The Playdate Simulator may also be run on Steam Deck.
If only the Steam Deck had a crank.
An intrepid Redditor has gotten the Playdate Simulator operating on their Steam Deck, as shared on Twitter by Valve designer Lawrence Yang, in yet another reminder of how versatile Valve’s Steam Deck mobile gaming PC can be.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Playdate, it’s Panic’s little yellow handheld with a crank, but like the long reservation wait for the Steam Deck, Playdate preorders are months long. If you make a preorder for Playdate right now, it won’t ship until 2023. If you already have a Steam Deck and wish to experiment with the Playdate’s retro vibes, it appears that you may do so by downloading the free Playdate Simulator.
A video of the simulator running on Steam Deck may be seen in u/Reddit ncarson9’s post. They start the simulator from the Steam Deck’s menus, navigate to a game, open it, and spend a few seconds navigating around a Zelda-like forest wielding a little sword.
This, like many other aspects of the Steam Deck, will most likely require some modification. Even in this restricted capacity, it’s entertaining to witness one of 2022’s most sought handhelds operating on another of 2022’s most coveted handhelds. Is this portable-ception?