Switch a good emulator hardware?

[Minattz]

I was looking into a good console that I could play on my tv for emulators, but also handheld would be a plus. Is the switch good hardware to run most emulators? My main thing is simplicity plug into tv and grab a controller instead of a mini pc to set things up and then grab a controller. Open to all options, but needing my emulator fix and I dont game on my computer screen at all. So its tv and some handheld. Thanks.

 

[Esdeath]

Depends on what you want to emulate and which quality would be satisfying for you.
I would just pre order a Steamdeck tbh and wait a few months instead of buying a switch at this point, except if you could get one for a really good price.

 

[Reploid]

I think you can emulate anything up to PSP pretty well on it. But I only did so with 8-16 bit hardware

 

[Minattz]

My main thing is to play on the TV, I dont think steam deck can do that. Whats the easiest way to get some eumulators, say up to PS1 psp dreamcast era on the TV? Is the switch a good choice for this?

 

[deathblade200]

I was looking into a good console that I could play on my tv for emulators, but also handheld would be a plus. Is the switch good hardware to run most emulators? My main thing is simplicity plug into tv and grab a controller instead of a mini pc to set things up and then grab a controller. Open to all options, but needing my emulator fix and I dont game on my computer screen at all. So its tv and some handheld. Thanks.

define "most" as retroarch can play all the 2d systems perfectly though in my experience it takes a little tweaking of the settings for example Dynamic Audio Rate Control causes frame drops in most cores instead of a steady 60FPS. for 3D systems (Psp, Ps1, N64, Dreamcast) Lakka is the vastly better option due to vulkan support and just better cores in general

 

[pinbi7]

My main thing is to play on the TV, I dont think steam deck can do that. Whats the easiest way to get some eumulators, say up to PS1 psp dreamcast era on the TV? Is the switch a good choice for this?

the switch should be able to handle those, what i would recommend tho is a cheap i5 laptop and a ps4 controller

 

[kid sampson]

Performance improves if your Switch supports CFW. Nintendo also released official emulator services (NSO) for NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis. PS1 and PSP play extremely well via Retroarch or standalone app. Sega Saturn can be injected into an official Saturn port and have high compatibility and great performance. Dreamcast is the one that struggles for me but I honestly haven't spent much time tweaking the settings to maximize performance. The only game I really tried is SoulCalibur, which did not achieve full speed. Overall, I think it's a great emulation device and I prefer it to my 3DS (screen size) and Vita (performance). It also has its own amazing library of games to play on the go.

 

[mathew77]

Steamdeck's much better in terms of emulator hardware. But I love my Switch, anyway.

 

[zxr750j]

A raspberry 4 with retropi should also do the trick...

 

[Minattz]

My main concern is ease of use on the tv. I have a pc and phone with emulators on them, but I want to be able to turn on the system and play old games almost as easy as turning on my xbox or ps. grab a controller and go, no fidgiting with turning on a pc grab a mouse and open an emulator. Just turn on and with my controller choose game and play. Switch seemed logical as I have a dock already and grab a second one for emulators and such. With Wii U and 3DS shops closing just brought me here to see if anything could play those as well.

 

[zxr750j]

Retropie is really a viable option...

 

[Esdeath]

Steamdeck is going to get a dock like the switch at a later date, but since the orders are going beyond Q2 they should have released it when you could get it.
On switch PSP works fine and I guess that should mean PS1 is also possible. Not sure about Dreamcast.
You could also set up retroarch with the cores you need on PC and just use a Macro to start it in fullscreen.

 

[Minattz]

Steamdeck is going to get a dock like the switch at a later date, but since the orders are going beyond Q2 they should have released it.
On switch PSP works fine and I guess that should mean PS1 is also possible. Not sure about Dreamcast.
You could also set up retroarch with the cores you need on PC and just use a Macro to start it in fullscreen.

Steamdeck sounds good if it has a dock coming, I wasnt awre of that. Also that little machinery is going to be expensive and hard to get. But until then Ill have to figure something else out.

 

[bad361]

No, for your purposes the best solution would probably be a raspberry pi or a decent "cheap" android with hdmi out, or even steam deck/odin.. Switch is a good emulation device (considering you can use lakka/linux/android) but its a nintendo console in the first place and its quite hard to mod nowadays (and expensive compared to other devices). Your choice eventually, but just as an emulation device its not worth it. As a portable nintendo console with cfw, homebrews and other stuff, it is worth it imo. Emulation wise, everything up to gc/wii/ps2 runs decently well.

 

[deathblade200]

No, for your purposes the best solution would probably be a raspberry pi or a decent "cheap" android with hdmi out, or even steam deck/odin.. Switch is a good emulation device (considering you can use lakka/linux/android) but its a nintendo console in the first place and its quite hard to mod nowadays (and expensive compared to other devices). Your choice eventually, but just as an emulation device its not worth it. As a portable nintendo console with cfw, homebrews and other stuff, it is worth it imo. Emulation wise, everything up to gc/wii/ps2 runs decently well.

you just gave him mostly MUCH worse options for emulation

 

[bad361]

you just gave him mostly MUCH worse options for emulation

lol

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Wait till later on this year and the new generation handhelds running Linux will be around 350 and they'll cover everything and anything, portable and home use. Way better than a Switch for emulation as things run native and plenty of support.

 

[sley]

Switch is awesome for emulating multiplayer games and is really close to plug and play (Tekken, Mario Party etc.)
If you are not interested in the first party games though I wouldn't recommend it since the price is high for such an old console.

 

[Minattz]

Wait till later on this year and the new generation handhelds running Linux will be around 350 and they'll cover everything and anything, portable and home use. Way better than a Switch for emulation as things run native and plenty of support.

Are you saying the steamdeck, or are there different handhelds that will have hdmi out to tv? not caught up on anything other than the steamdeck

 

[spkatsi]

+1 for Switch. Plays natively all Nintendo latest games, while other hardware options do not.

BTW yesterday I used Switch Android and went with a complete playthrough of Pikmin 1.
(Pro Controller, Docked, Pal version, Max Performance, Vulkan, x2 resolution and used AR code for widescreen)