Valve has just released the Steam Deck – a new handheld gaming PC. It’s capable of running all sorts of games (new and old) and can even run emulators – allowing it to host a huge library of retro systems and games.
Nintendo emulation has been covered in the lead-up to the device’s release, and now that the Steam Deck is in the hands of consumers all sorts of emulation videos are popping up on YouTube.
It seems though that certain videos focused on Yuzu (Switch) and Dolphin (GameCube & Wii) emulation have become targets of takedowns. While it’s not entirely clear at this point in time who exactly is targeting these videos, the obvious guess here is Nintendo – and many within the Steam Deck community believe this as well.
One video, in particular, that’s been removed was uploaded by YouTube channel The Phawx (Cary Golomb over on Twitter). The creator of this channel with over 55K subscribers had uploaded an instructional video about how to get Yuzu (the open-source Nintendo Switch emulator) running on the Steam Deck. His other video about Dolphin emulation on Steam Deck was also supposedly targeted.
The Switch video showcased a wide range of games running on the system such as Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario 3D World and even ARMS. The same creator has also shared a screenshot of Metroid Prime running on the device, too.
If this does have anything to do with Nintendo, it wouldn’t exactly be a surprise after its recent takedown of a popular video game music channel featuring thousands of Nintendo tracks. This was later confirmed by an official YouTube account via social media, after claims were made that it wasn’t
Nintendo hasn’t shown much love towards the preservation of its retro games in recent times – announcing the other week it would be closing the doors of the Wii U and 3DS eShop. It’s also made headlines for jailing a hacker for three years.
If we hear any updates about this latest story, we’ll be sure to let you know.