Topic: Cartridges vs. eShop?

You can find them if you look but that takes work as well. Amazon for me is free shipping with the Prime that the delt me. There are games only you can find at GS or Amazon only and that's what smells of goats.

1. When I got my Switch GCU was a thing so 47 for a game vs 60.
2. Cartridges last forever. The eshop will not.
3. If I hate it, or it becomes worthless (Splatoon2 once the serves go down or people stop playing it) I can sell it.

People will stop playing Splatoon 2 when Splatoon 3 comes out. I’d be shocked if they took down the servers before that happens.

Remember, Splatfests are planned to continue until July of next year.

@subpopz pretty sure @Trajan is like me, even if it's a good game, if it gets to the point where there is no longer enough replay value (for him), it's time to let it go, let's face it, some games are some great games, but you play them through 3, 2 or even 1 time and you find yourself having to force yourself just to start a new game even a year or two later.....yah it's time to go, it just depends on the player himself

Pokemon games are a good example, they put those games out like Disney movies, cookie cutter, adding very little per new game, so getting the new one understandable, but keeping the older ones, is pointless (for me at least)

Here's a strike against the one thing people have left in this thread to hold over digital purchases. Do you actually consider where your money goes when you participate in the used market? Because when you buy a used game that money isn't going to Nintendo. And when you sell a game back to EBGames/Gamestop that's effectively a way for them to redirect some money away from the publisher/developer and back to them.

Ethically the grey market is a bit of a grey area. It's not piracy and it's not stealing but the end result is if anything worse for the publisher/developer than piracy. Especially when we're talking about games that are still in print on still active platforms. Unpopular opinion or not, this is the reason why I don't sell my games and I don't see this as a benefit of physical media.

So for me it pretty much just comes down to the direct cost comparison. Are the advantages of the digital copy worth more to me than the extra it costs? And going the other way, is it a big enough game that the storage saved is worth giving up the advantages of digital? It's not always clear but, here's what I've done so far:

Zelda - Physical, saved 13GB
Arms - Physical, saved $10AU
Mario Kart - Physical, it was a re-purchase for me because I had a Wii U. Brought a physical copy because it was super low on stock just before my sister brought her Switch. Sure enough by the time she got hers it was out of stock so I lent her my copy for a couple of months.
Super Mario Odyssey - Saved nothing but it's a single player focused game so it doesn't really matter
Bayonetta - Physical + Code, single player game. Doesn't really matter
Splatoon 2 - Physical, impulse purchase at the shops. Kinda wished I had got the digital copy
DKC:TF - Physical, doesn't matter as a single player game
Ultra Steet Fighter 2 - Digital, eShop had a deal going
Axiom Verge - Digital, wasn't paying extra for the physical bundle
Rocket League - Digital, multiplayer game and wouldn't pay extra for physical
Sonic Mania - Digital, wasn't paying extra for physical
SnipperClips - Digital, was no physical option at the time. Would still buy digital

Going Forward:
Smash Bros - Digital, want the game to be always a click away on the menu
Animal Crossing - Digital, if I got a physical copy it'd be a year of one game sitting in the cartridge slot
Pokemon - Digital, For the main series game at least. I'm not sure if I'm going to get Lets Go
New SMB - Physical, I expect it to be significantly cheaper in-store

@subpopz No, games like this are newish, but the trend has been they're worth like $1. Key is to sell it before then if you are going to.

Problem is consoles die and theres no backwards compatibility. I can get on 1.6 tonight and find guys playing. Get on Halo 2 online? Oh the servers have been offline for 10 years.

@Trajan Nintendo has been pretty good with backwards compatibility, the various gameboys, the NGC had a cross-compatibility accessory for GBA games, DS Lite took GBA, all 3DS's took DS, Wii took NGC. so it's not unreasonable that Nintendo will try to keep previous systems inclusive in newer types, because DS/3DS was a two screen system, trying to keep that function would not have been complicated, (just turn sideways), but it would NOT have been fun, being forced to find a way to site it on your lap, take the joycons off and drop one whenever you needed to tap the screen then pick back up, ect.

I think if they make a next gen portable or hybrid system 6-8+ years from now, it will probably include B.C. for Switch games

A new Nintendo would most likely be a upgrade NSW 2.0HD screen but that will not be at the current 299.99MSRP though. Might be closer to 399.99MSRP for it. And hopefully it will have a slot for DS/3DS games that would be a game changer a NSW that plays 3DS but they will have to figure out the two screen setup. But could be those games will be converted over to NSW games format is the most likely case. But with the exit of Vita Nintendo is now in no rush to remove 3DS units or games.

Now back to eShop or Physical.

Digital will always be there in conjunction with physical neither is going to go away. But having both options helps.

When you buy anything used, the seller gets 100% of the profit, and none goes to the original manufacturer. So what? There's nothing "grey" or unethical about it since the manufacturer only has a legal and ethical right to get paid for the first sale.

Suppose you were selling widgets. Someone buys one, gets tired of it, and sells it to his friend. Did you get cheated out of a sale? Of course not, because you were already paid for that particular widget. Same principle applies to buying used games.

(And I wonder, do you refuse to buy used consoles, or lend games to friends for the same reason?)

I have noticed some games that are digital but then later made into physical release have a huge price difference. For instance the new Gunvolt coming out is almost a $20+ difference...so I suppose some digital for those type of games for me. Just because of the cost.

I leave another example is the nicalis removing a eShop Little Dew 2 game. This is one reason you have no control of the game unless you own it physically.

REmember in the End the Publisher or Developer has control what stays on eShop. So this is a Big Strike on eShop proponents and a Really Big one they can't defend against.

Well, if you bought it digitally before it was removed you can still play it as long as you don't delete it, and even then I think you can usually redownload games even if they've been removed from the eShop. I generally prefer physical games too but this argument doesn't really hold water in my opinion.

I go digital, only when there is an eshop sale. So i don't buy digital games at full price. Only at price drops.
If i buy a game at full price, i prefer the physical one.
It's also better because in this way, i keep the game for ever. Otherwise in many cases i even forget that i own it.
I have a lot of digital games on the previous generation (360-ps3) that i don't even remember having bought...

I find the cartridge format very appealing to collect. Most consoles from the past twenty years have used cd, dvd, and bluray to deliver their games. Disc-based media has never been the greatest thing to collecti in my experience. Too easy to damage and be made unusable. I can afford to be less careful with cartridges.

I'm digital only on the ps4 (250+ games) and about 50/50 on Switch. Both have their pros and cons but I do prefer digital nowadays for the most part. Convenience and cost are the main factors. Many times, especially on Ps4, if you're patient digital games can be dramatically cheaper than physical so that's a plus. I'd have more digital games on Switch if their game sharing was less obtuse but that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon

This already has too many holes in it that I can poor water through it. Once gone is gone from eShop you don't make it come back. You abide by Digital EULA and have no rights to it they control it.

@SwitchForce Sorry, I'm not sure what you're getting at here. My point is that once you've bought a game digitally, it doesn't matter if it's removed from the eShop. You can still play it as normal and I believe you can still redownload it if necessary (correct me if I'm wrong). Of course, for people who wanted to buy it but haven't done so yet, then yeah it's a problem. And once the eShop shuts down altogether you won't be able to redownload games any more. But when one game is removed, I don't think it really has an effect on people who've already bought it.

@Dogorilla once you download from eShop you have it but if you loose the Switch or it dies where are you going to get your eShop game if the Developer remove it? Like Little Dew 2 eShop was removed how are you going to redownload it? Did anyone not see this news happening?

@SwitchForce Removing from the shop front of the eshop stops people buying it. I don't think it stops existing buyers from redownloading.

I can confirm it doesn’t.