using a frontend called EmuDeck. There are dozens of ways to play emulators on the Steam Deck, but this guide will help you achieve an experience that plays nicely with SteamOS. This could be as simple as a command line, but today’s best frontend software can support multiple emulators through an attractive user-friendly interface. You may encounter other types of files, but most gamers refer to all copies of original game files as ROMs when speaking generally.įrontend: Every emulator needs a frontend where users can launch games. Data retrieved from these cartridges are called ROM files. Why? Older game consoles used a Read-only Memory (or ROM) chip to store game data. ROM (or ROM files): Copies of games originally meant for a console are loosely referred to as ROM files or just ROMs.

In this case, it replicates the features and functions of a game console, which tricks games into running as if you had the original hardware. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:Įmulator: An emulator is a program that mimics the hardware of a specific device. Explaining emulation relies on a few technical terms that you might not be familiar with.

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