I sold my 2 tb steam deck for $500 and bought the 2tb legion go at microcenter last weekend with a 1tb micro sd card so 3tb total and I'm so glad I did.
Sold me legion for the steam oled , legion sucks dick and so slow. 120hz is the only cool thing but I’ll wait for steam to complete compat games. Instead of a error message like legion
I have the GO and have been very happy with however I think my Steamdeck will becoming the Emulation Deck now as it’s primary function. Such a great time to be a gamer
@saltydad2987 What is your opinion after all these months ? Is it easier and more enjoyable for Steamdeck to emulate ? Have you tried emulation on Legion Go ? Any opinion would be thankful cause I try to choose one of them.
Hey Russ, when I am hovering over clicking to play your videos the music starts playing in my mind! Thank you for all you do. Grab a coffee or something.
It's not THAT hard to emulate, but as said in the video, it's when you start applying shaders or upping the resolution that things get hairy. I've been playing Saturn games for years on both handhelds and PC's and its always been easy enough as long as your goal isn't playing in super high fidelity.
The peace of mind of being able to buy from a big box retailer like Best Buy and having the holiday return policy is what made me pull the gun. So far I mostly been playing Steam/GOG games but I definitely want to give emulation a shot soon.
i have nd i tell u its worth it dont judge the device by how it is rn especially when we r barely a week in wit fortnite i get almost 144fps 1440p wit custom high settings
I'm currently waiting for the UPS driver to deliver my legion go and emulation was a big part of my decision to get it. I'm looking forward to playing newer games as well but having something that can emulate a big majority consoles is pretty cool.
If only I hadn’t forced my way through getting emulation running properly before this video came out 😅 Thanks a ton Russ, keep being the hero handheld gaming needs!
Excellent content as always. I will say that Custom Mode is very broken - and that Lenovo is doing some odd micro-managing of Power Profiles / TDP on this device. My tests are still somewhat inconclusive, I know others in the Handheld space are aware of these odd behaviors.
Great breakdown bruh. I feel the exact same way in my testing . The Legion Go has Alot of potential, but it's just not quite ready for prime time. Over these next few months the software and drivers are gonna get better and this thing should be a home run.
Love videos like this, thank you for your service Russ (in multiple ways :)). I appreciate your commitment to valuable content over making videos for retention/financial success. Every handheld on the market is only like half as valuable without your work on them.
Dude thank you for testing Saturn BEETLE! It does the same behavior on my steam deck, very apparent for VF1 (not remix ver, og). The deck can't hit full frames no matter what you do. Of all the retro reviews on the Go, yours is by far the best. Thx for the video!
This was a great video, very straightforward and easy to follow. I'm not too well versed in emulation but it definitely makes me think I'll be getting a legion go soon. Thanks!
As I’m entering the “big handheld market” just now without a Steam Deck or a ROG Ally, this machine seems like a dream, especially upgrading from my powkiddy X55 for retro gaming emulation. The whole Fire Emblem saga, from GBA to Switch, is gonna look amazing on that screen!
With regard to Sega Saturn, i know the RetroArch cores are easier and more convenient to use, but I would recommend the standalone version of Yabasanshiro
I bought it 1 week ago, BRAND NEW with box guaranteed. He produces a lot, I think he is definitely worth his money. There is no game that a great device cannot play. The screen is 8.8 inches ally and larger and of higher quality. Moreover, I have a PS5 and a new generation super PC, but this is a completely different experience.
The reason you're getting better performance when its plugged in its probably because energy savings has been embedded into the OS. So when its not plugged in the OS automatically downclocks the CPU, also reducing the GPU performance.
Picked up one of these bad boys today from my local Best buy for $600 for the 1tb model, it was an open box return and after testing it had no scuffs, marks, scratches, etc. and I was able to test it before I even paid for it at the best buy (s/o to the worker who opened it for me & let me check it out) and bought the insurance just incase, that plus a $150 gift card brought this bad boy to around $550 total so I'm not complaining one bit, now time to get these emulators setup so I can FINALLY replay Ocarina of Time & Pokemon Stadium on a new gen handheld.
@@beansontoast6 i’ve been replaying dark souls 1 & 3 on that thing and also added emu station to it and loaded a bunch of GBA, N64 and psp games so it has definitely been getting a lot of use for me, I still love my pc but it is so nice when i wanna be lazy and lay on the couch and run some games so I personally love this thing.
Love this device but im more then happy with my ally. But the reason i love it so much is the potential its successor could have for improving the build quality and controllers. I think that its game changing if they can get it right on their second go.
@@thundergato84 honestly i would get the ally based on just the savings alone. I have a bit of a problem because im collecting handhelds atm so im eventually gonna get the legion go anyways. But as a recent owner of the Rog Ally and had to deal with the sd card issues and the typical headaches of windows, well... i can be honest and tell you that once you get thru those its a damn beast. Currently im playing Apex Legends Ignite season and im pulling very nice frame rates at 1080p with performance mode on and settings tweaked. If you want to know my and everyones biggest complaint for the ally is, then its the battery life. Still, for that $500 price tag at best buy its a steal man. I just said eff the sd card as much as i hated the poor handling on asus part and installed a 2tb ssd in mine and just been having a blast.
Just ordered my 1tb from Best Buy! If I chose the smaller option I would’ve had to wait till a whole month to receive it. Luckily this one arrives in just a few days. Wasn’t able to order the micro center 2tb unfortunately though.
Emulation was #2 on my priority list which means it’s pretty high. I started tweaking my Legion Go yesterday with EmuDeck, ES, etc. While we all know the drivers need some work, it does play my PS2, Wii, GBA, MAME, & GC games flawlessly. So I’m fine with that while drivers & software take a bit more time to mature. And while the less than stellar software is it’s biggest weakness, the future looks bright imo. No regrets. It’s a fantastic device. Loving the Legion Go.
Hi, I would like to request you add Ace Combat 5 and Zero to your PS2 emulation test, these games are really really hard to run, and it's the main games I want to play on a handheld.
@@antonyadler That's what i was told about the Odin 2 but when tested nobody could get it to run right. I'd like to see someone use it as a test metric.
Just a heads up, the gyro on the legion go is built into the tablet, not the controllers. Not sure if you tested it out with the controllers attached as well, but just something to note, it won't work with the controllers detached.
Having bought a Steam Deck and finding that kind of heavy to play too long on, the screen looks great but there will have to be a drastic upgrade to justify another large purchase like this. Would definitely run emulation on it though, the screen looks amazing Thanks for all the work you do, even though I'm not in the market currently it's great to get to see where the tech is headed. Still would rather not have detachable controllers (Switch feels flimsy to me and the rails wear out too easily imo), it would help offset having to hold this for so long. Wish they had put the back bracers/notches that the Split Pad Pro has.
about the only thing I'm going to emulate on this is Saturn, and like 2 games for xbox that aren't playable on newer xboxes. However this system is going to get so much use. Point and clicks, 90s FPPS and RPGS. The FPS mode is such a fun solution.
As someone who is interested in either the Go or the Ally (but leaning towards the Go because of the screen and extra features, yet hesitant also because of the screen, the consequences it might have on performance and smoothness of gameplay, and the general chonk), emulation is a big one for me because I mainly hope to emulate the Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport games, but I`m just as interested in knowing whether the higher resolution of the Go is a drawback (even though most games will be played at below native resolution), how the performance actually compares between both devices, and whether the lack of VRR actually impacts gameplay in a meaningful way
Don't let the lack of vrr sway you. I was worried about that too but play every game with vsync turned off and have never seen any screen tearing. I honestly have no idea why this performs like vrr with no vrr but I'm definitely not complaining.
@@Its_a_Mr_Eh that probably wouldn`t have swayed me to be honest... What has swayed me though, is that the Legion Go isn`t available on Amazon in my region (yet anyway, there was a listing that popped up for a bit a few days ago with no ship dates, and it`s gone under since), Lenovo says shipping within 2 weeks every time I check, and there is a chain of stores that lists it on their site, but I feel oddly wierded out by the idea of buying it from them... All that aside, I put in my order for the Ally yesterday, because it`s 100€ off for black Friday... I might regret it down the line, but atleast Amazon offers an extended return window upto January 31st, and there`s a 2 year manufacturer warranty past that point, if I come across any hardware issues
This is definitely getting me more toward the "gotta have it " section but battery life with emulation is going to be a clencher so I'm waiting for your more indepth review
One game I've always wanted to emulate was Golden Tee, not the one you can play on MAME that is from 1990 but the newer ones. I think the reason why nobody has done it yet is that it requires an online log-in and it verifies the hardware running and unlocks the game. The reason why I'm surprised is that it seems there would be a huge black market for this emulation if it were successful, I could careless about playing live vs other players in a tournament format, I just want to be able to play the courses with friends at home and build out my own cabinet. It would still cost probably thousands of dollars to do this on your own with the software pirated which you could probably sell for like $100-$200 for. Golden tee is licensed out if you were to buy it from them and it's like $6,000-$8,000. Being able to emulate that software would be worth a fortune to whoever pulls it off. Talking about taking a piece of hardware and software that they try to sell $8,000 for that you can build out yourself for probably $1k + whatever the costs for the emulated software say $200 puts us at $1.2k or like 15% of the total cost just seems like a market that I would be targeting. Golf or people involved in golf tend to have money but nobody wants to blow $8k when they can spend $1.2k
Hey Retro, nice video but just noticed that in the Yuzu emulation, you're using OpenGL which isn't recommended for the Z1 or any AMD APUs. The guide notes that only nVidia cards or eGPUs should utilise this setting whilst everyone else should use the Vulkan backend. Usually the Vulkan does have a lot more dips compared to the OpenGL but once the shaders are cached, it runs a lot faster and smoother too.
I tried emulation way back like 10+ years ago on PC but these days I am not sure how to go about it. Can anybody point me in the correct direction for emulators and roms?
I got the legion go as I've been a console game all my life and want to get my foot into PC gaming. I love the thing, it will run everything very smoothly except for the most demanding games. I love using it to play some of my old favorites and I can't play anymore like the old Max payne, the fear games especially project origin, GTA 4(better that V) and this game called Selaco that I found that is freaking ridiculously addictive 😂
Russ, thanks for everything that you do ^^ super appreciate these videos of yours. Thanks for the performance review! Much love from the Philippines 🇵🇭😎🙌🏼
Yuzu should be performing much better than that. Even the steam deck can play all the games you showed at full speed using Vulkan (ok, maybe not *that* one), so it should definitely be fixed at some point in the future.
Hopefully it's gotten a little better since this video I'm thinking to get a legion go after the holidays Right now the Rog Ally is solid with emulation Even Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots on RPCS3 runs really good on the Rog Extreme Ally
Obviously the main reason you'd want a windows device like that is so you can have emulation. So if they get the emulation right, then it becomes all the more interesting to get
You really want to make use of that 120hz screen and enable BFI in Retroarch, it will bring it much closer to CRT motion quality, which makes fast games like Sonic look night & day better. Along with the nice 16:10 screen, which is fantastic for 4:3 games thanks to that extra vertical pixel space, if you use a nice CRT shader and BFI, you will get the closest to the real thing on a handheld we have had available to date, so the LGO is one awsome emulation handheld, the best available so far.
Looks cool although due to it NOT being a VRR screen and 144hz you'll probably have to set the refresh rate to 60hz when you play emulators otherwise you'll get microstutter/Jitter
what about android emulator in tablet mode? really curious about it, i really consider legion go if it can run android apps smoothly rather than a real android tablet. bcs it got windows duh
Great video and very comprehensive! I have a very similar setup using Retrobat. My only complaint is that the video did not spend much time at all discussing Xbox 360 emulation, more time was actually spent discussing Xbox emulation than Xbox 360 emulation. For Xbox 360 emulation he didn't say which emulator he used, but I am using Xenia Canary and it is running okay. The only game I can't get to run at all is Batman Arkham Asylum - has anyone gotten this game to run on a Lenovo Legion Go using Xenia Canary?
Great video!! Which handheld console do you think is best for emulation in 2024? Emulation is the main reason why i would purchase either the steam deck, legion or ally.
10 месяцев назад
If you play around with TDP settings on the device, please take into account that the Windows power settings also play a role in this. The windows power settings actually direct power delivery to the CPU. It's from a time where it wasn't relevant to balance power delivery between CPU and GPU. So, if your device is TDP limited, for gaming it's usually best to set windows performance mode to best battery life and the device power mode to performance. This way, the GPU is prioritized.
Oh nice, that's excellent news. I have heard couple other videos say it's only in the actual unit but I have no idea how they got that info or if they even tested it. I love gyro aiming while playing shooters on a controller so this could be a legit use case and value add for me. Cheers and thanks for your great work.@@RetroGameCorps
I don't know what's happening with that console Russ, playing switch on my ROG Ally with VULKAN and all games run at 30 or 60fps depending on the title's original framerate. Drivers maybe?
i want to want the legion go... i want egpu support (even if its limited) and i like the idea of detachable controllers. The controllers it ships with isn't very alluring as true lefty (someone who uses a mouse with the left hand), and steam seems to understand this so well. Would like to see extreme open standards from lenovo with marketing encouraging anyone to make controllers. What i fear is that the next gen of this will start to hit the prices of laptop, and if i already own a steam deck... i might just go with a laptop.
Don't think you did Yuzu any justice. I got for example ToTK to run at a solid 30fps on the steam deck OLED with a LOT of optimizations. Also maybe try 720p instead of 1080p?
