Epilogue, makers of the Game Boy emulation tool GB Operator, have revealed that the peripheral works with Steam Deck (opens in new tab).With Operator, Game Boy (from the original to Advance up to) cartridges can be effectively played directly on the Deck.

GB Operator (opens in new tab) will be available starting August 2021 and was originally designed to run on PCs running Windows, Linux, or MacOS. Operator is available for Analogue Pocket (opens in new tab) Open in a new tab) based on the open source mGBA (open in a new tab) emulator, as opposed to the hardware-level FPGA solutions found in Analogue Pocket (open in a new tab) and MiSTer (open in a new tab).

Emulation is generally considered a low-fidelity way to run a game without the original hardware, but it is also a cheaper and more accessible method: Operator costs $50, while Analogue costs $220. The mGBA software used in Operator seems to be highly regarded as an emulation tool.

Compared to installing mGBA alone, which works well with the Steam deck (opens in new tab), Operator saves you the trouble of dumping the ROM from your cart before playing the game. Even if the novelty of playing games directly from the cart wears off, Operator still provides a convenient way to flash and dump ROMs. Likewise, Operator can also transfer save data between the computer and the cart.

I always thought the Steam Deck would carry on the legacy of Game Gear and PSP. Still, this feels right somehow, and it seems unlikely that Nintendo will be offering an official Game Boy emulation solution anytime soon. Between this and Deck's potential as a Wii U/Nintendo DS emulator (opens in new tab), Valve's portable gaming PC is proving to be quite the retro gaming powerhouse.

The Deck is arguably a better home for Game Boy emulation than a desktop or even the Android smartphone I used to play Fire Emblem a few years ago. I got my Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga cart a while back and would love to replay that old favorite on Steam Deck."