The perfect setup for all of my gaming needs

Nov 28, 2023

I’ve now reached the point where I am happy with my gaming setup. I can comfortably play any game I want to play from many different eras. It’s a dream come true for the child within me!

I’ll break down each device in this post and how I use them.

Obligatory family picture:

All systems

Let’s begin!

Miyoo Mini Plus

Miyoo Mini Plus

Let’s start with the smallest of the bunch, the Miyoo Mini Plus. This tiny, pocketable device is one of my favorite handhelds because of how portable it is. It only costs around USD 60 and can play anything up to the PlayStation One. Amazingly, with the recent update in OnionOS, the custom firmware commonly used in this device, you can even play Nintendo DS games and Pico8 Games.

I used this device to play some of my old favorite video games from the following consoles:

Also, this is the device that I carry around everywhere. I always have this in my backpack along with my Kindle. It’s perfect for when I’m waiting for something.

Nintendo New 3DS XL

Nintendo New 3DS XL

3DS and NDS emulators are near perfect nowadays. However, emulating dual-screen consoles in a single-screen device feels wrong. Not to mention that you can’t emulate the 3D screen on the 3DS. While I find the 3D to be gimmicky and turn it off most of the time, it’s still nice to have an option to enable it occasionally!

I can play any NDS and 3DS games with this one, and I’ve been very pleased with the experience. The NDS experience is not quite perfect due to the pixel being stretched, but it’s playable enough. I also have an NDS Lite if I really want a pixel-perfect experience, but most of the time, I’m not bothered enough to use the NDS Lite. Of course now that the e-Shop for the 3DS is closed, I installed a custom firmware on it.

One of these days, I’ll finally have the energy to finish Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate…

Nintendo Switch OLED

Nintendo Switch OLED

This one doesn’t require any introduction. This is my OLED Switch with modified Joycons. I love the atomic purple color with the rainbow face buttons. The thumbsticks have also been replaced with the hall-effect sensor one from Gulikit to avoid stick drifting. Also, did you notice that it has an actual D-pad? :wink:

I used this to play first-party Nintendo games exclusively these days. My favorites are the Zelda series and the Mario series. I used to use it to play indie titles as well, but I stopped since I have a Steamdeck now due to the price difference between Steam and e-Shop.

The Switch is also the largest device that I can tolerate carrying around.

Steamdeck

Steamdeck

One of my best purchases this year! This device is capable of anything, from emulating all consoles up to PlayStation 3 and even playing the newest AAA titles. For my use case, however, I mainly use it to play indie PC titles or lighter titles. I like to crank up all of the graphics settings to the max, and Steamdeck, while it can play most games on low or medium settings, cannot run AAA games at max settings.

I also modded my Steamdeck and replaced the back panel with the translucent one. My absolute favorite fact regarding the Steamdeck is that it runs Linux!

Aside from the indie titles, here are the consoles that I emulate:

The device is capable of so much more, but these are the only ones I’m bothered to set up for now. The only drawback for me is the size. It’s too big and heavy to be carried around, so this is just a couch/bed console for me.

PC

PC Setup

Now, this is my ultimate gaming machine. It can play all the consoles mentioned above (some through emulation), with the only downside of not being portable. I built this back in the middle of 2022 when the GPU prices started coming down. Here are the detailed specs:

Obligatory cable management photo:

The tower itself

This build should be strong enough to last me another year or two, and when the time comes, I’ll most likely only upgrade the CPU and GPU. The rest of the components will stay. For now, I mainly use the PC for AAA games that require more power to run than on the Steamdeck and anything else that cannot be run on the previous devices. Enjoying games on max settings in an ultrawide monitor is a blessing if I’m not too tired to sit on my desk. If I’m too tired, then I can also use remote play from the Steamdeck.

So yeah, I’m delighted with my current setup and thought I would share it here. Thanks for reading! :)

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