As long as you don't have an Nvidia card, choose whichever functional and complete distro (some people call these "beginner" distros).
MintLinux and Pop!OS are normally the two front-runners for new users. Basically, if you use Steam and you don't play online-only games with bad implementations of anti-cheat software, you are good to game on either.
Make a USB that you can "live boot" from, so you can test out how they work with your hardware before you actually install the OS. Generally speaking, Mint works better with AMD, and Pop! works better with Nvidia.
Make a USB that you can "live boot" from, so you can test out how they work with your hardware. Generally speaking, Mint works better with AMD, and Pop! works better with Nvidea. Once you have one you like, you can use the installer on USB to set things up.
I have never used that emulator, but I know that sometimes the installation method of things like emulators can cause issues.Have you tried both a direct install, and the Flathub version?
No