The Valve Steam Deck is what happens when a gaming PC and a Nintendo Switch have a baby, and that baby grows up chugging Mountain Dew and modding Skyrim at age five. It’s a chunky, unapologetically beefy handheld that can run everything from AAA blockbusters to the jankiest, most obscure indie games you found in a bundle eight years ago. With its Linux-based SteamOS, it’s basically a portable gaming goblin that thrives on tinkering. Want to install Windows? Go ahead. Emulate old consoles? Absolutely. Turn it into a weird Frankenstein machine that runs spreadsheets and plays DOOM on a smart fridge? You bet. It’s the kind of device that whispers, “Go on, break me, I dare you,” and then somehow just keeps working anyway.

Now, playing retro games on the Steam Deck is like giving a cyberpunk mech the soul of a Blockbuster Video rental section. Whether it’s SNES classics, PS2 gems, or some long-lost Game Boy Advance title you played in the backseat of a minivan, the Deck handles it like a champ. With emulation software, it transforms into an all-in-one time machine, letting you bounce from Chrono Trigger to Tony Hawk’s Underground without missing a beat. And thanks to those gloriously oversized thumbsticks and trackpads, even finicky old PC games get a new lease on life. It’s like holding every console you ever loved in your hands—except now, you don’t have to blow into a cartridge like a desperate wizard trying to resurrect a fallen warrior.