Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Same. I also have 4 separate 1 TB cards.

3 for Switch OLED. 1 for Steamdeck.

Switch OLED has a 3D printed cartridge that fits in the game slot but has 2 slots that fit 2 micro SD cards inside. That way you can keep up to 2 spare cards with you at all times and switch out as needed.

Definitely ordering 2 of these 1.5 GB cards when they drop. One for Switch, one for Steamdeck. Will keep the other two extras for Switch that are 1TB until prices come down, then I'll buy more.

@JaxonH oh thank goodness for larger microsd cards. Will need one of them for my switch, when sandisk jumps into the game. Shouldn’t be long now that there is competition. Will get another 1 TB in the meantime.

I'm still on a 400GB card I got in 2019 though I could see myself needing to upgrade if that Batman rumour comes true.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ya. There's just too many games to fit on a 1TB card. I have like 2/3 of my library on the backup micro SD cards. Sooo many games I wanted immediate access to but, there just wasn't enough room for everything.

Tend to do a lot of, "one game for each franchise". Like Trails of Cold Steel 3 on main SD, but Trails 4 on the backup. KOTOR on main SD, but KOTOR 2 on backup. Metro 2033 on main SD, but Metro Last Light on the backup. Borderlands 2 on the main SD, but Pre-Sequel and 1 on the backup. Assassin's Creed Ezio Collection (without downloaded films) on main SD, but 3 and Rebel Collection on the backup, AI Somnium Files on main, Nirvana Initiative on backup. MH Rise on main SD, MHGU on backup. Doom Eternal main SD, DOOM 2016 backup. And on and on and on.

But other series... couldn't do just one. Had to keep Resident Evil Revelations, Revelations 2 and RE5 on the main SD, with 0, 1, 4 and 6 on the backup. And that just kills space.

You know the struggle. For sure you do. It's a constant battle of archiving and managing space in system settings.

While 1.5 TB isn't what I was hoping for, it's a 50% increase, which at this point in Switch's lifespan, with ever more games releasing in rapid fire, we desperately, desperately needed larger SD cards. An extra 500 GB will go a long ways in not having to cut quite as many corners trying to manage space.

Steam Deck too. I only downloaded like 30 games, and my entire 512 GB internal storage is toast (80 GB remaining, which you need a little space left for updates and stuff), and the 1 TB card has like 2 GB remaining. Will have to delete Bioshock 2 Remastered just to make sure it has enough of a buffer.

Another 500 GB will do wonders. While I do have basically every game downloaded that I wanted on the device that actually works, if it's already full, that leaves no room for new games releasing. And that's a problem. A 1.5 TB ensures an extra 500 GB goes to future game installs.

Hopefully by the time Switch 2 releases we'll have the full 2TB micro SD cards.

@JaxonH
Me with my measly 128GB cart by comparison:

(I'LL UPGRADE EVENTUALLY I SWEAR)

What is amusing to me is that I’m not making a particular effort to be digital only (about 65-70 percent of my library is physical right now)… but it all adds up. I don’t import Japanese physical anymore (thank you region free!!!) except the robot wars games, but otherwise aside from fighting games where I usually do switch digital and physical on xbox or ps4, I usually buy physical if I see it in the store/online. (Trust me I am destroying my back right now moving boxes of games).

But eshop only games (or that announce physical a year after I bought it on the eshop) or limited run games that don’t show up in best buy, the occasional limited print run, DLC and my JPN library and next thing I know… full cards. I can’t wait until we hit 2TB cards. I’ll still need two but that is better than 4 cards to keep up with, lmao.

I went full digital (obviously still buy physical for the Switch collection though) but even if I was 100% physical for any game that got a physical release, and even imported English Asian copies for any game that received one, and bent over backwards to save space by always buying physical when possible... I still don't know how I could fit everything on a 1TB micro SD.

Between game updates and patches, required downloads, DLC, expansions, and all the games that don't have a physical release... it's a surprisingly massive total file size (I know this from my old DQ Switch I keep on the shelf- I maintain it as "physical first" and have all my games as physical on it that has a physical release, and even that has a full 1TB micro SD card in it... speaking of which, I forgot I had that one too).

All it takes is one quality game to smoke your internal storage, and a couple will smoke your 128gb. Like Doom Eternal at 33 GB, or Resident Evil Revelations 2 at 23.6 GB. Unless you strictly buy 1st party games and only physically, then I could see small storage lasting.

Agreed. Smaller library (I haven’t counted recently but I am getting close to 600) and archiving everything is the main way to keep a small microsd card. Even if I bought every game possible physical, eshop only games would put me at 1TB easy. (Not including DLC or games that require a large install to work physical. ) I have no desire to redownload anything though. Which means I don’t archive ( the selling point of the switch is portable easy access). So I only delete eshop games that I regret buying.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Did I ever show you those micro SD storage game cartridges?

I absolutely love this thing. If you use a small, thin case that can't hold anything else (which I do- the Hori slim case because it can fit in my back left jeans pocket which gives me two free hands for coffee, keys and time card when going to work), where do you put the spare microSD cards?

Given how many games and micro SD cards you have, maybe one of these could help ensure you keep your entire library with you without risk of losing it

@JaxonH oooh, nope never seen those. I tried the kick stand holder but it got stuck and I ended up damaging (luckily it was a new card) trying to get the micro sd out. So threw the kickstand in the trash and I keep a sd card converter with my second microsd in it in my currently playing case. However since I will need a 3rd one soon, this little card holder means it takes up the same space with double the storage. I will have to get one.

How hard is it to remove the microsd cards?

@Ryu_Niiyama
Oh, not hard at all. You could do it with your pinky nail it's so easy.

That is, provided you buy the higher quality one I did. It has like, professional grade tolerances being used.

Unfortunately, the seller I got it from is currently "taking a short break" on Etsy so you can't buy it. I did find another one, though I can't make any guarantees on fit. Then again it's only $3 so, what is there to lose

https://www.etsy.com/listing/714641452/dual-micro-sd-card-hol...

@JaxonH Never heard of those, I might get that when I can finally stomach buying Borderlands and Bioshock onto the Switch.

I've definitely abused the fact that flash has got cheaper over the life of the Switch in terms of my microSD card upgrades. I started with a 32GB card, then moved to a 64GB card when that filled up. That lasted me a while but eventually filled up so I picked up a 128GB card. Which lasted a long while until I got a 256GB card which I'm still using

I'll probably fill up the 256GB card with the games upcoming on Switch that I'm interested in. Especially if you add in a few we don't know about yet. Just. I can't see myself getting past the 512GB mark though. Which is good because 512GB cards have dropped in price enough that they're now the best $/GB

Tagging @JaxonH , but I'd be happy to hear from anyone who has an opinion on this.

I have room in my budget for one large luxury expense for the next year or so, and I'm heavily considering making it the Splatoon 3 Switch OLED. I'm also a little conflicted, though, so I have a few questions I'd like to have sorted out for someone without direct experience with the OLED model.

1: Does the system feel any better in hand than the original model did? I've noticed the frame around the console is apparently metal now. Does this make the system feel tighter when you're holding it?

2: Is the sound quality actually noticeably improved on the system's speakers like Nintendo advertised? Not a huge fan of playing with headphones, but the speakers on the Switch aren't the best.

3: Does the enlarged screen make it easier to play the system in tabletop mode when you're sitting close to it?

4: How versatile is the new kickstand? Is it useful for actually for playing in tabletop mode, or will screen angles still suck without a tablet stand?

5: The big one, IMO: how much of a difference does the OLED screen make in games without a significant amount of black on-screen? Obviously stuff like Fatal Frame, Metroid Dread, Tetris Effect, etc. will look better just because other colors will pop more on dark backgrounds, but is the improvement to the visual experience something you've noticed across your entire library? I ask, because I've watched comparison videos on youtube, and I usually don't notice much of a difference, but I also see a lot of comments saying the effect is more intense in-person. I know the resolution and whatnot are the same, but even a subtle bump in image quality would be enough for me, given I spend 90% of my gaming time on Switch as is.

6: Kind of supplementary, but I've noticed that the Switch Lite's smaller screen actually helps to make some games look sharper. Does the bigger screen of the OLED have the opposite effect, where it makes soft games look even softer?

One factor in the system's favor is that I've never owned a V2, so I know I'd be getting a pretty big bump in battery life as well.

@Ralizah I can only answer 5 and 6 but...

5. Quite a bit. Actually I'd say the OLED is best for games with vibrant colours as it really makes these pop (think anything Mario, or JRPGs with cell-shaded graphics).

6. Can't speak for the Lite, but if anything I'd say the enhanced colour/blacks of the OLED give the impression of a sharper image than the original model, even though the pixel density is lower.

@Ralizah
1) The joycon on my OLED didn't seem to have as much slop as my previous Switch, but it still had a tiny bit. However. I bought a pair of modded white shelled joycon with a Basstop d-pad, and they squeeze in nice and tight, even more than the official ones.

2) It's hard to tell how much better, but it sounds great. That's all I can really say. I have no complaints with the speakers. It's nice and loud and sounds quality to me.

3) ABSOLUTELY. This is one of the biggest benefits I've noticed besides the OLED screen itself. The larger real estate makes a noticeable difference when playing both handheld and tabletop. It's the same 7" as the Steamdeck (except the aspect ratio is still 16:9) and ya, it makes tabletop even more viable. Text is easier to read- not a huge amount more. But a lot of text was borderline and the larger screen was enough to push it over that threshold into readable territory. It's also just a bigger image and easier to see.

4) Brilliant kickstand. Incredible. Works at any angle you can conjure, up to about 150 degrees or so. Seriously fantastic kickstand, which makes tabletop THE preferred method of portable play for me. Combined with the larger screen too, tabletop is a real pleasure.

5) Yes, it's noticeable for every game, regardless of blacks. OLED hype may be pure blacks, but make no mistake about it- the colors are much richer and pop harder. Whites are more white, blacks are more black, colors are more colorful. Yes, you will definitely notice across the board.

6) Hard to say. Hmmm... I'll say this. It doesn't seem to look any worse than the normal size Switch. I thought it might appear more pixelated too, due to less ppi, but for whatever reason it doesn't. Maybe something about the OLED makes lines sharper and that cancels out the slightly lower ppi, or maybe it's just already at a size where you're anoticing aliasing, so a 1" increase doesn't expose much extra. Not really sure. But I don't think it looks much different than the v1/v2 tbh

Extra: The battery life improvement is massive. Going from v1 to OLED will feel like a whole new system. That 2.5 - 3 hrs you currently get for big games? Ya. That's going to be 4.5 - 5 hrs on the OLED, even more for less demanding games. It's long enough I can play on and off throughout the day putting back into sleep mode, and not have to worry about charging it. Whereas the v1 felt like it constantly needed the charger.

So apparently something has leaked about Pokemon Scarlet/Violet in regards to Gyms, rivals and new Pokemon and that we'll be getting a new trailer on Wednesday (haven't looked at it myself for obvious reasons).

On the one hand oh god no but on the other oh god yes?

@Fizza I don't believe any of the leaks right now, there all too crazy and dumb sounding.

In other words i'll believe it when I see it.

I've just discovered that every Ace Attorney game (including bloody Investigations for crying out loud!) is on phones and I don't I've ever been more annoyed in my entire life. I knew that Apollo Justice was on there but seeing literally every single other one makes me incredibly miffed that we still don't have any console ports for them whatsoever. Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice will be stranded on handhelds and there's nothing we can do but wait and see huh..... that leaves a taste in my mouth worse than Armstrong's cooking.

@Fizza I think we will get ports closer to 7's release. Like maybe 3 collections leading up to launch.