I'd suggest taking a look at RetroGameCorps videos or written guides
Emulation
Community to talk about emulation & roms.
RULES:
1.) No bigotry
LINKS:
-
Emulation Wiki - Your source for everything emulation :)
-
[WIP] Emulation Links Wiki - My personal wiki for emulation links, please help contribute!
-
r/Roms Megathread - Megathread of Roms
-
RetroArch - RetroArch is the popular front-end to libretro which is a simple API that allows for the creation of games and emulators.
+1 He provides tons of good info
If not a Steam Deck then I'd say a large phone or small tablet with one of those controllers that the device clips into.
Phone's and tablet's here are very overpricced, to the point that it's cheaper for me to get a generic handheld shipped 7 countries away than buying a phone locally/shipped.
Example: my current samsung galaxy a54 I bought last year costed me 525 euro here, while in the rest of the world it was around 300 usd on amazon for example ( I don't order from amazon because amazon isn't available in my country so shipping with it is very expensive ).
So price IS an issue! Then probably a Steam Deck.
Price isn't an issue as in the price of the device, more in the sense of I don't wanna pay double for less of a performance ( steamdeck is an overkill for what I need, I don't plan on emulating any 3d consoles )
So price isn't an issue but the two most popular and common options are are too expensive, ha ha.
Have you looked at the used tablet/phone market? You'll get a better picture than a new device of the same price and the older tech won't matter for emulating old games.
Doesn't exist here where I live, used market here for tech is non existent.
As for the reason I ain't getting a phone/steam deck isn't price, but that they are overkill for what I wan't ( both steamdeck and phones are too big for what I wan't ).
I just wan't a small device like miyoo mini to play 2d games on the go.
Have you heard of Retroid Pocket? I've never used one, but they have a range of products that seem to do what you want, and for a fraction of the price of a Steam Deck.
I got an Anbernic SP and love it! It’s got a nice clamshell design and can handle most things up to PS1 (and apparently PSP?) but I mostly stick to GBA, SNES, and Pico 8 titles.
The included firmware is okay, but I installed muOS and haven’t had any problems. I have a nice 2 card setup with all my games and saves on sd2