Topic: Switch cartridges can in fact contain multiple games

Hey, guys. It has come to my attention that despite Capcom's handling of their Mega Man Legacy "collections", it is in fact possible for Switch cartridges to contain multiple pieces of software.

At the moment, I am only aware of two: (both by Ubisoft)

• America's Greatest Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy
• Hasbro Game Night (containing Monopoly, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit Live)

I think this is quite an interesting development that nobody has been speaking about yet, and it also proves that any publisher (cough Capcom) that claims that they cannot accommodate multiple software titles in a single cartridge are blatantly lying.

I'm curious as to whether the recently released Syberia 1 & 2 cartridge has the two consolidated in a single shell (which would explain why the double pack is a separate piece of software to the individual games on the eShop) or whether it also contains both games as separate executables on the cartridge. Incidentally, Nintendo could have shipped both Bayonetta games on a single 32GB cartridge without having to contend with any technical/programming hurdles.

Thoughts? Any ideas on software bundles that you think would benefit from the convenience of a single cartridge release?

Have Capcom actually said that? It seems pretty obvious to me that they can put any nummer of games they want in a cartridge, as long as the memory is available. It's just a normal memory-card after all.

I would assume the reason companies don't do that is because the cost is a lot higher for high-capacity cartridges and they don't want people to re-sell the games.

FF Classics Vol 1:
FF 7 & 9 HD in one cartridge

FF Classics Vol 2:
FF 3 & 4 HD in one cartridge

FF Dawn of the Soul HD
FF 1 & 2 HD from PSP version

Crash & Spyro Collection (If Spyro made a debut on Switch)

LEGO Harry Potter year 1 - 4 & 5 - 7
(Already out)

LEGO CITY Undercover Ultimate:
LEGO CITY Undercover : The Chase Begin 3DS HD Remake + Switch version

@19Robb92 : There was some talk of difficulty consolidating the two halves as they constitute separate pieces of software and were apparently ported by different teams. I'm not sure what was said by Capcom or whether it was mostly speculation.

Either way, the Mega Man Collections individually were quite small though. Plus, Capcom released Resident Evil Revelations and Ōkami in Japan on cartridge at a budget price range (both games shipped on 16GB cartridges), so the excuse of cartridge cost doesn't hold any weight given the circumstances.

Mega Man Legacy Collection - 372MB
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 - 3.2GB

The above could have easily fit on a 4GB cartridge. Capcom chose the cheapest possible option with a 1GB cartridge (and I stress that they have released 16GB cart games within the same price range).

Likewise...
Mega Man X Legacy Collection - 2.9GB
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 - 6.6GB

The above would have required a 16GB cartridge, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Fortunately, the X Collections were at least available in full, albeit as separate cartridges. For the original Mega Man series, however, there is no option to own the second part of the collection in physical form.

As long as the code of one game does not interfere with the code of another game there can be multiple games on a cartridge. When games are bundled, a bit of code needs to be reprogrammed for the player to have an option to execute the available games (a menu to select the games). That's why the bundled collections are larger than the separate titles.

Here's an example for three games that are separately available on a Switch cartridge:
2,7 GB Syberia 1 & 2 (Microids)
1,3 GB Syberia (Microids)
1,2 GB Syberia 2 (Microids)

The same applies for download-only games as well:
361 MB Digerati Indie Bundle - INK & Hacky Zack (Digerati)
144 MB Hacky Zack (Digerati)
60 MB INK (Digerati)

Crash Bandicoot has 3 games on the cartridge too. And how does SEGA's Mega Drive Collection differ, as that offers 50+ individual titles? Is it the requirement for some sort of Hub that causes the problem for publishers? Although Activision are usually pretty tight with their money and they managed it with a simple menu on Crash Bandicoot...

I think they mean, individual games. As in... Each game has its own icon on the home menu.

Game collections like crash or street fighter are still just one piece of software that happens to be multiple games in one.

The Banner Saga release feels dirty.

Three games totaling less than 16GB, yet only two games are on the cartridge.

It's almost like they're trying to encourage new sales over second-hand, since you wouldn't get a download code for the entire title package second-hand. But surely a company wouldn't do that, right?

@SKTTR : That is not what we are talking about. Plus, Syberia 1 & 2 (the bundle) is the same size as the individual games combined (1.4GB and 1.3GB, equating to 2.7GB). The cartridges that I have mentioned contain individual games (each spawning their own separate home menu icon), so any similarity in code between the games should not be an issue as the games are each stored separately as opposed to being consolidated into a single piece of software.

@nocdaes @ReaderRagfish : As @Yosheel pointed out, we are talking about cartridges with multiple pieces of software (which spawns separate home menu icons for each game, and therefore, individual games will have their own separate save data, possible software updates etc.). Compilations which contain multiple games in a single piece of software (such as Crash, Namco Museum, Street Fighter Collection etc.) do not count.

Namco Museum Arcade Pac is very similar in practice as it combines two previously released pieces of software into a single release, but it does not count for the purposes of this thread as the two titles have been consolidated into a single piece of software.

@Magician : There is no justification for that. What's even more insulting is if the first two games spawn individual icons, meaning that they very well could have produced a cartridge with the third game on it as well.

thats not exactly accurate both your examples are sold that way for other platforms the two SKUs were not combined for the Switch only

Ironically I almost ordered the 2 Mega Man X collections yesterday from Japan but held off as don't know if they'd make it before I leave for Christmas hols plus since moving parcels have been caught by the tax man more often these days.

@Silly_G Ahh OK I see what you mean now. Interesting.

@Silly_G When it comes to 32 GB cartridges, the one game that launched with them was close to 120 USD near launch I believe. I know it dropped down since, but I think the recommended price on Amazon is still about 80 USD. I don't think they're viable for a game at a more normal price point... or at least they weren't during the Switch's first year. Dunno how much they might've dropped in price since.

@link3710 Which game was that? I’ve never even heard of a dev using the 32 GB cart.

@PolarExperience Dragon Quest Heroes I+II, released exclusively in Japan. It's what people use to point at 32GB cartridges being possible, ignoring how it's literally the price of two games at launch.

@link3710 I knew that having a 32 GB would pass a hunk of costs on consumers, but a $20+ price increase is just rough. Seems like Nintendo will have to work that out if they want better third party support on games with bigger downloads.

@PolarExperience I mean, to be fair, it was for 2 games that each released for $60 each in the past two years on other platforms. Still, I think that's why it's the only one that's been viable so far, because it was actually worth the price increase.

@link3710 Yeah, the fact that the cart is a double pack does justify the price, since that would be the same as buying them full price separately. Definitely wouldn’t be the case with something like a single RDR sized game on a 32 GB cart.

@link3710 @PolarExperience : It was nowhere close to being that expensive. I don't know what the Japanese suggested retail price is, and whether Play-Asia marked it up, but the game was about AU$100 om Play-Asia, which is about US$75. AU$100 is the standard price for a lot of AAA games here anyway (a few years back, it was as high as AU$120!) but most retailers will usually sell games at $10-$20 less than the suggested price.

At the moment, Play-Asia are charging AU$85 which is about US$62. I think a higher-than-normal price is more than reasonable for 32GB cart games as the higher price compensates for the internal storage that may have otherwise been required, which is why partial cartridge releases are so aggravating, because the mandatory download adds to the overall cost of the game to no benefit to the consumer. I for one am happy to pay a premium, but nobody has released a 32GB cart internationally yet.