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Switch 2 Edition games will be complete on the card without a download, Nintendo confirms
(www.eurogamer.net)
Except for the day 1 patches and dlc…
this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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Enhanced editions shouldn't need those, but yes, if they are any they won't be on the cartridge. That's how physical copy on release works.
Right. What I mean to say is that most large scale games these days have day 1 patches.
Yeah. It seems we are talking about different things. 😀
Just some background, Nintendo is releasing "Switch 2 enhanced edition" of some Switch games, and there was confusion whether these games will have all data on the cartridge or will only have Switch 1 version, with Switch 2 update as download. So, this clarifies that this is not the case, and the physical versions will have full games available on cartridge.
Gotcha! Yeah my bad! I’m reading the article but there is so much nonsense drama re nintendo these days I don’t trust it lol.
No worries. There is so much nonsense drama with so many things these days, it takes real effort to understand what's happening with most stuff. Most of the times it isn't even worth it 😀
These are for already finished switch games, they probably aren’t getting day 1 patches or any more DLC dude.
They shouldn't, but since the game has been enhanced, there's a good chance that something will go a little wrong and need a patch. I would actually guess that most of them end up with a patch, but only a few end up with game-breaking bugs and need a patch.
Nintendo is pretty good with releasing polished games, but who knows, let's wait and see.
Curious if these carts remain compatible with Switch 1, booting back into the base game.
The switch 2 is a completely different console to the old one. So it’s actually running a switch emulator.
Based on that I’m certain that you can just plop in any switch game and it will just run.
That would be really interesting, because it would mean they either emulate the game on switch 2 even though it is a special cartridge for the switch 2 edition, or they have some kind of universal binary that works on both (which I don't think is possible without duplicating a lot).
PR speak
The actual message from the statement: "(...) some publishers may release Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games as download codes in physical packaging, with no game card"
In my eyes they try to damage control here and cherry picking one or two (old) games, while the path of all the other games is clearly heading into opposite direction - suits wearing suits
First paragraph:
Nintendo has confirmed that Switch 2 editions of original first-party Switch games will have the full game on the card rather than requiring a download - though that may not be the case for third-party titles.
one or two (old) games
Those are titles that already exist on the switch one, it doesnt even say that further remaster editions will do that. Not even mentioning future first party titles like bananza, metroid, mk world and then: all the unanounced titles
Nintendo is pretty good at keeping their game sizes low historically so I wouldn’t worry about them specifically. I expect some AAA game ports from modern systems to require additional downloads however, mostly because those game carts have very high read speeds and will get prohibitively expensive fast for very large games like Cyberpunk.
You know that Cyberpunk is being released complete on the game card, right?
I was using Cyberpunk as an example of the scale of ports that can be expected. Some publishers will try to cut costs for sure.
Kinda crazy that Nintendo is still supporting cartridges in a brand new console in 2025...
Not everyone has a stable or unmetered internet connection.
And yet it's the way every other platform is still doing things.
So because everyone else is doing it, it's ok?
I didn't say anything resembling that.
You certainly implied it.
I certainly did not. I made an observation.
As opposed to what?
Portable optical media was almost-sorta-kinda a good idea, when flash media offered dozens of megabytes. (And even then, should've used a mouse sensor and software tracking instead of a laser assembly.) Download-only would (1) increase costs of a system that was frankly overpriced even before The Idiot's economy-tanking tantrums and (2) require Nintendo's online infrastructure to lurch forward by about fifteen years.
As opposed to what?
As opposed to what literally everyone else is doing?
Download-only would (1) increase costs of a system
What? If anything it would decrease it because there's no slot needed for the media.
require Nintendo's online infrastructure to lurch forward by about fifteen years.
I don't see how that's a bad thing.
Have you priced SSDs, relative to... slots?
I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.
Bad, no. Hard, yes.
It...already has an SSD? Have you contemplated the costs of slot + game cards + shipping + third-party sales fees vs. SSD?
It has an SSD sized on the assumption that games go in the slot. It has an SSD that's the price of a game, and will only hold a dozen. And they could probably get away with less, thanks to focusing on the negligible cost of a hole and some pins.
Nintendo is only now figuring out that Virtual Console purchases should be transferable... at all. They are not qualified to handle a digital-only console. I think the idea of deleting a game and re-downloading it, for free, was a recent surprise to some of these people. The same way Sony's still trying to repeat the PS2, Nintendo's been trying to repeat the Famicom Disk System.
Have you contemplated the costs of slot + game cards vs. SSD?
They are not qualified to handle a digital-only console
I mean they're one of the most profitable companies in the business. There's no reason they couldn't become qualified...
They could.
They haven't.
They won't.
Well I never tried to speculate what they were going to do...
Commenting on what they're doing right now is not meaningfully different. This started with you second-guessing their commitment to cartridges.
You're mistaken. My statement was simply that it was wild that they were still doing it.
Distinction without difference.
It isn't.
My guy, if remarking that it's "crazy" isn't commentary on whether it makes sense, what is it?
My guy, commenting on what makes sense is not the same thing as speculating about what they're going to do or second guessing their commitment to cartridges.
Anything else you'd like to make up?
My apologies for remembering the words you wrote.
If you don't like speculation, don't say things like "there’s no reason they couldn’t become qualified." Because that, in itself, is speculation. As surely as calling this situation "crazy" is commentary on whether it makes sense.
Because that, in itself, is speculation.
🤣 No it's not.
Have a nice night.
"They can" isn't, but "they can't" is.
Sure dude.