Steam Deck Nintendo Emulation Videos Are Being Pulled From YouTube

Steam punks and their retro futuristic technology…

Well duh what did they expect

That’s a bit of an overreach by Nintendo. But it shows a real problem with YouTube, if a big company makes a DMCA claim then it’s immediately listened to, no matter how spurious. For whatever reason, burden of proof is on the uploader to prove their innocence, rather than Nintendo to prove their guilt.

Well he was only showing people how to play pirat- um I mean preserved switch games.

Its crazy that the steamdeck runs these things.

already people in the comments being like "wow he's showing them how to pirate, they got what they had coming", clearly showing they didn't read the article.

nobody in these videos ever showed how to even obtain them, not even rip them from your own systems, they just demonstrated the emulators running.

it's a clear abuse of the DMCA, and nintendo is absolutely going to get away with it, and i hate that

The level of irony how videos that are monetized teaching people to "preserve their games" end up getting pulled. Is causing the "creators" to get upset that they're not getting paid... That is outright hysterical.

Cry more.

What do you mean at it again? Protecting their business from dodgy shenanigans? Shame on them.

@The-Chosen-one Not really. It'd be crazy if it didn't. The Deck is general purpose PC hardware in a portable gaming case. It runs a full OS with a desktop by default (just need to switch over to it).

They put Gary Bowser in jail for piracy, the fact is - playing Switch games on another console is even worse.

At least you need to buy a Switch to pirate the games, with Steam Deck you don't even need the hardware.

Nintendo no likey..

I am going to buy this thing, mostly for emulation I think. And emulation is not illegal nintendo.
Youtube should actually watch the content that marked as wrong/illegal by the people or companies that strike those vids.

So, what exactly is the difference between "emulating a game on another console" and "piracy?" I thought they were basically the same thing.

Do folk into emulation and free games really think a company would just allow stuff like this to be open? Man, they talk so much horse manure.

@BrintaPap so when you buy it and install the legal emulator, you’re saying you’re gonna buy every Switch game you play?(if you are that upstanding citizen, awesome you own it so do what you want with it) it’s not you Nintendo is worried about
Having an emulator is legal sure, obviously it’s what you do with the emulator that is the illegal part.
It’s like walking into a bank with a full mask on, a gun and a big empty sack and when the cops show up “but nothing I did was illegal”

@Not_Soos don't know if you're being facetious, but "emulating a game on another console" is fine and legal, if you own the products. Some do, some don't. "Piracy" would be if someone took the roms and profited off them, either through resale or ad revenue from a roms site.

@Not_Soos
The emulator is legal. But a emulator is of no use without a rom. Which is illegal. Even if you dump the game yourself it is still pretty iffy.

@JazzyPone they don't have to show how to do it for them to persuade someone they want to do it and go find out how...

Come on, use your brain. It's like you want this to become a more widespread problem.

The argument that Homebrew and Emulation is legal is getting old pretty fast. Although yes, technically they are legal, but showing these off publicly still indirectly promotes piracy. The act of emulation and the act of creating homebrew is fine and I've done my fair share on that. The underlying problem is not everyone shares those values. If you show them it can run dumped games, people will jump into it...even if they didn't dump the ROMs themselves.

Even if we feel bad about it, the game that was showcased in the video was a Nintendo property. They can do anything they want with their property. If people want to showcase their work on emulation then post it on forums or whatever.

My opinion and feel free to disagree. I can already see where the comment section is headed anyway.

@FightMikes I have over 40 or 50 physical switch games and 10 or so digital, but why would you assume I would emulate them? Thats just a strawman right there.

I’m planning to use it for gamecube titles that I own physically.

And your “comparison” is really bad, walking with a gun (in public) is forbidden. (most places in the world I reckon) Emulating is just not illegal.

@PhhhCough'sNo, I'm genuinely an idiot when it comes to this sort of thing, lol. Even if it's not for profit, would distributing illicit copies of a game not still be piracy? Same with emulating a game if you don't own it? @blindsquarel's reply kind of addresses it, but I'm still a bit lost. I'm literally this inept about modding or really anything that requires you to be computer savvy.

Emulation is legal. But making a copy of a game that uses a copy protection (like every Switch, 3DS, Wii U, Wii, DS, GameCube game) is illegal. Even if you own a copy of the game.

Older games it's illegal if you download the game from an unofficial website.

after like 40 years of CDs being around you'd assume some people would be able to fathom the concept of ripping something you own to play it on something else, not exactly rocket science

He demonstrated that emulating nintendo hardware on steam deck is possible, giving others the reason to buy steam deck over switch. Simple as that.

Who wants to place bets that Nintendo is going to attempt to sue Valve in court if this in fact does turn out to be their doing?

Emulation itself is not illegal but obtaining copies of the ROMs is. It does not matter if you own the game or not, it is still illegal. The video shows emulation on an illegal ROM. Nintendo is well within their rights to shut it down.

Once again the old farts at Nintendo think they can stop emulation from happening if they take down a few videos or bust a few rom distribution sites. More will always pop up to take their place. Especially when they encourage it by refusing to allow people to purchase their goods through legal means.

NintendoLife is posting articles about Emulation all the time, why haven't Nintendo sent them a DMCA?

As much as I dislike big companies cracking down on individuals… I don’t really have a lot of sympathy for emulation enthusiasts.

I don’t care if you wanna mess around with it privately for your own amusement, just don’t be mad if when you share it publicly you run up against this sort of pushback.

I don't understand the problem as long as people dump their own games. It's perfectly legal.

To start off, even while 99% of the time I play my games on the system they are made on, and I bought them all legally, there are few games emulate, mostly fan translations and my addiction for older Pokémon games I play on my phone.

I don't want to carry around my 3ds all the time, mine is a LE and they are not going to get any easier or cheaper in the future, so I rather use it mostly at home and my phone on the go (Switch aside) because replacing my phone is much easier.

With that out of the way, if emulation is legal also depends where you live, no idea about the US but I hear so many times that "as long you have the game bought and made a copy, it's legal".

Well in my country Nintendo could win against that just because here the law says "you accepted to the terms of not going to make a copy of this game, the end"

People seem to forget the thin line between making a copy of a game, emulating a game on different hardware and (because some do) compare it to other stuff like making a copy of a music CD (which often has its own rules) AND most importantly that every country has their own rules.

I am not against emulating, absolutely not because when I was younger that was what I did all the time, and when I got older that made me buy the stuff I want even more.

But fact it people try to defend it or be against it, forgetting the very thin line.

@nessisonett I hear you on that, but Nintendo is ACTUALLY selling those games. Not only is it against the law to steal from somebody/company, but to show how to do it...... Well how can anyone justify that?

@Zyph Agree with you. These videos show that it can be done and which emulator works. They may not say with words that they promote pirating games, but come on, showing that you can do it, of course people are searching for those emulators now.
And sure, some people may pirate a game that they own, but I don't think everyone will be that honest. And people forget that sure, Nintendo has tons of money, but not all developers do, and when they don't see sales from their games, they stop support for them.

People who stream on YT openly admit not even owning games they emulate, yet I don't see Nintendo going after them.. too lazy I suspect, still odd though.

Who cares if they take down the videos, more important it is that this emulators are working, making steam deck the perfect handheld console.

It looks strange that the videos have been taken down if they comply with copyright.

Similarly, using CB radio used to be illegal in the UK, but the buying and selling of the equipment was not.

However, to say that the main use of emulators is to play games you already own is myopic

@Not_Soos The emulator is legal, you can rip your game cartridges to get the game but if you want to do that you need to hack your switch.

@PhhhCough no, youre completely wrong. downloading a rom is always illegal, even if you own the original cartridge/disc. youd have to make your own backup and even that is a legal gray area at best (because then youd still have to take into account the circumvention of security measures, copy protections, different national or local laws, etc)

@Not_Soos Some ppl explained it, but I feel like explaining it again in more detail:
Emulating itself isn't illegal, and in no way equals, or requires piracy. In practice it usually does, but that's solely on the individual user. The alternative to piracy would be hacking your Switch, and dumping your own purchased games into ROMs that you can play with your emulator. Which, if one digs deep, yes, is also illegal. At least in most states. But whilst that is true, that method still doesn't really hurt Nintendo in any way, since you need to have purchased both the game and a Nintendo Switch to really do that, meaning that there is no money they're missing out on. Only if you then go ahead and share the ROM you dumped online, then it actually becomes piracy again. (which is also the way how most ROMs somewhere along the line appeared on the internet to begin with) So basically, there is practically no truly LEGAL way of emulating a copyrighted game, but some that do not involve piracy or stripping the publisher of any money.

I don't get arguments like "he didn't show them how to pirate them, he even said he's against piracy".
It doesn't matter if the uploader says this or not cause most people who watch this video won't think "He's against piracy therefore I won't pirate them" but instead think "Wow this guy shows us how to set up those emulators and they run really well on the Steam Deck. I'll download them somewhere and play them on my Steam Deck"

Ofc Nintendo woudn't want this

Always nice to see Nintendo trying to stop these things.

I see many commenters who complain about the way that nintendo allows their talented artists and creators work to disappear. Then they blatantly steel their work, hilarious.

Can't wait for the boatloads of videos claiming "nintendo is evil!" and/or "nintendo hates you/it's fans!" to appear. Those videos always promote the hivemind to hate Nintendo.
I've been emulating games for over a decade but come on you're pretty dumb if you're gonna act surprised that these videos get taken down.
Cry more.

Steamdeck will really struggle to emulate PS5 and Series X, please take note Nintendo. Last gen tech is easier to pirate.

TBH the Switch is THE Current platform, why shouldn't they take down those vids?

What did they expect? Just because it didn't have a how to doesn't mean they poked the bear. The usual "Game preservation" BS that pirates throw out doesn't apply here when the footage shown is current generation hardware.

@nessisonett

Well, with keeping in mind all the stuff Youtube takes down for the most flimsy of reasons, Id say it's not a major "problem" they take down pirated stuff.

@Gwynbleidd I'll leave the nintendo ninja's to do that for me cheers. Hell they cut this video pretty quick so they seem to be doing a good job.

Valve want people to use this thing to buy more Steam games. They probably make very little margin on the hardware. If you pirate it you break the purpose of it.

Is it a lack of real world skills on the part of the creators of the vids to think showing Switch software running on a Steam Deck wouldn't be a problem? It amazes me after millions of Nintendo takedowns and lawsuits that people would think this was a smart move. Maybe they wanted it as a badge of honour, who knows.

@Arkay
People don't need those videos to question some of the choices Nintendo make, people come to that conclusion themselves through Nintendos own actions, and in a lot of cases being critical doesnt always equate to "hate".

I'm not talking about people pirating switch games which are widely available to buy, but Nintendo outright said they have no plans to make their legacy content available to buy, so once the wiiu and 3ds eshops stop allowing for new purchases then the virtual console will be gone for good, and the only way to buy a lot of the games would be to either buy them pre owned, which has its own issues such as some games going for high prices with none of that money going to nintendo, or to use the NSO service where you are unable to purchase the games and once support of the service ends there likely wont even be the safety net of being able to still play games you have downloaded.

yes there are those who will use emulation and even piracy regardless of game availability, however there are also those who are more than willing to pay for nintendos legacy content (as seen by how well mario 3d all stars sold) which is one of the reasons why there are those (myself included) who would have loved to have seen the Virtual console return (or even just have the option to buy the NSO retro games)

@mariomaster96
And I don't understand arguments like this.
Of course Nintendo doesn't want this. Nintendo also doesn't want you to buy other consoles at all. Nintendo probably also doesn't want you to give one of their games a bad review.

What Nintendo wants should be completely irrelevant as long as they have no legal leverage and that is where the arguments you are referencing come into play.

I’d feel sympathy if just one time one of these channel was honest about who their target audience for these sorts of videos is, they know exactly who that audience is and they profit greatly off of them.

Not gonna lie, if I made a console to run my own games and then some other company releases a console that can illegally* run my games, I'd also be pissed.

@glaemay
And if Valve cared about that, they would have designed the system differently.
Let's be serious here, you will have a hard time finding people who use Steam Deck and never buy Steam games.
The amount of people who would do that is probably so low, that it is irrelevant.

Nintendo plugging up one hole, only for another to spring a leak.

@Mgalens my main issue is with what I said: videos promoting the idea that nintendo hates it's fans.
Once more I have no problem with emulation.
Been emulating n64 and gamecube games for a long time.
That said it's pretty obvious they will take down videos promoting emulating their CURRENT system on a "rival" platform which can hurt their sales.

@Kirgo "Nintendo also doesn't want you to buy other consoles at all."
So you are comparing illegally downloading Nintendo games to simply buying a different device? Yes most likely Nintendo doesn't want people to buy their competitors consoles or that you rate their games bad but there are way different priorities to that. What do you think Nintendo does want me to do less, buying a PS5 or illegally downloading a brand new game like Legends Arceus?

@PhhhCough,

Not that likely someone would own a Switch and it's games, then buy a Steamdeck to emulate those said games, pretty much piracy under a different name.

@WiltonRoots,

Yes a real shocker they got taken down.

Poor nintendo, it's sales are being hurt by emulation... oh wait, it's not happening, its a multimillion multinational company with the best financial results of its history.

@Brad_Hogan Did you not read the article? It says in black and white that he absolutely doesn’t show them how to do it at all.

Meanwhile good guy Gaben is personally hand delivering Steam Decks in Seattle

Can't wait for this whole debate again... To put it simply, it seems like Nintendo treats dumping games as another method of "manufacturing" a copy of the game, so they basically want you to pay for that second copy if you're gonna dump it, not that there's any law that specifically enforces it.

That's pretty much what it looks like. Nintendo wants you to repeatedly pay money for the same games all over again, and that pretty much explains why they decided to move over to a subscription service instead.

A smart and expected move from Nintendo? Flame fanning a bit here, aren’t we? People need to get realistic. Hahahahah, sorry I just laughed out loud so hard after I typed that.

I can see why Nintendo would have pulled it (if it was them) and don't like this even if what they are doing is technically fine.

I'm sure many will emulate the game and keep their original copy. But those that don't and sell the original on, or even give it away, are potentially depriving Nintendo of a sale. But it's not like the second hand market (which has it's draw backs but I do think is generally great as an entry point for many who cannot afford brand new or might not take a chance full price) because now the person who originally bought the game, though they sold it on, they still have a copy. Which is kind of stealing...just stealing something that wasn't originally there... which makes it seem nebulous and a grey area but I'm not sure it is.

It's a bit like buying a book, scanning all the pages and then returning it. You did legally buy it, but you're now essentially creating a free copy for yourself.

Obviously not everyone will do that, and the real issue for them is when people then put them online for others to download free. There is certainly a case for this being largely harmless, but at the same time, if they go easy now, if this becomes more common practice it genuinely could eat into their profits. And yeah I know "boohoo big mega corp looses some money who cares?" and I'm generally with you on that. But this is Nintendo, I want them to be able to keep making cool, fun things for me to enjoy and they need good sales to do that.

@Arkay
Its more to do with the idea that people who think that way do so because of some "hivemind" idea or that they are being fooled by the videos rather than coming to that conclusion because of Nintendo's actions.

While i dont feel like nintendo "hates" its fans i do feel like it has the same issue that comes naturally with a lot of big companies in that when you have a big company with a large userbase then their interactions with said userbase comes across as more impersonal (though i can see how that Q and A question regarding legacy content could come across as dismissive or even bitter with how it was worded)

I feel like there is often quite a bit of pushback towards criticism when it comes to discussions among fans, or issues where people will post quotes from comments no one actually said (if you see a comment made up of quotes, see how many times they cite an actual person as the quote source and not something vague like "gamers") this can often be a shared problem with online discussion.

Nothing wrong with protecting your business, the average consumer are dumb sheeps that can be mislead into buying a steamdeck if they look into this videos, also, the line beetween piracy and "game preservation/emulation" is so thin not a lot of people are educated enough to explain the difference. What was he trying to do by uploading a video like that? Let the world know a steamdeck can run switch games? A calculator can run switch games!!

If it's Switch games, then yeah, Nintendo has every right to get those taken down. Why wouldn't they do it? The Switch is still out there for sale. If it was any system prior to the Switch, then it is a bit much to go after them. However, they should go after these guys posting videos of Switch emulation on the Deck since it could cause potential sales damage to their current product.

Emulation is a big selling point for the Steam Deck for me. If Nintendo won't give us Gamecube games on the Switch than by god I'll do it myself.
Besides, I'm pretty sure Breath of the Wild can run at a more stable fps on the Deck running the Wii U version than the Switch version on it's native console lmao.

Imagine getting Steamdeck to play ARMS LMAO

@-wc- "they are not entitled to all the money.."
Dumbest post by far on this website.

@Mgalens: I'm all up for valid criticism believe me. I know they do some questionable things, but some people tend to blow it out of proportion.

The mere fact it was shown on a device other what it was made for already broke Copyright and IP laws. How stupid are people here to show that and expect no blowback from Nintendo protectioning their IP just is mind boggling. You are entitled to your opinion but not The Rule of Laws-think about that.

@mariomaster96
Nope, I didn't compare "illegally downloading Nintendo games to simply buying a different device".
You said in your post, that it is fine to go after videos even if it is explicitly does not support piracy, just because Nintendo doesn't like it.

Which I am arguing is nonsense.

@Jumping_Dead yeah nintendo is the big bad guy. Meanwhile videos of Steam deck emulating PS2 and PS3 are being pulled down and it's not reported on sony websites because sony is an actual control freak big bad guy who censors the press.

@-wc- This is just a guess, but it could be too many people complained about your comment and it's automatically removed after so many complaints.

I'm sorry it got removed, what were you saying?

@Gwynbleidd,

I think you are talking about a very low percentage of people, most will buy the Steam deck and just emulate stuff for free, and also use games in their Steam account.

Ngl, this is exactly the kind of emulation confirmation I was waiting for. Even if I can't see the video anymore to know how well they run. More reason I might get a steam deck later in the future. Maybeeee....

Emulating modern consoles isn't usually possible, but Nintendo went and made the Switch woefully underpowered. I love the Switch. But it's a tablet.

@Astral-Grain

i appreciate the feedback. i will probably refrain from reiterating what i was saying here, to avoid further complications.

it's possible of course that im missing the forest for the trees!

thanks for reaching out! ✊

@sleepinglion again more Nintendo haters calling it a tablet already tells us they have disdain for Nintendo. Lookup the real factual description what Nintendo calls the Switch not what you think it's called.

@Gwynbleidd,

Not sure what to say, but what you and others are suggesting, ie people will have a Switch and Steam deck, then will emulate their stuff they own, just sounds totally ludicrous to me, but as you say we have no real statistics.

@Not_Soos
Nerrel has a good video on emulation if you want to check it out.

@FlyingFoxy
When streamers and let’s plays channels admit to it they are fine. If you notice they don’t show you how to work the emulator and how to get games running. That is the problem here.

@SwitchForce I could be wrong, but I think you're misunderstanding what @sleepinglion meant and taking it as hating on a system, even though they clearly said they love the Switch.

I believe they mean of all the current gen consoles, Switch games are very easily emulated. Comparatively, PS5 and Xbox Series games are not easily emulated, at least not currently.

Even before the Steam Deck launched, people were running Switch games on PC with greater performance than the actual console they are emulating. Thus, the Switch has the simplicity of a tablet. This doesn't mean it's weak and feeble, it means it's easier to translate and emulate to PC compared to all other current gen consoles.

@glaemay I dont know what Sony has to do with this? I'm commenting on this news article about nintendo. I dont know why you think my opinion on sony is different.

@Gwynbleidd,

Well as Valve themselves state the maid market for the Steam deck is people with a P.C and steam account, so not so sure there will be millions of Switch owners lining up to buy one, the console is open source, so you can have many different consoles running/emulated on it, but lets not pretend this is anything else.

@SwitchForce,

Always the same on here, badly disguised Nintendo put downs by some, the Switch is a hybrid console and marketed as a home console that can be used as a handheld, the power of the device is irrelevant.

@Astral-Grain You nailed it on the head. Thank you for reading my comment in full, your explanation was perfect

@SwitchForce I'm on Nintendo Life because I love Nintendo. My collection of consoles, titles, collectibles and controllers from the big N takes up more shelf space than I actually have. You've incorrectly made an assumption. Less hostility, please

@Not_Soos Emulation isn't illegal because if you own a game you can do whatever you want with it. If you want to lick it you can, if you want to bathe with your switch cartridges you can, if you want to dump it to your pc and emulate it you can. It's only illegal if you emulate a rom that you don't own.

Nintendo just wants to say that their device is the best place to play games. Except for the fact it isn't

@progx looks like we'll have to take this rumble to the streets!

lol, jk no hard feelings. ☺️

@DreamlandGem

i understand, thanks for getting back with me! and, feel free to remove my comment asking for this.

@DreamlandGem man, NL is getting all sorts of new staff this last couple weeks huh

nice to see a community manager so involved though

@johnvboy I'd disagree because I played the entirety of BOTW and Astral Chain on my PC because I couldn't stand the compromise of being portable as those two games I wouldn't want to play portably.

@Gwynbleidd,

My comments are not about the viability of the Steam deck, and in your case I can see the case for emulation, my only issue is this scenario is very rare.

@DreamlandGem

i wasnt aware there even were DMs on this site, and i cant find the inbox anywhere! i feel ancient lol.

I'm thirty seven!
you're what?
I'm thirty seven! I'm not "old!"

@sleepinglion Always the same on here, badly disguised Nintendo put downs by some, the Switch is a hybrid console and marketed as a home console that can be used as a handheld
This says it all.....

@Chunkboi79,

That's not an excuse I am afraid, you could have bought a Switch and played them docked, if the quality is not good enough, give them a miss.

@DreamlandGem

OMG. haha okay i feel better now, slightly. thanks again!

@SwitchForce,

Some do not like the Switch's success, as they can't understand it themselves.

I understand why they target ROM sites and such, but this is just such a bad look. I really don't think emulation impacts sales the way they think. I have a hacked Switch and goof off on there playing retro games, but I also own a legit Switch and a ton of Switch games. They probably got more money out of me because I wanted a second Switch just for emulation. Now that duty will move to the Steam Deck.

The more they fight with their loyal fans who just want to be able to play games like Double Dash that are no longer even sold, the more they will drive us away. It's such a bad plan for them. The other people who might emulate had no intention of buying anything else anyways.

Nintendo got embarrassed that Valve made their own Switch and made it much superior than their own console.

Damn there a bunch of comments getting taken down.

But on the topic of this glad to see that emulators on the steam deck are working well.
I plan to get one myself in the future.

I find it ironic my comment was taken down because I'm emulating switch games that I own already. Isn't that what this article is about? 😂

@ggnorekthx You obviously don't work in the Game Programming department. You don't eat codes and make a living. Maybe talk to to a actual software game developer and ask how they feel when someone steals and doesn't pay for their blood/sweat to create the game. Or better create your own game and give it out for free. As anything :
Emulation is one thing stealing Copyright/IP without paying is illegal.

@johnvboy what's unacceptable is Nintendo not offering the premier way to play their games.

Nintendo has a responsibility to protect their business and intellectual property. I fully support them taking down people that are encouraging pirating Switch games. Because let's not fool ourselves, nobody uses Switch emulation to play "backups". Whoever says otherwise is lying through their teeth. It's one thing taking down emulation for 20 year old consoles and another creating an illegal market concurrent to their newest console.

@Troll_Decimator what's illegal about it?

@Chunkboi79 Don't play dumb.

@CallingSonicSpeed Their own console is 5 year old, genius. If Steam Deck wasn't more powerful, it would be an absolute disaster.

@Troll_Decimator emulating games that you own on another device isn't illegal genius. Doesn't matter the timeline. No need to make up rules.

@Chunkboi79 Maybe you should look up the laws, because what you said is 100% wrong. What isn't illegal is dumping your own cartridge and playing it on different hardware via emulation. BUT, downloading a pirated copy is 100% illegal, even if you own a legit copy.

Also, as I said, don't play dumb, 99.9% people emulating Switch don't own the original games, they see this as a "free option". I hope Nintendo prosecutes every single one of them, they are literally criminals, and if you partake, you are the same. No ifs or buts.

@Troll_Decimator but we aren't talking about someone who is pirating the games are we?

Not sure where I said download the games anyway. That's something that you just said, I never said the method whether you dump or own cartridge or download now did I? Dumping the cartridge is kind of obvious when I say you own the games isn't it.

@Troll_Decimator if Nintendo's worried about piracy maybe provide a premier option to play their games. Or make their games high end enough where PC's struggle to play them.

Sony and Xbox have both started moving their games to PC. So I can quote Gabe Newell when he said that you just have to provide a better service than the pirates. The music industry is a great example of this.

Everybody here indignant at Nintendo being anti-game emulation are, respectfully, missing the point. This isn't about game emulation; it's about console emulation.

Nintendo lives or dies as a company off of how many Switches they can get into households, both in direct profit from the sale of the system itself and in growing the userbase for first- and third-party game sales. The Steam Deck running Steam games is a peripheral threat to that install base, but at least one that Nintendo can uneasily coexist with due to the general lack of overlap between libraries and target demographics. When the Steam Deck starts running Nintendo games, though, that liveable, peripheral threat turns into a direct, full-bore, drop-in Switch competitor - and it does so by using Nintendo's own games as ammunition against them with flagrant illegality (whether an individual Youtuber is being a good boy and only emulating games they own or not is beside the point; what they're effectively marketing in their videos is a system being sold on the premise of enabling piracy).

Y'all think Nintendo's just gonna take that lying down? That's a hard no, and it's not even an ethical grey area this time. Emulate whatever you want on whatever you want in your own time, but don't be a dingus and fish for clicks by going out of your way to shill Valve's new hotness as a bootleg Switch.

And of course most people will side against "big bad" Nintendo. Look, it's one thing to emulate to preserve games. It's another to show off that you can play their games on a non Nintendo product. Plus if that vide had ad revenue, that makes the person look worse. Either way, people getting mad because they got caught. Simple as that.

Zero pity for emulation crowd so they can use a Deck to play new Nintendo Switch games free.

These articles always weed those types out.

@Chunkboi79,

That's not an entitlement, they make the system as it is and the games the way they are, nobody has lied about the Switch and it's capabilities, and Games like Zelda still look very good, not a fan of the 4K ray tracing version on the P.C....

Still does not justify people emulating the game on another machine, then trying all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify if, or try to convince people it's people that already own a Switch and it's games, but just do not want to carry two consoles around with them.

@sanderev

As a real Question:
Do they have Protection?
Or is the Formfactor the only one?

Also, a really grey Paragraph is in many Nations, than it is illegal to copy Software with functional Copy Protection.

If it is being copiable by a single Click, is it functional?

Standard user agreements include, "you may Not, in any way, copy, reverse engineer or alter any part of this software." Dumping your game into an emulator is copying. Emulators tailored for specific games will require reverse engineering the software. Running the game faster or at a different resolution is altering.
All breach's of a standard video game usage agreement.
Nintendo is within their rights here to "protect" their software and IP. We only purchase a license to use that software on specific hardware, which is why they can sell re-releases ported to new hardware and sell the same game twice across devices. If you don't like it, simply stop supporting video games in general.

At it again? What, protecting against blantant theft of their current system

@johnvboy I don't need to carry two consoles if the steam deck runs both steam os and switch do I?

Also it's not a justification. I'm just telling you what I'm going to do if Nintendo wants to give me underpowered systems. And you can just kind of deal with it 😉

Nintendo fans always told me if I wanted better graphics buy a PC. Hence I did so I don't see the problem doing what I want with my PC and my switch games lol

@Chunkboi79 When did you bought your Switch?

@MagnesG Day one. I actually took the day off of work to play BOTW, but unfortunately had a proctored exam that same day lol

I remember the launch games and picked up Shovel knight and fast RMX as well, since fast racing neo was a great wii u game.

Well at least someone is willing to release a Switch Pro.

Too bad it wasn't Nintendo in their massive wisdom from 1985.

was pulled by Steam probably cause they can get into a lot of legal trouble for this and end up paying Nintendo a lot lol

@Chunkboi79,

If you do not see this as wrong in some way, then I can't help you, just because you can do something, does not mean you should.

People can play Nintendo Switch games on Steam Deck like a DEMO.

To spend some time with the game and see if it's worth buying or not.

I know it´s illegal, and so on....but...no one can stop people from doing this, for they have been doing it for many years and there is no fear in the world to stop them.

@Rykdrew
Yeah a friend of mine does the same, he downloads litterally every game(from atari,ness, arcade etc, till next gen .i played breath of the wild in 4K raytracing 👀 man.
When he likes a game he buys it.
He even had, fightcade and something else (forfot the name, where he played the games online.

@johnvboy I don't have any moral obligation to multi-billion dollar company

Nintendo almost found the solution back when the Wii existed. They had a Virtual Console. I always wondered why they didn’t also just release a system called the “virtual console” side by side with the Wii. It would strengthen the argument against piracy if you could purchase most games legally no matter how old or obscure. Keep pricing cheap. I own almost every console generations systems but the Wii was the best. It had everything (except hd) no one has matched the motion controls (even Nintendo on the Switch). It had light gun games and retro stuff worked very well with the control options. The mini Nes and Snes were close as well. But I can’t believe we don’t have a Nintendo Virtual Console at this point, with tons of publishers behind it. It’s insane to me that this was never realized.

@FargusPelagius modern stuff absolutely. I don’t know that new, snes and such fall under these agreements.

@nessisonett Yes I can read! However, any article or YouTube video about soft modding gaming hardware leads to the theft of ACTUAL peoples work! Well done again, you are VEEEERY COOL & am sure many people trust your even smarter takes then they could understand!!

@Brad_Hogan This isn’t soft modding. This is the installation of an emulator on the Steam Deck which absolutely supports it. RetroArch is even on Steam. Stop spouting off about things you know nothing about.

@glaemay Owned by the press! But yeah, you get it!!

@nessisonett Sure. Have a nice weekend mate.

@Chunkboi79,

No problems.

@sanderev Zzzzzzzz

@Phenzy the cartridges explicitly say, for use with X hardware, be it NES, SNES, using it on anything else, again is a breach of the useage license. Copying it and using it on anything else, is breaching the license. Nintendo can reasonably replace cartridges or discs but this usually has a ten year limit.
It's been a sour point of gaming for longer than people like to admit. Everyone glosses over it, stating they can "backup" or "preserve" their games because the Atari, spectrum and Amiga all encouraged making copies due to the potential instability of the cassette and floppy disc medium.

@Gwynbleidd You could have saved both of us a lot of trouble and cut out everything but your last paragraph, which amply demonstrates that you understand the core concept I was trying to impart (thank you), but just don't care about it - that you see the Deck getting popularly established as a bootleg Switch as being fair play that Nintendo's just going to have to suck it up and live with.

@Gwynbleidd Never said you did, mate, but only those who are looking to grab cheap clicks by putting out flavor-of-the-month Youtube videos flaunting off the latest gaming naughtiness should worry about Nintendo issuing these takedown requests; the others are fine and the internet as a whole should really try to not give a flying flip about them, if they're wise.

I paid for Nintendo's garbage online "service" for five years and there was never an ounce of improvement, only a bid for even more undeserved money when they horribly insulted the legacy of the N64 with the worst official emulation to date at an absurd games-as-a-service price point. Why should I respect a husk of a company that respects neither me nor their very own creations? I'm gonna sell my Switch and play my games on a platform that actually lets me do what I want, and give me a vastly superior online service at no fee.

Get mad.

@Brad_Hogan "However, any article or YouTube video about soft modding gaming hardware leads to the theft of ACTUAL peoples work! "
Any video?
So if I install someone's home brew game on my Wii, I'm stealing it? Even though they made the port? Are Vita modders "stealing" AM2R?

@CodyMKW No, Steam does not have any legal obligations to control what users do with the PCs they buy from them. Just as Microsoft has no legal responsibility if a user emulates Switch games on Windows 11.

@QuattroBajina If your asking me "if someone makes a game to be played for free is that stealing???" No! It is not!!
If I bake 5 cakes for the village, leave them on a table out front of my house, with a sign saying "Please help yourself", then someone or many people take them, I'd be happy they were appreciated. However all the same as above, with a sign saying "All slices of cake are 50p each" then someone took them without paying, that is stealing! You know we live in Western Civilisation EVERYONE that lives here abides by the rules.... Or you can't & the boys in blue pay you a visit!! What difference does it make it someone does it digitally?

@Brad_Hogan You will not be allowed to move the goalposts.
These are the exact words you said:

"However, any article or YouTube video about soft modding gaming hardware leads to the theft of ACTUAL peoples work! "

This is a factually, objectively incorrect statement. In other words, you have said something that is wrong. You do not get to magically redefine what you said previously to try to make me look like a jackass. That's not how this works.

@Gwynbleidd Indeed, it wasn't worth it for you to have bothered replying to anything after my first response to you, since after I confirmed then that I understood your disagreement with me, you've had nothing to add but insults. And while I'm more than happy to respond in kind, it's really not productive for either of us in the long run, so I'm glad to see you conclude as much as well. You have a nice day too; I'm sure both of ours will be much better for us not continuing this.

@Gwynbleidd I'll decline to take you up on your dare to drag the mods into this; seeing who can get the most of the other's comments deleted ex post facto is no way to win a debate, nor to make things that have been said magically unsaid.

It's quite rude to ignore someone you're still holding an active conversation with, but ignorance is bliss, as they say, so I wish you well in enjoying all the bliss you gain from doing so - but I'll remind you, falling on deafened ears as I may, that you were the one who first replied to me, so... maybe save yourself the trouble next time, and just don't start an argument with someone that you're not prepared to end.

@Fath " you've had nothing to add but insults."
Pot, kettle.

@QuattroBajina Yes, I already said as much. You can't accuse the pot of calling the kettle black when what the pot said was "Looks like we're both black, then."

@SeantheDon29 No it wont happen, because Valve are not encouraging it. The Steam Deck is just a PC. Would Nintendo sue Microsoft for software that runs on Windows? Or Dell for making PCs that could also run emulation software?

To sue Valve Nintendo would have to demonstrate that Valve are a) encouraging Nintendo emulation and b) that they designed the Steam Deck for that purpose. It aint gonna happen.

Switch games, okay yeah I get it. But gamecube games? Nintendo has NEVER made an easy way to get most of them.