pcem VS softgpu

For emulation, you can look into PCem/86Box

Absolutely check out PCem for a closer to hardware emulation than dosbox, https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/

One option is to try PCEm https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/ which is a emulator for old computers that runs on Windows and Linux, I actually learned about it via this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HP9W88Wew of a guy playing Sim Golf on his Windows PC using PCEm, this should be similar on Linux but I'm not sure if the SteamDeck will have enough power but maybe worth a try

For hardcore mode, compile PCEm - I think brew has most of the dependencies available ... https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/ - have fun!

You use 86box or PCem which are not virtualizers but hardware emulators so you will need a really fast CPU (especially in single thread). The advantage is that Windows 98 will be running on period appropriate hardware, since all of it is being emulated real-time.

QEMU [0] emulates many systems, including the 32-bit Intel architecture. For retro gaming specifically I can recommend PCem [1], which also emulates a wide range of sound and graphics cards, from IBM MDA to 3dfx Voodoo 2.

[0] https://www.qemu.org/

[1] https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/

You could try it with PCem

Also check softgpu: https://github.com/JHRobotics/softgpu Check the section for VirualBox install.

There are none, but you may want to install something like this if you want better video / resolutions. - https://github.com/JHRobotics/softgpu

Now you have two solutions: either use VMware and get responsive graphics and sound almost out of the box (once again, no 3d) or go with Virtual Box and the experimental Softgpu. For sound, you will have to change the sound card to an AC97 and fetch the drivers for it.

there are no guest additions for Win 9x (you don't really need them) you can sue SoftGPU if you need 3D but you need to pay attention to the instructions. https://github.com/JHRobotics/softgpu