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Hades - A Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA) Emulator 🔥

Installing Hades on Steam Deck

·559 words·3 mins
Steam Deck Steamdeck
Author
Arignir
Bip bap boop 🤖
Table of Contents

Hello and welcome to this comprehensive guide to install Hades on your Steam Deck! 👋

Hades running on Steamdeck
Hades running on Steamdeck.

For the best experience, consider connecting a keyboard and mouse to your Steam Deck via the USB-C port, as most steps are performed in Desktop Mode. If that’s not possible, refer to the shortcut cheatsheet below for essential Desktop Mode commands (right-click, virtual keyboard access, and more).

Shortcuts in Desktop mode.
Shortcuts in Desktop mode.

Installation
#

  1. Press the Steam button and select Power -> Switch to Desktop.
    This will transition your Steam Deck to a Linux-based desktop environment, allowing you to install external applications.
  2. Open the file explorer and create a folder named Hades inside your Documents directory.
  3. Launch Firefox and visit the official Hades download page:
    The URL is https://www.hades-emu.org/download/.
    See the shortcut reference above to input the URL.
  4. Download the latest AppImage release for Linux,
    labelled Linux (AppImage, x64).
  5. Move the AppImage to the Hades folder you created earlier.
  6. Right click on the AppImage: Properties -> Permissions and set Allow executing file as program.
  7. Obtain both the GBA BIOS file and your preferred game’s ROM.
    These files must be added while in Desktop Mode and cannot be transferred once you return to Gaming Mode.
    Please note that Hades does not distribute these files for legal reasons.
    For further details, refer to the classic installation guide.

Hades is now available on your Steam Deck. A brief configuration step remains before you’re ready to play.

Steam Deck Desktop Mode.
Steam Deck Desktop Mode

Settings
#

To optimize your experience on the Steam Deck, the following configuration adjustments are recommended:

  1. Launch Hades by double-clicking the AppImage file
  2. In the menu bar, select File -> Settings.
  3. Under General, enable Start last played game on startup.
  4. Under Video, set Menubar Mode to Hide automatically.
  5. Under Video, set Display Mode to Fullscreen (borderless).
  6. Under Video, disable Auto-Detect UI Scale and manually set UI Scale to 200%.
  7. From the menu bar, select File -> Open BIOS and choose the BIOS file obtained earlier.
  8. Then select File -> Open and choose your game’s ROM.

NOTE: To exit the emulator in fullscreen mode, open the File menu from the menu bar and click Exit.

NOTE: You can also set a gamepad binding to focus the menu bar more easily.

Adding Hades to Steam
#

To fully integrate Hades into your Steam Deck experience, add it as a non-Steam application:

  1. Right-click the AppImage in your Hades folder and select Add to Steam.
  2. Download the media package available here.
  3. Double-click the downloaded archive file and select Extract.
    Extract it into your Hades folder.
  4. Open Steam by right-clicking the system tray icon (bottom right) and selecting Library.
  5. Locate the Hades entry, click the gear icon and select Properties....
  6. In the Shortcut section, rename the entry to Hades Emulator.
  7. In the Customization section, assign:
  • Cover: icon.png
  • Background: background.png
  • Logo: logo.png
  • Wide Cover: wide-cover.png
  1. Return to the Shortcut section and set the application icon to icon.png.

All these assets are included in the previously downloaded media package.

Shortcut section of the Steam entry for Hades.
Shortcut section of the Steam entry for Hades.
Customization section of the Stream entry for Hades.
Customization section of the Stream entry for Hades.

Here’s what the final Steam entry will look like:

Final Steam entry for Hades.
Final Steam entry for Hades.

Once everything is set up, simply use the Return to Gaming Mode shortcut on the desktop to switch back and start playing.

Enjoy your enhanced Hades experience on the Steam Deck! 🎮