I think there’s just people that trust Valve more than Linux in general.
SteamOS on the deck is extremely foolproof, and people who are otherwise scared of Linux seem to think SteamOS magically fixes every perceived issue with desktop Linux.
That’s my best guess but I’m just some dude.
I mean the first consoles I looked to emulate were consoles I used to play so PS1/2, PSP etc
I was never much of a Nintendo guy but Dolphin has been a gold standard of emulators for me. A lot of features I was begging to get on PCSX2 for years were already on Dolphin, mainly per-game configuration.