Topic: Using the same games on Switch 2 and Switch lite

We have a Switch 2 that we use on the projector, so all 4 of us can play. Santa is (hopefully) going to bring a Switch lite (and a memory card) for Christmas, for use on vacation or whatever. We have 3 games for the Switch 2, all on game cards, and I have not yet loaded them from the cards onto the Switch 2.

Can I load the game cards to the Switch 2, and then also load the same game cards to the Switch lite? if so, how, and is there anything "special" I have to do for this (eg, the same online account?)?

Thank you.

@ctviggen
You say game carts... so you're talking physical carts? If they're NS1 games you can insert them into both systems and play. If they're NS2 games they will only work on NS2. The exception to this is "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" games which clearly state that on the box, and have a text disclaimer at the bottom stating it includes both the NS1 and NS2 versions. Those specific game carts will play the NS1 version on your Switch Lite, and the NS2 version on your Switch 2.

You will not get performance with NS2 game that works in Switch1/Switch2 and in Lite that's not going to happen and if it NS2 only then it's not going to work.

There's a handy method to determine what kind of cartridge you have from the first two letters of the code:

LB - Switch 2 exclusive game on cartridge
LP - Key card that works only on Switch 2
LN - Hybrid cartridge that contains both Switch 1 and 2 versions

Anything else, and it's a Switch 1 game that should run on the Switch 2 via backwards compatibility, albeit with a few exceptions.

Thanks, All. I have one LB and one LN...and I can't find the third one. I have to contact my daughter in college and see what happened to the third cartridge.

I notice most people are calling these "cartridges". Is that better than "card"? (When I think of "cartridge", I think of the massive ones we used to have, whereas these are tiny.)

The technology has changed over the years but the terms are still used pretty much interchangeably.

For what it's worth, the official term for Nintendo cartridges up to the GBA era was Game Pak, but that's long fallen out of use.

Thanks, I have no problem using cartridge as the term.

I can only have one cartridge I can use for the Switch 2 and Switch Lite. Do I just download the game into both, without anything special?

Can someone recommend additional games for the Switch Lite? She likes our Mario Bros and Kong Bonanza for Switch 2.

I think, very technically, the difference is supposed to be that a "Cartridge" functions as an extension of the console's electronics. Any memory on the cartridge works no different than memory chips on the motherboard, likewise for any non-memory chips ( hence why things like expansion processors and memory mappers are possible ). Whereas a "Card" is simply a block of storage, whose data has to be offloaded to the console's memory before it can be addressed in any way.

Its not really a distinction that matters much these days, or for any time in the past 15-20 years, though. Hence why no one really cares to maintain the difference in label.

I would recommend Kirby and the Forgotten Land as something for both lite and 2

Thank you both.

Well, I was under the mistaken impression that we could download the games from the cartridge onto the memory (either base or card) in the Switch 2 or Switch Lite, but I found out that's not possible. My misunderstanding.

So, I've gone to buying downloadable games, because we won't have that many games on each console.

Yea, Switch games don't download and install from their physical cartridges like discs do on Xbox/PS/PC. For better or worse lol