The Steam Deck is a conveyable sport console…nevertheless it’s additionally a fully-fledged PC. That creates numerous alternatives for modding shenanigans. One that appears to be gaining reputation is popping the factor into a completely huge Nintendo DS, a notoriously tough sport system to emulate because of its dual-screen setup.

Andrew of RetroHandhelds.gg gave it a shot after seeing a Reddit person’s try, combining a 7-inch USB-based show (roughly the identical measurement because the Steam Deck’s) and a small USB-C dock with a shell case and a few magnetic mounts to maintain all of it tidy. Getting the {hardware} collectively was a irritating little bit of trial and error, however he’s documented his progress (together with Amazon hyperlinks) if you wish to attempt it your self.

The software program aspect was comparatively simple. Andrew ran the Steam Deck’s Linux-based software program in desktop mode to put in and boot up the Citra Nintendo 3DS emulator (which may be a little hard to find at this point), ensuring to arrange the emulator’s output to separate into two completely different home windows.

This is what journeys up numerous DS emulation: on a single display screen it’s important to both squash two roughly square-shaped shows onto one, or set a hotkey to modify between them. But with an exterior show plugged into the Steam Deck, and its built-in show already a touchscreen to imitate the DS, you’re good to go.

The finish result’s fairly spectacular…although Andrew mentioned the bodily setup was so irritating that he wouldn’t do it once more. After all, Citra works simply fantastic on the Steam Deck with out the exterior display screen, and DS emulation followers are used to squashed shows and/or hotkey display screen swapping. If you completely will need to have DS emulation, perhaps the upcoming however moderately expensive AyaNeo Flip DS is price contemplating.