Best Nintendo Switch Micro SD Cards - Cheapest Memory Cards In 2025

At 256gb and the price listed there that's half the cost of the system!! No thanks, I'm going mostly retail this gen and will stick with a nice 128gb when I finally need it.

Considering the system is built for portability you would think we'd have more memory to encourage dl's not the opposite!

The switch is really good value for money.

So, is this ADDED to the internal 32GB, or does it turn it off like on Wii U? (I'm pretty sure my 12GB PS3 Superslim turned off the 12GB when I installed an 80GB drive in there as well.) We all know of the troubles with Wii U storage. So, if you buy a 64GB card, do you then have 96GB or only 64GB? A 64GB card might be enough for awhile if they work together, but not if 32GB gets turned off like on Wii U. Such a pain that was.

To make people maybe feel better, I got a 500GB PS4 Slim for Christmas. 7 disc games later and I only have 30Gb left. So just buy Switch games on cart and don't worry about it. With store discounts it will probably save you money as well. If you have room for that big ole Switch you probably have room to carry around a dozen small carts.

Edit - Giving it more thought - caffeine helps in the morning - Wii U didn't turn off the internal storage (I'm pretty sure my 12GB PS3 did) but Nintendo just made it painful to use. Anything on it could be used, but Nintendo left out the option of where to download. That was all they needed to do - "Where do you want to download? Internal storage or USB device?" So hopefully Nintendo includes that on Switch.

For all of you going cart only - don't forget, nobody ships complete games anymore, patches and updates are the norm. And I'm not sure if Nintendo will put those on the cart, but I'm guessing not, so you still may fill up that 32GB pretty fast. Pikmin 3, Hyrule Warriors, Lego Dimensions, Mario Kart 8. All of those games had content after release. Lego Dimensions is about 7GB, which it downloaded without my knowledge. All of the season 2 sets, whether you buy them or not. FFXV had a 7.5GB day one patch. 32GB probably means 28GB useable. That could actually fill up by Christmas without downloading a single game. If Spla2oon ships piecemeal like the first game that could take up some space as well, though I don't recall 1 being big.

So - where are saves kept, where do updates, patches and DLC go, do we get to easily choose where to save digital games? Questions that probably need answering so people can make informed decisions.

SanDisk used to be known for their high quality but now are generally not very good, speaking from experience of having multiple SanDisk cards fail on me in multiple devices. I generally stick with Samsung now.

I won't come anywhere close to filling 32gb since I buy physical for all retail games. I find it odd how widely expanding the memory is viewed as a necessity

I'm sure there are some great offers out there & supermarkets often have sales on their USB Sticks, SD Cards & Micro SD Cards. Plus considering that these storage options were considerably more expensive this time last year, storage can only get cheaper.

I think it's definitely a ( or one of a list of) mistake on Nintendo's, releasing the Switch with such low storage, but prices will only get better in the future.

Doubt anyone would have been happy with less than 128GB of storage on the Switch though. Wonder how much that might have added to the price?

No mention of reading speeds?

Realistically you'd need at least a 128GB Micro SD card. Another expense Nintendo have passed onto us just like they did with the Wii U.

@rjejr Wait for someone who actually does the legwork to find a source, but I'm pretty sure it was said that when external storage is added, the on-board NAND storage is just used for saves.

Going to use console memory just for digital only games, so for a long time the base 32gb will be more than enough. Eventually (if i really need it) i'll get just a 64gb, but i don't think i'll ever need it

I bought two of my 256GB Class 10 microSD cards from China for under $70 for my Wii U and New 3DS and they still works great. Once I get the Switch I'll be getting two more to expand the storage capacity even more.

@TossedLlama No way of telling yet. Depends on how much space updates and DLC (if you plan to get any) eat up. I'd get a 64GB one, it will be enough if you plan to go full-physical.

@rjejr How does it turn off your Wii U's internal storage? Downloads will automatically save to the USB-storage when it's plugged in, but you're able to move the gamedata freely afterwards between internal storage and USB-storage on Wii U. That's why I place savegames and gamedata of more social games on the internal storage, so I don't have to bring the USB-storage if I take the Wii U with me to a friends house.

@Loui Would you rather pay for the site yourself? I really don't get it when people complain about stuff like this, they are not throwing pop-ups in our faces or forcing us to answer a survey or anything, it's just some affiliate links.

@motorhue Agreed, this can make a huge difference if the Switch is able to take advantage of high speed sd cards. I guess we'll have to wait until launch date to see benchmarks with game loading times and eshop download times.

My advice / 2 cents on this subject, is to settle for 128GB at max. This should give you at least a year of normal gaming use. Maybe even more. Feel free to buy a 512 or even 1 To when you'll start to fill that up, for the price of the 128GB today. No need to break the piggy bank for the sd cards, reserve your money for the games.
This isn't the vita.

I bought the 128 SanDisk SDXC card, since I had a €50 giftcard for a particular store and I didn't know what else to get from there. So it costed me €5

what about this one. Seems faster and much cheeper https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Exceria-128GB-Micro-Memory/dp/B01EAKAUUK/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1485180892&sr=1-11&keywords=micro+sd

@Thermoclorn you'll have patches that could quickly eat up your GBs. The biggest patch I've had to download on PS4 was close to 10GB. With patches being so commonplace these days I fear Switch will too suffer day 1 patch syndrome.

And don't forget some games will be digital only. Maybe they'll a limited physical release, which Shovel Knight got, maybe not.

So there will definitely be a need to expand your storage.

I bought a 64GB SDXC card Black Friday for my $99 N3DS, not realizing it wouldn't work. So I plan on using that for the Switch when it comes in. I'll probably want to upgrade, but at the moment that'll do.

I like using this better:

@Thermoclorn Everybody wants to be able to download all the gamecube eshop games !

Mine will be Sandisk 128 / 200 GB. I don't need too large capacity since I will go physical 99%, the rest is for exclusive eshop games and or VC.

I getting the 128 GB.

@Megas Yeah, I agree. I don't see the issue myself. None of the announced games strike me as DLC behemoths, and as @DanteSolablood mentioned, these things get cheaper very quickly. I paid around 20€ for a 32GB SanDisk microSD 11 months ago.

Having photography as a hobby I have tried a few cards.
For my 4K camera I use Sandisk Extreme Plus/Pro.
For reliability I find Lexar cards very good (and durable).

For my Switch I will use a Lexar 128GB from one of my cameras and replace it with another Sandisk EP.

From my experience the read/write speeds are very similar on PC but on cameras the Sandisk perform far better.

I still hope they enable USB HDD support, but considering Nintendos close ties to SanDisk (they both develop the Nintendo GameCards) maybe there is a "scratch my back" scenario going on as Nintendo will recommend SanDisk over other cards.

@Azooooz I laughed, but even the official gamecard case has a special box for bringing 2 extra micro sd cards with you !

@Azooooz
Wow, Switch card case...
Any color option and where should I order that Switch card case since playasia doesn't have that model ?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-Professional-Performance-microSDXC-UHS-II/dp/B00U0XG678/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484936642&sr=8-3&keywords=128+MicroSDXC

This Lexar MicroSDXC card is the one I'm getting, it costs a little bit more but it's read/write speed is much better

@Thermoclorn I agree. I personally love the idea of going digital but I still love actually owning games. Add that to the fact that I can buy day one games 20% cheaper with amazon prime or best buy gamers club. For people buying physical I don't see why 32 won't last well into the systems life, possibly it's whole life and never end up needing to expand. I can't wait for switch!

I think the best choice would be to use an A1 class, a SD card optimized for running apps from. It's optimized towards random read write if i remember correctly.

as per performance i quote:
`The new App Class cards, in contrast, target a read speed of 1500 IOPS, write speeds of 500 IOPS, and a sustained transfer rate of 10MB/s at minimum.`

I'm not quite sure how many of these exist at the moment.

Beware of fake cards. Best to buy from reputable retailer, so go for Amazon itself rather than a seller selling through Amazon. Ebay probably best avoided. Also check read/write speed and class.

My Sandisk 128 GB is working perfectly still, was about £35 from Tesco Direct (on offer a few months back).

Usb port for Hard drive so can use a 2TB external hard drive. instead of small cards that will be full up with dlc and update data deleting stuff to make room all the time. It's wii u again.

Note well, Nintendo Life get a percentage of the sale if you use their links. Nintendo life, I like them alot, but they should have been upfront about this information.

It's not cool that they didn't tell us this. They want us to support them? Then they should share this info up front.

This is a paid advertisment by Nintendo Life. Take that however you want to. I just thought everyone here should know the full information.

[edit] I might just support Nintendo Life. As I quite like what Alex and Co do.

@Luna-Harmony Unfortunately Nintendo confirmed no external HDD support at launch. It's one of their things to look into.

Think I'll get a 64 until I get a library up and going and the hopefully the large ones will be cheaper (I'll be buying any retail games at retail anyway!).

@Snader @kupocake I'm going to go back and edit my post, b/c it is still there and usable, but Nintendo put in too many roadblocks. Hopefully Switch works better.

And another hidden cost ☺

@Thermoclorn
This might be true in parts.
I only but physical games. However, some games are available digital only, like zero time ir ace attorney. And there you go.

I'm waiting to buy one a little longer to see if Nintendo comes out and take about the read/write speeds we need for the games to function properly

@ZurapiiYohane64 I download a lot, so 256 is my selection. WOOHOO, hurt wallets!

Thanks, NL, this is helpful.

I added 80GB to my Wii U and it is more than enough. I only have 2 Wii U retail titles stored, but have 20+ eShop games (thanks in part to 2 humble bumble deals), and several VC titles. I buy mostly physical games, so I'm thinking a 64 GB card will do just fine for gamers like me. Not a huge expense (and appreciate Nintendo not making this a proprietary thing).

The 256gb sounds good when needed. But I agree with an above comment to purchase cartridges. When Nintendo releases some cool vc games like Smash Melee and Double Dash (hopefully) then I'll purchase the 256gb.

Thanks for the post Nintendolife.

I've gone for this Lexar one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B012PKVCTK/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's £69.99 for 200GB.

I'm waiting to see how much this is actually needed for the time being... I prefer physical copies over digital ones anyway, and don't buy that many eshop games, so the on-board memory should last a while, and I've got a handful of smaller microSD cards I could use if I do end up needing the extra space at short notice.

Only one game I want at launch so I should be good.

Will be settling for a 200GB Sandisk...

Personally, I would recommend this one if you want a 64GB card:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00U77V5IW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1/159-6250130-3362906?ie=UTF8&qid=1485182805&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=150+MB%2Fs+microSD

This Lexar card is 64GB, UHS-II, and under $40, making it have among the best price/performance ratio of any card currently available on non-sale prices. It's a better value than all of the cards shown in the article.

Or, if you're looking for a fair value on a 128GB card, this one isn't bad:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01KZCPPVG/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1485183825&sr=8-3&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=micro+sd+card+128GB+90+MB%2Fs

That one seems as good as any of the more recognizable name brands, and it's cheaper than a lot of them!

As an alternative to the 200GB Sandisk card, there's another one here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01C9I5S1Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1485183975&sr=8-26&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=micro+sd+card+128GB+90+MB%2Fs

(Yes, I know, it found it from the 128GB card search, lol )

Granted, if you ask me, I would not recommend getting anything above 128GB with UHS-I, 95 MB/s or less read speed. The reason is because as you have more data needing to be read at any given time, you force the card to work harder as more data needs to be pulled up. Thus, a 200 or 256 GB card with UHS-I will actually be slower than a 128 or 64 GB UHS-I card as that space is further filled.

@Anti-Matter The one above is from Hori. Here's another from PDP:

I'll get a 16gb card. I'm sure all my virtual console games will fit

I will wait. By the time the Switch comes out the 256gb will be under $100 I am sure of it. I was going to buy a 128GB when it originally came out but it was $200 and I waited like 3 months and it was already around $60.

Here's some links to the cheapest I could find. I grabbed a 256gb although the 200gb is a far better bang for your buck and should be enough for the entire generation if you're buying physical (estimate based on my personal usage on Wii U, which was about 200gb total buying physical, but 175 VC games and 50 indies). Me though, I don't care. I want the biggest card I can get.

256gb microSD $149.99
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-256GB-EVO-UHS-I-microSDXC/dp/B01JNGCWHU/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1485182515&sr=1-3&keywords=256gb+micro+sd+card

200gb microSD $69
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-200GB-Micro-SDSDQUAN-200G-G4A/dp/B00V62XBQQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1485182515&sr=1-1&keywords=256gb+micro+sd+card

128gb microSD $36
https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-128GB-Elite-Memory/dp/B01N3TBAGE/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1485183103&sr=1-6&keywords=128gb+micro+sd+card

@rjejr
Wii U storage doesn't get turned off.

I have all my VC games (aside from Wii) on my internal 32gb storage and everything else on my hard drive.

So I guarantee you it's the same way. It doesn't "turn it off", it never did. You simply choose where your default install location is, and move to the other if/when desired

I can get Sandisk micro SD cards here in Thailand for around 15-25% cheaper than than those US prices.I'm hoping to get the 200gb but I'm not sure they'll have that size.If not I'll just got with the 128gb for now and upgrade when the time comes.I don't even really need to buy one,I have loads of 32gb cards already but I don't fancy switching them over all the time.

I can't believe that I was dumb enough to actually search for 2TB Micro SD cards and then I see this article and see that they don't exist.

Do a powerbank one!

@Azooooz where is that for sale? Got the Hori cases for my DS and 3DS cards so I was hoping they would make one for Switch.

Anyway, I already got myself a 128gb, Sandisk. Probably won't need it all, I didn't fill my 32GB on Wii U (well, I did use an external for the Xenoblade X patches to make sure) but I'll download a lot more on Switch I think.

or you could just go to newegg they are cheaper there than amazon and you can buy bulk.
As for space requirements of GC virtual console the games tended to be 1.5GB per disk maximum most games never used the full disk and only a handful ever had multiple disks.
Funny thing is i still haven't filled up my 3ds 16GB sd and wiiU 32GB internal memory physical for life Downloads are for the rich or pirates.
What i am more worried for is the power someone needs to make a super power bank or something 3 hours is minimal and i may never take it out of the dock which seems to have usb ports hi external HDD possibility.

@Rockmirth @NintendoLife That's actually a good idea! I need a powerbank for my phone, but I'd like to have one that is compatible with the Switch too and not sure whether all I need is a USB C cable or if I will need a USB C port on the powerbank. I'm guessing the latter?

Oh God the hidden expenses... Will get a 128GB one if the VC policy doesn't alienate me from buying the console altogether

I saw a SanDisk 200GB SDXC for $69... not too shabby. I think I'll prolly start off with a SanDisk 128 GB SDXC I saw for about $21 and graduate from there once I see just how much memory I'm consuming over time.

@Sakura You just need to get a USB C cable.

Nintendo is very very clever. Just give the buyers only 32gb memory so we don't have to pay more for extra space.. but we still can charge people as a complete console with some memory and people won't complain and still will pay around € 350. Now we gamers are forced to pay extra amount like above €100. Sorry Switch but up till now i'm not moved by your actions. If Sony and MS can give buyers at least 500gb you should be able to do that as well. Your system isn't much stronger than xbox one. Bad bad bad Nintendo!

I got a toshiba 256gb for $8 coming in the mail using Wish, so i'm set, digital forever

@Loui Thanks! Is there any difference in charge speed between USB C to USB C and USB micro to USB C?

@Baker1000 Amazon, search switch accessories, or card case it's like the second result on Amazon US

@Sakura Do not charge using USB-C to USB-A (including micro) unless you're 100% certain that it is a safe cable to use for that purpose. You could fry your device if you try to do that. The USB 3.1/3Ah standard is not meant to be compatible with USB 3.0 or 2.0/500mAh.

No mention of the Toshiba Exceria 128GB which is arguably the best bang for your buck 128gb card available right now. Cheapest 128gb from a reputable brand with reportedly solid performance and good reviews. I've just ordered one ready for my Switch!

Right now I'm actually looking on some nice 40" tv. It will be a crime to play Zelda on the little 19" screen I currently have.

Memory cards will have to wait

It took 3 years of owning a Wii U before my storage was full with just VC and physical copy data. The only reason I needed a external storage was for XCX and Monster hunter (cause it's cheaper digital). I'll probably only get a 64 if I ever run out of space, remember these games are cartridge based. all storage data used is save update, and download data. So far better than my PS4 because after 8 games I was out of storage, I had over 20 wiiu games before this happened

@Snader he knows all or so he thinks.I gotta 2tb hooked to my Wii u I transfer back and forth its not turned off lol

@JaxonH Nice find on the Silicon Power Card! That's probably one of the better values in this thread, along with the 64GB Lexar UHS-II card with USB 3.0 adapter for ~$32. Patriot also offers an alternative to Sandisk on the 200 GB UHS-I card for a similar price. Some people have gotten fake Sandisk cards ordering from Amazon, you're a lot less likely to get a fake from Patriot.

@PlywoodStick Okay, thanks! That's actually really helpful. I'll stick with using only USB C to USB C using compatible cable, probably the one provided for the Switch. Can't mix things up if I haven't got USB C to USB (other) cable. Technically could do USB (other) to USB C I suppose, but could easily get that mixed up, so better to be safe. Fried is bad for health.

I'll get that 200GB card, or a 128 card. The 256 one is too damn expensive!

@PlywoodStick
Ya it's a decent deal for sure. Personally I've had good experiences with Amazon but I only buy from Amazon themselves as a seller, or other high rated established sellers. Never a "just launched" seller or one with low feedback ratings or less than 1000 reviews.

Me, I went 256gb. Screw it. It's expensive as heck but, I feel it's future proofed pretty well.

@Dakt
Don't think it really matters for video games like it does recording 4k video for examplr. No sense paying for higher speed cards when it won't affect gameplay. Save point might save a fraction of a second quicker, and maybe boot time half a second quicker, but I can't imagine that's worth the extra price.

@Sakura Yes, USB C to USB C will charge quicker than USB A to USB C, as USB C is 3Ah.

I imagine a 128 GB should be fine for awhile.

I'll be sticking mainly to retail so will only use internal memory for smaller digital only games; although GameCube VC games could be an issue. Still, will probably start at 64GB.

As for brands, I do photography as a hobby and lived by Sandisk for reliability CF and SD cards; although now on XQD from Lexar and damn are they pricey! Although I find SD to easy to loose when swapping at an airshow.

One could fit 18 Zelda:BOTW's on a 256GB card which is cool. But I've really been thinking about going all carts this time. Not sure what I want to do yet.

@Loui Cheers!

@Thermoclorn Yeah, people seem to think one MUST buy a huge SD card, a Pro Controller and an extra set of joycons to be able to use the system. I'll hold off on buying any of those until I actually need them.

Thanks for the guide. I checked prices for these at the time of the announcement and they were much higher. I just ordered the 200GB for $70 and I should have it by tonight with Amazon same day shipping.

II think it'll be best to go retail with the switch, although it has been nice to not get up off my chair to change games with my WiiU downloads.
Besides, with some of the downloaded games I don't play anymore, I can't exactly sell them, and I don't think Nintendo will refund me and take back the licence for them either. Oh well, so much for convenience.

I don't plan on downloading games that are available at retail (although I'll make an exception for Animal Crossing if we get a new one), so a 64 GB card should work for updates + DLC + digital-only games.

@Thermoclorn Right? We didn't need to do that back in the good ol N64 or Super Nintendo Days.

@Ralizah A new console animal crossing game would be sweet.

@polivar4 I was incredibly disappointed that the Wii U never got one. I'm not getting my hopes up, but if Nintendo announces a new AC title at E3 for Nintendo Switch, I'll be thrilled.

For those who find the SD card rating system a bit confusing here is a link to the SD Association's standards page.
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/choices/speed_class/index.html
Part of the reason why that 256gb card is more expensive is that the sequential write speed is rated at 30mb/s verses 10mb/s on the others. The benefit of getting a card with a higher class rating may not be as pronounced in the Switch's use case because the whole class system is based on sequential write performance to non fragmented disks, like video recording to a blank SD card, and not read performance. For gaming read performance is the much bigger issue, and, as far as I know, there is no standard system for read speeds.

@Ralizah I have it emulated on my Wii. Lol

@Spoony_Tech SD cards are actually incredible convenient. Thats why i have an amazing library on my 3DS with a 64GB SD card. Yes, it's expensive, and 32gb storage is incredibly low, but i think Nintendo is ahead of the competition on this one.

You cand find 200gb cards for 50$ online, but these will all get cheaper real fast. Next year, i'll bet that you can get 256gb cards for 25-40$. These will all be easy to transport and use. Instead of bulky harddrive installations.

@Robsnoow I also have a 64gb in my 3ds and had to stop dl'ing games because it was almost full as well.

I do agree they will get cheaper but I can't see a quality 256gb at 40$ for a while yet still. If they are 50$ or less when I'm looking then great, but now it just makes the system look more like 400 to 450$ then the 300$ price point. Hard to overlook that at launch.

With the abysmal launch lineup and the sparse amount of AAA games releasing / coming so far, storage space issues will be the least of your worries. Not before 2019 or so. /shrug

@neufel @FX102A and everyone concerned about Gamecube game storage:

You guys realize that Gamecube discs held 1.5GB tops, right? Taking into account the space inevitably eaten up by the OS and BIOS functions, you could comfortably fit about 20 of them at a time on just the onboard memory.

I have a 64GB Sandisk MicroSD that I'm currently using in my GoPro. But I very rarely fill it up, so might use that for the Switch to begin with.
Just be wary, there are MANY fake MicroSD cards out there (much smaller than the advertised capacity) and even the big retailers have trouble telling them apart from real ones!

I've got 64GB in my New 3DS, and I don't think I'll fill it now, despite having over 100 games!

Switch games are going to be much bigger, though. If I could, I'd love to get a 2TB card. The bigger the better, as I LOVE downloading games. I hate having to lug games around, or compromise and decide which games to leave behind. I like having a big library, and I like having it with me at all times. Even having multiple SD cards sounds bad to me.

Anyway, I have been looking into SD cards, and while I'm happy you've touched on them, you could have done one better and actually explained a bit about them. I'm by no means an expert, but there's more to it than simply 'this SD card has this much memory,' there's things like write speeds to take into account.

So far with the Switch I'm at:

£270 Console,
£65 Pro Controller,
£90 Zelda Limited Edition
£30 Carry Case
= £455...

This is pricey!

AND of course, a £100+ Micro SD!?!?!?!

I did some quick math based off my halo MCC install on my Xbox. Assuming Zelda is a big game (13gb download) then to have comparable storage space to base console hard drives (as in ratio of games to total memory available) you should only have to invest in a 64 gb SD card max.

I didnt think about gamecube games... yes, I want those! at least a couple of them. Great its gonna be a 64gb card to start with. Of course I could start with a 32gb card and see where this will go. Lateron buy that 64gb card and put the 32gb into my new 3ds.

The switch is gonna be expensive.

@Spoony_Tech
I as well, feel retail is the way to go with the switch. I will get a 128, which is plenty I believe for cartridges.

The shame here? I will be selective about what downloads I want-a game has to be a solid hit or a must have to make me want to buy it, knowing that I don't have a lot of memory to spare. Not a game breaker, but might cost a few indie sales.

I remember getting s SanDisk 256 (or something like it) for my New 3DS at some point last year and I still have loads of free space. Though that was sometime after I'd already grabbed a few physical copies of games. But yeah, the rest of my games sit comfortably on that microSD card. I'll probably get something much bigger for my Switch though. I'll be looking for the biggest money can buy because I don't want to take any chances - and because I can.

Thanks for the guide I've been thinking about a card for it

I went a bit overboard on the Wii U by getting a 2TB harddrive right off the bat.

This time I am going to buy physical-only and rely on the internal storage. I am not getting another SD card until I know I need it. (Even then I may just scrounge around my house for a spare card rather than go out and buy a new one.)

@Captain_Gonru Far as I know, games play straight off the cartridge, but you will need extra storage for DLC and saves and obviously for everything that you buy in the eShop.

In any case, no mandatory installs, which is also why I don't understand and agree with all the whiners that claim that compare the Switch's 32GB to the Xbox One's & PS4's internal HDD. Seeing as both these consoles DO require mandatory installs of games, you obviously need the bigger storage space.

The Switch cartridges are, for all intents and purposes, their own little hard drives that run the game directly off of them, so that additional storage space isn't really necessary, or at least not in similar quantities as with the competition.

I don't think I'll need more than 128GB as I'll be aiming for physical media mainly. Those cards are tiny and take up no space at all. The people who'll need the most storage are the digital only crowd, although saying that Nintendo seem to be experts in keeping file sizes sensible. It's the third parties I see being the biggest space hogs.

@ThanosReXXX "In any case, no mandatory installs."

I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. Plug the card in. Play. Like consoles are supposed to do.

@ThanosReXXX Even if it doesn't install the game, modern AAA releases often come with ENORMOUS day one updates, so 32 GB presumably won't be sufficient for people who purchase and play such games.

With that said, Micro SD cards are common and plentiful, so I don't really see storage being too big of an issue unless someone goes all-digital.

@Spoony_Tech Well, theres a silver lining here. Thankfully, you don't have to install the retail games, which is why even a terrabyte is barely enough for my PS4 games. And you can use the SD card(s) you already own. I already have 2, 128GB cards. That will suffice for 2017.

@Moon I found tons of 128GB SD cards for 39$. Which is around 32-35£..Not that Expensive.

Why the hate on NL about posting paid links? They have lives and bills to pay too! And these are informative and apropos.

Some of you need to grow up, you sound like little kids... maybe you are...LOL!!

@rjejr @I wonder how much space patches on the Switch will really take. I've noticed that while there are some bulky patches, patches for games on WiiU seem to be considerably smaller than patches on PS4. PS4 has become gross. I'm sad to hear about the 7+GB patch for FFXV, I've got to the point on PS4 that if I install a new game and it starts to download a patch larger than 4GB or so I just turn off the PS4's networking entirely until I"m done the game. I'm sick of downloading gigs and gigs of data for DLC that I'm not planning to buy. AC Unity had a 14GB patch, I just removed the disc and never reinserted it. Just Cause 3 had a 4GB patch. The game CRASHED consistently on the tutorial mission without the patch. How does that even get out of QA?

I'll DL a few gig, but 4, MAYBE 5 is my absolute limit on a patch. More than that I'll play single player without patching. If it crashes, that's a trash game right there.

But even 3rd parties on WiiU, the patches never got that obscene in size. (Perhaps Dimensions notwithstanding.)

The fact that the total retail download size for PS4 games is often 20+ GB while BotW tops out at 13GB for the entire game makes me think Nintendo is doing something very different regarding compression.

Well, if you can hold out till November, I'm sure those'll be part of a Black Friday deal of sorts....

I think the 200GB is the sweet spot right now. I'll be getting one of those and perhaps once that one is full (which will take at least a little while) I'll hopefully find the larger size has come down or perhaps even larger sizes are available. Swapping one or two memory cards is still better than carrying 10-15 carts (although I do love my carts) but I think I may move mostly digital with exception of a few of the major first party games. Zelda, Mario, etc I'll likely get physical versions.

@Moon If you buy the Limited Edition of Zelda BotW, you can subtract that £30 Carry Case from your list: the limited edition already contains a carry case (hard shell pouch) that has space for the Switch and 12 cartridges, 13 if you have one in the Switch as well.

So, unless you'd want to take more than that number of games with you at any one time, I'd say an extra carry case is rather unnecessary...

@Ralizah I know, but Nintendo is not Microsoft or Sony, and even though they did have some patches on the 3DS and Wii U, most of the time they don't, and definitely not HUGE files.

And their own quality control will make sure that all games on cartridge will be as complete as possible, leaving only smaller downloads for the internal memory or SD card.

@Captain_Gonru I'm a negative worry wart, but even I can't imagine a world with mandatory installs off of a cart. The cart is one of the key selling points, which Nintendo left out of the trailer and the event b/c they couldn't sell a glass of ice water to a dehydrated man in a desert.

I think the saves would be on the cart, but I can't imagine them leaving enough room for patches - RE7 got 800mb day 1 today - much less DLC and updates.

If you want something else to worry about - we've seen the photo of the "Y to change user" but will it really work smoothly? How many save points per game? I'm still mad about SSBU only having 1 across all accounts. Will each User need their own SD card? Probably not, but I feel like there is going to be a hitch we don't know about yet. Have they mentioned if "paid online" is per User or console? 1 step forward, 2 steps back, almost always.

But no mandatory installs, carts are king.

@WiltonRoots Exactly. All that whining and crying for absolutely nothing. Apparently, people aren't used to playing a game off of a cartridge anymore...

@Robsnoow Sounds good... but where? I can't find anywhere where I can find that sort of SD card for that sort of £££!

@ThanosReXXX Nintendo may not have big updates, but 3rd party games do. Not all, but many. FFXV was 7.5GB day 1 patch, that wasn't even the paid DLC. RE7 today 800mb. Lego Dimensions 7GB for the series 2 sets, whether you buy them or not, it auto downloads in the background. Then there's all the DLC even Nintendo sells. 32GB will fill up even for people who don't buy digital. Not at launch, but maybe by Christmas, if Switch gets a lot of modern AAA 3rd party games. Either that, or Wii U all over again, no DLC or season passes, and that isn't desirable.

Absolutely mad....

@ThanosReXXX You're not from the UK, I take it? The 'Special Edition' has a Switch carry case, but that's only in the USA! We have the 'Limited Edition', that doesn't have a carry case. At least I don't think so. :s

@Spoony_Tech they already comfirmed that even if you get physical copies, you will need to install a certain amount onto the systems memory. I think even with Breath of the Wild getting it physical you will need around 4gb to install from what I've heard. So you will be needing a memory card probably pretty quick.

Ouch!!!! Just more cost stacking up for the consumer while the memory provided in the bundle hasn't moved on a bit. I'm not against them having a smaller memory than rivals but 32gb is a rip off given the price. It's probably re-used hardware from in sold Wii u units 😉
I'll probably get a 64gb card when I eventually get a switch. I simply don't trust larger SD cards due to their higher failure rate!

@Moon Amazon is a great place. And you can find it for even cheaper during sales.

I want to download all my games but will hold off as long as I can on buying an sd card to spread the cost over time.

This is one case where you want to be very careful, China has lots of MicroSD cards listed at much higher capacities than they actually are. And you will not be happy with what you get even if it's really cheap.

TFW you forget to buy a nice 256gb micro sd card on massdrop for around $100

@rjejr Yeah, I saw you mention that earlier. But here's an idea: those games are already out, patches/problems are known, so these could ALL be included once the games come to the Switch, much like they are now doing with their own re-released games, that have all stuff included on one cartridge.

I actually think that this is the way it is going to go: Nintendo will probably put their foot down to some extent and they will only accept complete games on their cartridges, except for DLC, but that is what the Micro SD card slot is for...

At first, I was a little irritated at the lack of storage, but it's actually a better set up than the Xbox ONE. I hate having to load the whole game just to play it.

Plus, on the 500gb system you can only load 8 games. I know that is still quite a lot, but I like the idea of just popping the game card in.

I'll deal with it. It won't be a system killer for me.

@Moon Really? I thought all special or limited editions were the same worldwide. Never saw any difference on Wii or Wii U special editions, far as I can remember, although I could be mistaken...

But no, I'm not from the UK: I'm an American, but I life in the Netherlands.

@Moon Looked it up and it does indeed seem as if "we" Europeans are getting the short end of the stick with only a CD, and there's another version that adds a T-Shirt to the pack, but no carry case.

You could always try and order from an Australian shop for the PAL version, but since the Switch is supposed to be region free, why not just order the American version of BotW Limited Edition?

Let's be honest. If switch receives the same amount of support the Wii U received, then 32gb is enough memory. If the plan is to space out releases, 1 game a month, then most of us will be done with games by the time the next game releases.

@UK-Nintendo Not really. It is pricier than both competitor's models when you factor in giving the system even half the storage space of the other two systems. That plus a less powerful system is leaving me, and likely a lot of other people, in the wait a few years category till either the machine or the memory price comes down a min of $50. The memory issue is exactly why I just got a Vita last month, and memory is going to be the exact issue why I wait a few years for a Switch.

@hYdeks I may have missed something but outside of dlc or a patch I've not heard one thing about that. Now I know BotW on the Wii U requires an install so if you have a link I would love to read it.

Is it confirmed then that Switch supports UHS SDXC?

@ThanosReXXX Well, presumably the lack of huge day one updates for Wii U games was down to it getting almost nothing in the way of modern Western AAA support. Is Nintendo really going to tell developers that they can't release day one updates along with the launch of new Nintendo Switch games? Seems unlikely.

Unless it, yet again, gets almost nothing in the way of major Western AAA support, in which case it probably won't be an issue.

@Tiredman same man. I'm getting mine when Mario comes out. Hopefully with a bundle and cheaper

Trying to find a compatable external hard drive for my Wii U has been an absolute pain (I even used a recommended list and it didn't work), but I've had better luck when it comes to SD cards. I don't plan on downloading many games, given I love physical copies, but getting a SanDisk Ultra 200GB Micro SD from Argos will save me the trouble of ever having to get a secondary SD card down the road.

@hYdeks That's the Wii U version that requires install. The Switch version does not.

@ThanosReXXX So you're saying Nitnod should purposely tell every 3rd party not to release a game on Switch until about 1 year after it releases on other consoles in case they do a patch to make the game better? B/c Witcher 3, while it did have 2 DLC packs that added additional quests, also improved the menu about 1 year after it launched. I 'd give you a link but I know you won't click on Sony news.

Also, I knwo those games are alrady out, if they weren't Iwouldn't knwo the size of the day 1 patches, but my point is almost every game these days has a day 1 patch. Nintnedo doesn't have to do it, but they are going to have to allow it if they want games on PS4 and XboxOne, it's not like the practice is going to stop. If anything I'd say it is measurably getting worse. Look what Nintendo did w/ Splatoon, dripfed content for months, all of it free and part of the main game, not DLC.

I'd prefer to live in a world where games get released complete, but it doesn't work that way any more, all companies do is put out betas and make us pay for them while they work on fixes.

How would you handle Lego Dimensions? Is Nintnedo not supposed to let a game like that release if the 2nd year there isn't a new game, only new content? Destiny is up to it's 3rd yearly DLC thing. The first 2 were on both PS3 and PS4, the 3rd one is only on PS4, they compeltely dropped PS3 from getting an update to a game people already own. Doom is constantly getting updates, but only on the PS4 version, not PS3. The whole industry has gone bonkers. But I don't think Nitndo making Switch the new PS3 that only gets the original game, not the updates, is really the way to go.

There is always going to be patches, updates, DLC, after a game launches, there just is.

@JaxonH "You simply choose where your default install location is"

Well that was really more of my issue - I did go back and edit my earlier post at some point - you don't get to choose. I'm almost 100% certain once you hook up an external HDD or a USB drive - I have both, I switch them back and forth - then everything goes to that spot, you don't get to choose the default, USB is the default, by um, default. If you can show me how to change that I'd be very excited to see it. B/c some smaller games I'd prefer to dl to the internal, bigger games to the external, but once I hooked up the USB drives that was it, no choice.

Yes, you can go in and move things after, but you shouldn't have to, their should be a default option as you say.

So.....

If you buy a Switch and Day 1 install a 64GB SD card, and then the Switch automatically downloads all saves, patches, season pass info and DLC TO THE SD CARD like the Wii U does, then for all intents and purposes your internal storage isn't being used, b/c not everybody is going to go into settings and start moving stuff around. It becomes wasted space.

So back to my original comment, and your reply, I hope you are right and the OS is set up to either ask you every time where you want to download something to, or you can at least set up a defualt when you install a SD card. Something like "SD card detected, would you like to make this your default download location for eShop purchases or continue to use the internal memory?". I'll be happy if they offer either of those options. If it's automatic to the SD card, then the internal storage is going unused by most people.

@ThanosReXXX I'm glad the option's there, but in practice it's too much hassle. I can't be arsed to arrange with a new retailer, in another country, to send me a special edition... when I'm getting everything else here just fine.

I just dealt with WiiU storage recently. I discovered that the SD card slot CAN'T be used for external storage, like on the Wii. The SD card on WiiU is mostly used for the Wii mode and to save Mii data. It's on the official site. I found out, though, that you can plug in any USB thumb drive in the back and it will work just fine for external storage. I only put in 8GB, but it was enough for what I'll use until I get the Switch.

@rjejr
No you're right about that, but that's small potatoes. Just either wait to put the card in until you use up the default space, or what I do, put the card in, then after a good bit has built up on it, just go into settings one time and select all the stuff you wanna transfer over, and do it in one fell swoop.

If it did let you change default locations, you'd have to go into settings and change it every time. Instead, simply pull the SD out any time you want it on the internal storage, and it will go there, then pop it back in when it's done installing. If you want it on the card, just proceed as usual.

Got a SanDisk 128gb Extreme microsdxc card for 56.99 on Walmart dot com and that'll hold me over for a long time. I'll be buying mostly retail for the big games so I won't need to worry until a year or two in which prices will be even lower.

As I explained in the other storage article just remember to pay attention to the WRITE speeds on micro SD cards and your internet connection speed. Most of the cheapies only have a 20mb write speed and if you're like me who has a 30mb internet connection your download speeds would be held back by the card. If you have a fast internet connection look for the cards that support 4K that have 60 - 90mb write speeds that make them a little more future proof. I learned this from Spawn Wave who had a whole video on the subject.

@Ralizah "Is Nintendo really going to tell developers that they can't release day one updates along with the launch of new Nintendo Switch games?"

Maybe they shouldn't release unfinished games.

I think I'm more taken aback by how cheap memory has gotten in twelve years. I took a summer job in Alaska and bought my camera a 512MB memory card (Olympus xD) for $70.

@Ralizah No, that's not what I'm saying. @rjejr mentioned some examples and these were games/series possibly also coming to the Switch. Most series now announced or recently released for the other two consoles will already have had their day one patch or other upgrades, so if any of them are also going to be ported to the Switch, then they can be ported completely in their current, patched state.

THAT is what I'm saying...

A quick look on Google Shopping brings up this

https://secure.bestdealbuys.us/cart.php?q=6998620
$87.99 + $14.56 shipping = $102.55

This might be only in the US. A great price for any upcoming switch owner.

@rjejr I obviously don't have all the answers, but since a cartridge is a closed medium (they are, after all, write-once) I would think that Nintendo would at the very least try their damnedest to make sure that the games on there are as complete as possible.

There will always be minor patches, upgrades and of course DLC, free or not, but that is what the internal memory and/or Micro SD cards are for.

I just can't imagine an Assassin's Creed Unity situation on the Switch, where almost half of the game was replaced by a day one patch, which is of course one of the more ridiculous examples, but I'm sure you get the point.

What they'll do and how they'll do it, that is up to them, but I am not certain on them accepting practices like these. Not because they think they can overrule third parties, but because of the problems it might cause them with the cartridges and all, so maybe they've already worked something out with the likes of Ubisoft and EA, who knows?

Even though they're pretty small, I just can't imagine seeing myself taking multiple SD cards with me and having to remember which card contains which game and so on. That would be anything but user-friendly...

@Moon Arrange with a new retailer? Just order online. I order games and peripherals from all over the world, no hassle at all, whatsoever.

@ThanosReXXX I'm not talking about ports, though. I'm talking about new games. Unless the Switch release of a game is deliberately staggered, it's going to have the same giant day one patch and further stability and content patches that so many AAA games have these days. And that's a reality Switch owners are going to have to deal with.

@WiltonRoots But that is the industry standard for AAA releases now, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

Since the cartridges are supposed to be pretty sizable and considering that I don't download retail games digitally very often I don't see myself needing more than 128gb. Not as expensive as I thought it would be and really it doesn't matter which system you purchase as you pretty much have to get an external hard drive regardless. I have feeling that these games aren't going to be as large as people expect and the average consumer won't need something as excessive as a 1 TB sd card.

@Ralizah Technically, all games are ports, and from what I've understood, most third party games will be ported from the PS4 versions, so Switch might either get them at the same time, or a little later, and if that's the case, then most early patches will already have taken place.

I'm not saying it WILL happen that way, but the thing with cartridges is that it's just not the same as with "normal" installed media.

The rest of my thoughts on this are in comment #162, if you're interested. It will safe me from having to type it twice...

200G or higher for me. I download a lot of games and while I don't download retail ones, I do grab a few here and there when they go on sale for under $10....unless their Nintendo brand games of course!! They never go down that low!

I was considering the 128 or 200 GB sandisk on Amazon. The 128 because it's only $40 and I could upgrade later or the pricier 200 gb if I plan on trying to keep that for the life of the system.

@Dakt @JaxonH That's a specs point I've been trying to find for a while now. The UHS-II cards are way, way faster, but they use an extra row of pins to utilize the extra speed. Otherwise, they only use one row, which maxes out at around 95 MB/s read speed. I haven't been able to find anyone who can confirm whether the microSD slot uses one or two rows of pins.

Considering that the NS is future ready enough to handle 2TB cards when they eventually exist, I suspect it can handle and benefit from UHS-II cards. (Anything above 256GB with UHS-I would be unbearably slow after being mostly filled. Even 200-256GB is pushing it for being slow to load with UHS-I.)

The speed difference might not matter in smaller or medium sized games with lots of instances, but in large open world games with few instances, having 1.5x the speed or more up from what UHS-I is capable of makes a big difference. Paradoxically, this means a ~$32 64GB Lexar 150 MB/s UHS-II card would perform better than either a ~$90 200GB 90 MB/s UHS-I Sandisk or Patriot card, or a ~$128 256GB 95 MB/s UHS-I Sandisk, Lexar, or other card, when playing open world games like BotW.

@PlywoodStick
Hmm, I'll trust your opinion on this since it sounds like you're much more knowledgeable on the subject than I am.

I do know that I use 512gb SD on Wii U for GC/Wii games and 200gb on 3DS and have never noticed any issues in games (or otherwise, despite potential scenarios others warned against). The only thing I've ever noticed is on the 3DS, now that I have like 180gb used of the 235gb available after formatting, sometimes it takes an extra second for all the menu icons to load.

Idk, I'm not planning on buying anything digital though aside from VC, some DLC and digital exclusives (like Sonic Mania and Ultra Street Fighter II). Either way though, my 256gb just arrived so I guess I don't really have a choice in the matter now. Looks like I'll find out... Although I do have a 2nd one pre-ordered I plan to pillage accessories from, and was considering grabbing an SD for it also (why not, if I have another, may as well load it up and utilize it too)

Let me know if you ever hear anything more on this subject

Or you could just go physical...

@JaxonH Granted, that shpiel I went on mostly only applies if you go digital, or you're accessing hundreds of pictures/videos or music files like I do on the New 3DS. (Although a 3DS doesn't really benefit much from 95 MB/s instead of 40 MB/s or something...) And even then, it mostly only matters for large open world games. If you're reading off of the NS game card, the SD card type probably won't matter much at all. So if you're going mostly or all physical, getting the best value with the most memory should be the best way to go.

Until the NS releases, only Nintendo knows the read speeds of the NS game cards. We should have some comparisons to SD read speeds within a few months of release. I suspect both of them will blow those PS4 and XBone HDD read speeds out of the water.

It's kind of a given, though, seeing as most HDD's only go up to 1 or 2 MB/s random access read speed, which is important for loading open world games... Just absolutely outdated and abysmal performance for any modern gaming machine. The NS should load smooth as butter by comparison, due to being built to fully utilize flash and solid state memory, normalizing random access read speeds that are 10's of times faster than HDD's. BotW and Skyrim for NS will really show this off.

@Samuel-Flutter

How come it doesn't work? If it's because of the 3DS' supposed size limit on SD cards, you can easily get around that. I have a 128GB card in my N3DS right now and have never had a problem with it, and in my original 3DS, I had a 64GB card.

For it's price, the Switch should have had at least 128GB of integrated storage!

@Vriess Even going up from the Japanese price of ¥29,500 (~US$261), installing flash memory chips up to 64GB would have brought the price up close to the US$300 those in the US will pay. The Japanese price thus would have been closer to the UK price of £280 (~US$349), going nearly up to ¥39,500, ¥10,000 more, just to install 128GB flash memory chips like some tablets have.

All in all, not a good value proposition. It's a better value to just let people expand the flash memory through microSD cards.

When I get the switch I think I would stick to getting a 64Gb card and sticking to just getting physical games and then just install the indies on the micro SD card but they are always getting cheaper so buy the time I get a switch maybe they will be much better value for money.

@0upshroom7 ahhh, I'm in the UK. It'll come.

@ThanosReXXX

I think most people have been going more and more digital. I know I enjoy having dozens of games on my 3DS. That doesn't seem like as much of an option without a very large investment in SD cards. It also sucks from the standpoint that Nintendo's rewards have gone all digital. So as many will go physical, they will do so without any rewards program of any kind.

@ROBLOGNICK really? ok, I didn't know, I just heard something. Kind of fair that the game needs to install on the older console. Still surprised Wii U is even getting the game.

@PlywoodStick

That's not really a fair comparison. Manufacturers pay much less than retail price to consumers for parts. The price to go from 32 GB to 64 GB would have been just a few $ for Nintendo. @ThanosReXXX has gone on record that there are big discounts. I believe he said 30% of consumer pricing isn't uncommon for bulk orders. So a $40 128 GB card, would probably have cost Nintendo $10-15. You'd also get to take out the cost of the 32 GB flash which would probably leave an offset of $10 or less. I think psychologically 64 GB would have been a big deal. After OS, etc. 32 GB will probably be 25 GB available to use. So one Zelda means no other big games on the card. It'd be nice to get 3-4 big games on there before you are forced to think about storage. And 64 GB would have been bigger than Wii U too and they are trying to be better than that.

Think I'll just wait until I think I need one.

@PlywoodStick Although you support your argument well. I don't live in Japan or the U.S. Not saying the tech isn't worth the retail price but as a value proposition for the customer I don't find it very appealing. Also, if Nintendo really wants to push a large install base as quick as possible, then they should sell the Switch at a loss for the first year or two. Like Sony and Microsoft did. Again, not saying that we customers deserve better and Nintendo is the bad guy here. Just saying that I disagree with Nintendo's business strategy. But hey...who am I (but a 30 year Nintendo customer).

@cleveland124 If you're talking about cards, sure, but we're talking about flash memory chips, perhaps NAND flash chips, and we can't be sure on that until we get a teardown going after launch. NAND and other flash chip memory is much more expensive than SD flash memory. Even with manufacturing costs being low, they are typically sold higher corresponding to the higher memory size, especially when it's not removable.

That's not unfair to point out at all, that's how these tech companies operate. Higher memory devices are usually the most cost efficient from manufacture to sale, from a manufacturer's perspective, compared to lower memory devices. It translates into bigger ripoffs from the customer's perspective, so the company has to figure out ways to get customers to accept and buy into it. Thus, it's a good thing Nintendo kept the flash chip costs and size low, to allow customers to bring onboard as much value effectiveness as they want from microSD cards.

The pricing on the NS isn't going to change much over time, nor will the performance of the built-in flash chips, while the price/performance ratio on SD cards will fluctuate dramatically over the next few years. Nintendo made the right decision in this regard at least, not falling for using psychological mind games to entice their customers towards the hardware itself. Those who use their heads will find the best values for increasing storage size and speeds.

@UK-Nintendo LOL. OK... ok

@Firebird360 because they still need room for updates, DLC, etc... if Switch doesn't get large, AAA Games, and you just want to play Nintendo and Indies, then you're fine. But games Like DOOM, Mass Effect, GTAV, and others, one batch of updates will wipe out your storage with a single blow.

If people are only buying switch for Nintendo games, it's not a problem, but a lot of us were kinda hoping for a new leaf, and the days Nintendo got huge 3rd party games. Storage will be an issue...definitely for us Digital gamers, but even for physical cart gamers.

@ThanosReXXX When Nintendo puts their foot down, we lose games. Which means we lose 3rd party support. Which means a decreased install base, and we spiral down. With all due respect, I'm very worried.

@Vriess I agree that Nintendo should have brought the global price down to match the Japanese price (~US$256-261, the Yen got stronger vs. the US dollar recently), but as far as pricing related to storage goes, this is actually one of the most pro-consumer choices related to the NS. Waiting for holiday sales on microSD memory of various varieties for UHS-II 150 MB/s+ cards, especially within a few years from now, is far more cost effective from the customer's standpoint.

Keep in mind that the current top of the line SD flash has now reached 300 MB/s, with top of the line microSD currently at around 275 MB/s. The SD flash price/performance ratio will improve tremendously over the next 5 years of the base console cycle, whereas the price/performance ratio for the flash chip (maybe NAND) onboard the NS will likely not improve much at all from the customer's standpoint. Paying for more onboard flash chip memory than is needed to get going would be the real ripoff.

I wouldn't count on Nintendo selling their consoles for a loss, either. Since when have they done that? Besides, Sony is a pretty good example of how to almost destroy your business empire by going too ham on the whole "selling at a loss" tactic...

Remember how Sony had to sell off their former New York and Tokyo HQ's, laid off thousands of employees, barely recuperated funds from losing millions due to selling the PS3 for $100's of losses worth for each console at launch, forfeited several arms of their business, and went from King of the Tech World to just another middle of the pack competitor? All in one fell swoop? Nintendo's in no such danger... All because they refuse to sell at a loss.

@OorWullie Yep, HDDs are cheap here too.

Hopefully, no flood again or prices will skyrocket.

If I buy Switch, I'll get a 128GB card though.

I want to add that with patches, that 32GB drive will be filled really, really quickly.

Just downloaded a 10GB patch for Killing Floor 2 yesterday.

@starfox007 Nice to see a fellow Nintendo fan in Thailand

I've got mine pre-ordered with Nadzproject. They told me they're not sure if they'll get it in on the 3rd yet, maybe a week or 2 later. The website still has the 31st March with no price yet.They've had other consoles in the past available on launch day so there's hope.

I was here when it flooded. 2011 if I recall correctly. My soi was really bad, my bike was completely submerged. Funny story, I was down in the reception of my apartment and a huge goldfish swam in from the road outside.

@Spoony_Tech That's the exact reason it uses MicroSD. They allow you to get much more memory much cheaper than built in flash memory. The only cheaper option than MicroSD is standard external hard drives but for a portable console that's physically impossible.

@rjejr As I see it, Nintendo only nelected when downloading something to give you the ability to indicate on which storage you want to save it. Not much of a hurdle in my opinion.

@OorWullie Hey, I shop there too! Do you buy from Lardprao, Siam, or Pattaya? Pattaya has more and better stock, BTW.

@OorWullie My house was half submerged. We put the bookshelves on chairs but a snake got in. Nothing bad happened with it though.

£140 for a 256gb card? you can definetly get MUCH cheaper by shopping around. Whilst im not sure of the quality or reliability you can buy a 256gb card on ebay for as little £7!.....

@lemonjellydude If they're super cheap like that, they're probably a fake. Using CrystalDiskMark or other benchmark test software that can give a readout of random access data rate, in addition to a more recent card reader, is a good way of telling the difference. A too cheap card will likely have crap speeds.

im sure your right, which is why I said I wasn't sure of the quality. the point was that you can definetly get cheaper options to what was being mentioned here @PlywoodStick

@Snader "Not much of a hurdle in my opinion."

It is when the external get fulls and you are sitting there having to move stuff onto your empty internal by hand, which is slower than it should be. A screen that asks - "Download destination: Internal or External" would have been a lot easier. W/ an option to set a default when you hook up external storage. Basic PC stuff from decades ago.

@JaxonH I'd like it to give me the option to set a default location - somebody putting in a 200GB or larger card may be willing to forego the 32GB internal - when a new SD card is installed. It should ask "Set new SD card as default now, yes or now?" Then ask "Would you like to choose each time where to download, yes or no". So, you can either set the default to internal or external, or you can choose not to set the default but be asked every time. People might find that last part annoying, which is why you give the choice of setting a default. Some people may always want the internal set as the default and then selectively move stuff over as the internal fills up, thinking the internal is faster and more safer.

This is basic stuff from the 1980's, I'm not asking for magic or miracles, just a choice how to use my device and SD card that I purchased and paid for. 2 simple questions when and SD card is installed, that's it.

@rjejr
It's basic stuff for PC, not for gaming consoles. The only device on the market that offers something close to what you describe is Xbox One, and even it will not let you choose where to install on the spot.

Not saying I wouldn't want to see that, but honestly, we're talking about very, very simple solutions here. The time it takes to go into settings one time and pick 32gb of data to move is mere minutes, or simply choosing to not put the card in until you need it, or simply clicking it so it sticks out half way while a game installs, then clicking it back in when you're done (and once default space is full, you won't have to do anything cause you only have one choice left).

So ya, I guess add it to a long list of convenience features that would be nice to see across the board, but given how incredibly simple it is to work around this, I'd say maybe there are bigger fish to worry about frying

@NEStalgia "makes me think Nintendo is doing something very different regarding compression."

I don't think a Nintneod game will ever need a 7GB patch. Though they did recommend a 10GB download for XCX, which I bought on disc, so it would run faster. And XCX was made by Monolith which Nintendo owns. Never could figure out why I had to download it and they couldn't just have it install off of the disc, same thing, no?

As for Wii U games, what games? How many big AAA 3rd party games did it get? How big of a patch was Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash going to need, it's a tennis game w/ only 1 arena. Or Animal Crossing amiibo Festival, it's a board game.

But hopefully Switch will get some of those games w/ the big patches. And even if it doesn't, I think Nintneod has sipped from the DLC pool - Pikmin 3, MK8, SSBU - and like what they've tasted. So I'm expecting a lot of Nintneod games to start having DLC. Maybe MK9 only ships w/ 12 tracks and sells the rest. Or SSB5. We don't know how Spaltoon 2 works yet.

And it doesn't surprise me Zelda BotW is only 13GB (OK it does a little), it's a Wii U game built around what looks like a mostly empty world. It's a port of a Wii U game on the Switch. And I always look at sound for file sizes. Looks like it will have a lot of spoken languages, that's great, Nintendo must have some serious compression going on there, but will it have 7.1 sound? ATMOS? Will there be any FMV cut scenes? It's a beautful world which will look and sound great, but they've probably taken some shortcuts to work w/ their compression technology.

But are EA and Activision and Ubisoft going to compress everything and have it complete on day 1? I don't think so. That's not the way the modern gaming world works, everything is beta.

@ThanosReXXX "taking multiple SD cards with me"

In case you read me wrong somewhere, I've never advocated for multiple SD cards, but for buying physical and carrying multiple game carts instead of filling up SD cards. Multiple SD cards sounds like a nightmare I wouldn't or couldn't recommend. Hopefully Nintedno will make it easy to use a PC so people w/ 64GB cards now can move everything over to larger cards later.

@rjejr I'd have loved the XBCX data thing to be a disc install. At the time I think the prevailing theory was that it had to do with the hardware read-level encryption with the WiiU. But since BotW will install from disc, I really don't know what. It might be they didn't think of it until after the discs went gold and were sent to print. Or it could be that to fit it all on disc, the data files were compressed, while the download versions were uncompressed, and the WiiU lacked the CPU grunt to decompress it locally as it read from disc, while for BOTW at 13GB there's plenty of disc space to store the uncompressed files.

True enough that it got no AAA games, but even the launch games had modest size patches (AC3, AC3.5, Mass Effect, Batman, etc.) The 7-14+GB patches on Sony are like they're sending it uncompressed. How do you have a patch that's BIGGER than all of BotW? I swear they just update archive files and push the whole thing rather than just sending the delta. It's an absurd system, and I truly can't see that flying on a largely portable system where metered hotspot use will probably be highly used. Even with "unlimited" data they limit hotspotting to a few gig. A few gig for a patch, sure. 7-15GB? No. (EA habits aside, if your patch is larger than other similarly sized entire games, something is wrong with your release process.)

DLC for MK, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Xenoblade etc, file size wise were never terribly huge. That might really be the difference, and I hope it is, that Sony pushes every updated archive file while Nintendo pushes only the delta to save bandwidth. Shame on Sony if that's the case.

They did say that the sound is higher quality on Switch than WiiU. I don't know if that just means that Switch has a better DSP, or if the actual sound samples are higher quality for botw. The audiophile in me winces when I hear 7.1....grumblegrumble. Overprocessed and necessary unless in a very large room. It's like 4k for a 26" TV you sit on the other side of the room from.

"everything is beta" Yep, that about sums up modern gaming at least 3rd party gaming (increasingly nintendo too, but not quite there yet.)

BTW, I've been reading your posts waaaaaay too long as a lurker here. Twice today I actually typed "Nitneod"

@cleveland124 Of course there's more people going digital nowadays, and besides my physical cartridges I also have quite a few smaller games on my 3DS, but what I kind of wanted to get across is that
1) it isn't necessary and
2) going digital only is a choice, not a MUST like some people make it seem.

If I buy one of these pouches/carry cases for the Switch, then I can take a total of 13 cartridges with me at any one time. I don't know about you, but 13 games can last me months, so even if I would take the Switch with me on a summer holiday for a couple of weeks, then those 13 games would STILL be enough.

What annoyed me about all the "it's only 32GB", "Nintendo is making the same mistakes again" and "they need to get with the times" comments is that people just don't seem to get the difference with cartridges, so all you'll ever need extra storage for, well at least if you CHOOSE to do so, is patches, DLC and the occasional VC or eShop game, and that shouldn't necessitate a heck of a whole lot more than the internal memory.

Stick another 64GB in there and it can potentially last you a lifetime, just like that 64GB card in my 3DS is doing for me. Still got a LOT of empty blocks left...

@cleveland124 Correct on those discounts. Bulk purchases can definitely slash prices down to anywhere between 30 - 50%, depending on the kind of item.

Memory might be one of those items that'll fall either in the middle or closer to that 50%. When millions of pieces are bought, the profit for the manufacturer will still be there regardless.
EDIT:
Was a bit too fast with answering that one, since I see now that you said the price would be 30% of the retail, but it's like I said above, so it'll be a big discount anywhere in the 30 - 50% area, depending on item and volume of said item.

@Captain_Gonru "But an argument could be made that at least SOME storage could happen on the cart, right? It just seems stupid not to. Why not have some on-board room to store patch updates and such?"

Maybe save games and such, much like on DS/3DS cartridges, but other than that, I wouldn't expect there to be any "write-to" capabilities. Could potentially also corrupt the game/cartridge, so you shouldn't even want to have that option in the first place in my opinion.

"If part of the appeal, according to the marketing, is the interchangeability of your "play", then why force a cart to effectively only work in its "home" system?""

It's a normal cartridge, like we all used to know and love, and it will operate exactly the same whether in the home or on the go, so I don't see this disparity that you seem to be suspecting.

@Jaded_Drybones Not "put their foot down" in a harsh and thoughtless manner, but to an extent, and if we have to believe EA and Ubisoft, then they have been in talks for quite a while already, so potential problems like these will more than likely already have been discussed or even ironed out.

Games on cartridges benefit and can maximize their full potential only if they come as a complete, working package. Having a cartridge that needs a multiple GB day-one patch because it is half broken is just not going to work, so I do expect there to be some kind of deal that Nintendo has struck with third parties to prevent most, if not any of these occurrences, whether or not they are a (wrongfully) accepted industry standard...

@rjejr the multiple SD card comment was in part a comment in general, but also related to the whole "day one patch" or multiple downloads issue. If you're not going to empty your wallet for that big, 256GB card or bigger (when they arrive), then it wouldn't really seem all that unthinkable that you would indeed have to take multiple SD cards with you, and small as they are, it would still be anything but user-friendly, for the reasons I previously mentioned. (small so easy to lose, and what games or saves are on which card and so on)

@rjejr "It is when the external get fulls and you are sitting there having to move stuff onto your empty internal by hand, which is slower than it should be."

I understand your frustration, but seems to me more of an annoyance than a real hurdle; it's not like you have to figure out a way to make it work as if Nintendo blocked the ability to do it entirely.

@JaxonH "The only device on the market that offers something close to what you describe is Xbox One, and even it will not let you choose where to install on the spot."

I believe Xbox360 always asks with every action which storage you want to use.

@starfox007 I've only been to the one in Pattaya.They haven't had much business from me yet as I bought nearly all my Wii U games digitally. I did buy a Pro controller from them though.

@ThanosReXXX Maybe I didn't fully understand you, but I doubt 3rd parties will bend to Nintendo's will. And we'd be getting mass effect if those talks were as successful as we hoped.

@Captain_Gonru But who says it's going to be broken? I could honestly care less in what age we live in, it is still the age of Nintendo delivering complete products, save for extremely minor patches, and those would take all but a minute to download, even if you take your game to a friend's house.

And as far as the capabilities of the cartridges themselves go, I actually remember having read that Reggie himself said that you can't write to them, so apparently, their "behavior" will be exactly the same as DS or 3DS cartridges, having some save slots or other, but no extra space to write patches or DLC to.

@Jaded_Drybones No offense, but you still misunderstand me. Again, NOT forcefully putting their foot down, so NOT "bending to Nintendo's will" but third parties and Nintendo simply having come to an agreement in all their previous meetings and discussions on what measures to take to bring their game to cartridges and that is also in the best interest of the third parties because better experience equals bigger profits, so they too stand to gain from it.

And like I said: both EA and Ubisoft have gone on record stating that they have been in contact and talks with Nintendo ever since the Switch came into existence, and probably even quite a while before that.

So, what could have happened, is that this topic has simply been discussed and taken care off, as one of the many items on the checklist of both sides. It really isn't all that unthinkable to assume that this is actually what has happened.

The occasional patch will obviously still happen, because apparently, that is the "standard" nowadays, but it could very well be that the cartridges come included with the more recent versions, which might on the one hand mean that Switch versions arrive a little later than the competition, but at least they will be more complete.

Something less likely, but an option I won't rule out as of yet, is that the cartridge will have some capability to write a big file to it only ONCE, so much like burning a DVD on your PC, which could mean that after purchase of the game, you insert the game cartridge into the Switch and you then get a pop up message telling you that you first need to download the patch and that the cartridge will then be secured so the game can be played.

But even though I'm not ruling that out, it doesn't seem very likely, so if there are any patches or day one downloads, I would sooner expect them to go to internal memory or SD card, but I honestly hope that in Switch versions, this will be limited to smaller files or only occasional downloads, otherwise it's going to be anything but user-friendly...

@NEStalgia "They did say that the sound is higher quality on Switch than WiiU"

Well that's good to read, even w/ the HDMI out I was a little concerned about that. The Switch has a headphone jack but most games on Switch in portable mode I'm guessing will be mixed for stereo sound, and I was a little concerned they might go w/ some type of Pro Logic fake surround while in the dock to save space on the carts as full blown 5.1 takes up a lot of space.

I wonder if any websites would even bother reporting on sound quality, that's not something that really comes up that often. I was greatly annoyed when Wi U came out b/c it didn't have optical out and I had to buy a new sound system just for my Wii U. Turns out PS4 Slim dropped optical as well, so Nintnedo was just ahead of it's time. And my new sound system is WAY better than my old one, apparently things changed a lot over the past 15 years.

"BTW, I've been reading your posts waaaaaay too long as a lurker here. Twice today I actually typed "Nitneod""

Sorry about that. Maybe there's an inoculation your doctor can give you?

@Snader "as if Nintendo blocked the ability to do it entirely."

No, only Sony did that w/my 12GB PS3 superslim. I'm pretty sure I can't even find it, though I haven't looked for it in years.

"I believe Xbox360 always asks with every action which storage you want to use."

See, that's all I ask, what is that, 9 year old technology? Not exactly cutting edge.

I think if the Switch only came w/ 4GB like the 3DS, then by all means turn it off, 2GB of that would probably be OS anyway, leaving you w/ 2GB, and you'd find yourself in a horrific PS Vita situation, but I think 32GB is enough that I wouldn't want it to go to waste if I had an old 32GB card from my phone laying around that I could use until prices dropped on larger models.

Glad I'm waiting until Christmas, I predict at least 3 firmware updates that make improvements by then. Though it does look god so far, much better than 3DS or Wii U at launch. I just need time to wrap my head around the whole hybrid idea and how that's going to work w/ myself and 2 teenage sons. 3DS is easy, they each have their own, Wii U, PS4 are mine, Wii is in my sons room w/ his NES Mini and my old Atari 7800. Not sure what to do w/ a hybrid and 3 gamers.

@ThanosReXXX ah. OK. I think I understand your point of view.

@rjejr To carify the sound quality issue was specifically addressed in terms of differences between BotW on WiiU and Switch, and the higher quality sound was one of the listings. It was unclear if that meant BotW included higher quality sound samples on Switch (which seems unlikely given the very close file size of the game, and the fact that storage is not at a premium for a 13GB game on the BD disc for WiiU) or if the sound hardware/processing is superior on the Switch.

Aren't all consoles DSP based surround? For a movie it's a pre-recorded and mastered track for each channel and takes tons of storage, but for a game, all sound content is generated dynamically by your actions, so it has to be mixing the channels in real-time. Sure it's outputting discrete channels, but it's not like it's premastered, each channel is generated on the fly by the DSP or the game code. So in a sense all consoles are "fake surround" but that's the nature of games. Shouldn't take more space on disc. The sample is the sample, no matter how the DSP positions it in the output mix. FMV is different, but, who uses FMV anymore? Most cutscenes are rendered in-engine now.

Yeah, optical has vanished for quite a while. I think XBox may have led the way on that. later X360 versions needed a breakout box for optical. That said, since you're enjoying your new audio I'm sure you don't regret the purchase, but you could have just bought a stand-alone breakout box/repeater to split the audio from the HDMI stream. I actually have my consoles on an HDMI switch, that then goes through such a box, and I feed the one optical output into the DAC/transmitter for my wireless headphones, and set it to pass-through so it also goes to the HDMI in on the receiver. I'm hoping the Switch supports BT audio for mobile mode now that Apple's forcing that standard (ugh), but it's hard to touch the wireless quality of my Sennheiser cans. Not perfect, not as good as wiring to the amp, but, for wireless, amazing.

But, haha, yeah, 15 years ago we were just in the early era of 5.1 surround "HTIB" (home theater in a box.) Then sense finally came back to the audio world and real audio systems. it's in a much better place.

I think if anyone were to do measurable tests on audio output you'd have to look outside gaming sites and more towards audiophile sites. Not the more audio hardware oriented ones but there's some more "nerd/computer" oriented. avsforums, or hydrogenaudio, maybe audioholics or such. Not sure they WILL cover it, but if it were to be covered those are the folks that have proper measuring equipment, and/or relatively skilled double blind testing (with all the subjectivity therein.)

LOL, sadly once you've got Nitneod, you're stuck with it I think

@Jaded_Drybones No worries, I can definitely understand how text from another anonymous, online person can be interpreted in many ways. I've sure had my own fair share of experiences and mishaps like that...

@jaded_drybones you're crazy if you ever think switch will get games like doom, mass effect or gtav, let alone be powerful enough to run those games.

@Firebird360 Well, that's what I have my 3rd party machine for! ;D And yes I'm crazy!

I just want to check something with knowledgeable people at Nintendo Life.

Would this SanDisk 200GB MicroSD Card be exactly the same as the one that is in the main article? http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4998761

I got that same Sandisk 200Gb SD card and it arrived over the weekend. At first it did not show up on my laptop card reader, until I used SD Foundation Formatter to reformat it as ExFAT and it displayed 183 binary Gigabyte reported by Windows. That's technically 128+64=192 Gb minus some space for formatting and housekeeping. Seems they ran out of room on the MicroSD which may be why the 256Gb cards cost more than twice as much for 33% more storage. Cost me $69.99 USD plus tax and free shipping (dang Amazon charges sales tax in Louisiana now...).

got one finally!! and im super hyped for the switch!!!!!

@Samuel-Flutter you can, in fact, use that card on your 3DS. I have a 128GB in mine. It just requires that you plug the card into your computer and reformat it to FAT32. The 3DS can't understand the formatting that comes on the card (exFAT I think).

@Alundra-1998 Those do appear to be the same cards. I'm probably either going for the SanDisk 200GB card or the Lexar 200GB from Amazon. I will be ordering soon so when the Switch arrives I'll only need to take care of getting a case and the system.

Thanks guys, this is pretty damn useful. Going to hold fire on getting a card for now, as I'm getting the physical versions of Zelda and 1-2-Switch, but I'm sure I'll need one eventually!

I'm going super-dooper frugal here.

• I plan on buying as many games physical as possible. for trade-credit later.
• So I only need a 64 gb Micro sd (only $15 as of this writing!!!)

HYPE!!!

Thanks for this, handy and will definately be using this

To the staff of NIntendoLife,

Might I suggest expanding your article perhaps at the least adding this link here? http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-microsd-card/

This somewhat confirms your choice of card with the Samsung EVO+ brand. A year ago (which still other than the now just out 256GB card) this came out and it's on the nose. They bench tested all those cards in like 4 differing ways that read/write are done. Ultimately in the end for the price and performance the Samsung EVO+ model of cards (64 in particular but the 128 is all the same as is the 32GB) have the fastest reading and writing capabilities. This is KEY for someone who intends to be a big downloader for their main games or just for eshop and virtual console. If you're not set on the Evo+ the EVO performs almost as well and are cheaper yet.

If someone is just brand loyal though the Sandisk Ultra and UltraPro are solid choices too. But the runner up went to that very Lexar 633x card you put into your story.

Mostly found online there's a superior yet card but the price tag is a nightmare in comparison from Patriot and Kingston but they're so very not worth it.

@Spoony_Tech But then people would complain either they didn't need it, or that it wasn't enough for a digital-only. This way there is enough on the system for the system, and those wanting to go purely digital can for a relatively inexpensive amount (while the 256 GB card is spendy, the price falls fairly quick as you go down to 126 or 64 GB capacities. Zelda IIRC is only 13-14 GB downloaded.)

Mario Kart 8, including DLC had a 7GB file size. Super Smash Wii U was 15.9 GB, I do not know if that includes DLC. Personally, 32GB sotrage was low in the Wii U. I bought all my games in disk format. Only downloaded the following indie games Shovel Knight, Steam World Dig, Runbow. DLC of Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Super Smash Bros U and any other major Nintendo game that may have release DLC. Main games, Wind Waker and Fatal Frame. Had to delete some games to be able to play Fatal Frame. So I guess, that as long as you buy your games in physical format, you will be alright for quite some time. Wait and see if updates and DLC consume your storage like in PS4. THEN buy a card. 40GB would have been perfect for my Wii U.

Im not hording around these little carts, ill get a 128g and if i need another down the line then so be it. These games are pretty small from Nintendo as always. Third Party Games i may just start buying down the line if they are too big. My library always is about 10 retail games and 10 Virtual Console / Indie Games. We'll see this time around ~

@GamerXiphos how do you know if it supports UBS-2 cards??? That's the one I'm gonna buy but I can't find any info that it's supported

@Mikess1 It's not USB-2 It's UHS-II and it just means how quickly the card can be written to and read from. And if the Switch can support up to 2Tb MicroSDXC cards, which aren't out yet, I'm sure it'll support UHS-II cards

@GamerXiphos I hope but I'm pretty sure they would have mentioned it. It doesn't just mean that it's faster there's actually more pins that are needed. I own a Fujifilm x-pro 2 with 2 card slots and only 1 slot excepts the much faster uhs-2. This would be a huge selling point for Nintendo wouldn't it? Going from 95mb to almost 300!

I just want a SD card for Virtual Console games.

@Spoony_Tech Yeah exactly! I'd sooner they do affiliate link stuff in order to keep this site alive then make us start paying a subscription fee for membership! The affiliate links don't hurt me in any way, and the stuff I would have bought anyway for my Nintendo switch don't actually cost me any more than they would if I had not gone through their link. So it's a win/win in my opinion!

I ended up going with a Kingston 64 GB (4K2K, 90 MB/s R, 80 MB/s W) Micro SDXC card for $45.00 (Canadian). Since I'll be mostly buying the physical copies, this should last me quite a while. I found it was the best bang for the buck as far as size and read/write speed.

Toshiba Exceria is very good, fair price

there are loads of cheap 256GB sd cards available on EBay.. will they work with the switch?

@mikefoster I would not recommend buying a cheap 256GB card from an unknown source. They are mostly fakes which only have say 16GB of memory but fool a PC into thinking they have 256GB. Actually they just overwrite existing data if you try to copy more than the 16GB (or whatever it actually is) onto them.

@BionicDodo thanks for the heads up

@Spoony_Tech Right now, 128GB is as far as you can go with prices scaling linearly. 200GB is a higher cost-per-gig, but is still reasonable, and by 256GB (the largest microSD currently available) the cost per gig has just gone out the window. My advice? Don't buy any storage for your Switch unless you actually need it, wait until you fill the onboard.

@TossedLlama Most Switch games are not available on physical media, and this is unlikely to change in the future due to the relatively high cost of manufacture. You're not going to see many games get physical releases unless they're pretty close to full-price titles, which means the majority of titles are going to be eShop-only. Which means storage requirements.

I ordered the 200 gb sandisk for ~$62 (actually ordered before the switch came out but i didnt get it until several days later). not much use to me so far since i have BotW physical and the only digital games i have on it are snipperclips and the spla2n demo. pretty good bargain but i was shocked how much (183 gb) was actually available

I am going to be picking up the Samsung Exo+ 256GB, between that and buying carts whenever possible I don't anticipate running out of space

I just went with a cheap 128GB Sandisk. Just make sure it's 80mb/s read speed and bought from amazon or from a local store, not 3rd party and not from ebay at all.

Kingston and Samsung are ok too I guess.

Just make sure:
It's from an official store. Don't buy from a 3rd party seller (ebay and Amazon). Buy directly Amazon if you shop there. Makes sure you don't get a bootleg weaker card.

Make sure it's at least 80mb/s read speed. That seems to be good and make use of the card slot's speed. too much more than 80mb/s, like 90+ is waste as the Switch can't make use of that extra speed. 80MB/s seems to be roughly the most it can handle before you get no more speed boosts from the even faster cards.

For space on the card, I think 64GB or 128GB is the way to go. If you use game carts and only have the SD card for game saves, screen shots and DLC, then 64GB will suit you fine. Byt if you like digital versions of games and the future VC then 128GB will be great for you. For the price I don't think 200GB is worth it. It's too pricey for what you get and 128GB should suit most Switch owners.

Finally choose the card you want the the best price you can find it, (but from an official source, not 3rd party as discussed above). Don't let any website sway you into buying any overpriced card or a card of a brand you don't like. Also don't buy the Hori branded SD cards simply because they are very over priced for what they are and I'm not sure they have a 128GB option yet.

@PlywoodStick The official report from Nintendo is that the Switch only supports UHS class 1 cards. Unless they don't understand how to word it that means that it doesn't even support class U3 speed UHS-1 cards at maximum speeds, let alone UHS-2 spec cards. Load speed tests on BoTW show no benefit to a U3 card so unless you're getting the UHS-2(or even U3 UHS-1 cards) for lower prices than a U1 card then there's no reason to spend the money.

@GamerXiphos @Mikess1 Nope, doesn't even support UHS-1 U3, only U1.

Is the main reason for not being able to put a whole game cartridge to a SD card because people would just share all there games for free? There is ways to stop it. Once it's downloaded that game on SD card can only be played on you switch. It's basically linked to it. So then you can't just take your SD card and play a game on another switch. They could also have something built in where it can only be downloaded 1x and if something goes wrong you contact ninetendo with proof of purchase. (Once online is up and going). Also 1x per month you have to put in the physical cartiage to keep playing. YES I KNOW I could just download a digital copy but I like to also have the physical copy in case I were to trade it in. They already do this with digital games now but you have to deactivate your old system.

I have an issue with these 'deal articles', because they offer only local deals, while the internet is a global thing.
On a site that's evidently being read around the world, listing local deals feels like a heavily outdated concept.
On the other hand, @NintendoLife probably can't list the deals for all the countries in the world, so what's the point of only listing the deals for two countries (out of 195!)?

Aside from that, shouldn't the title just read "Deals: The Best Micro SD Cards"? Because there's no such thing as a 'Nintendo Switch Micro SD Card'. They're just regular Micro SD(HC/XC) cards. And btw, before anyone counters with 'but this is a Nintendo-related site': the 3DS also uses microSD cards. So aren't these 'Nintendo Switch microSD cards' not supposed to be used with the 3DS or what?

Unless you plan on downloading a lot of 3rd party retail games, a 128 GB card is plenty.

And give it a year and that 400GB card will be half it's current price. 3 years from now it'll be a third and there will be an 800GB card.

I’ve been leaving sd cards until absolutely needed, as I rarely download games. The guide will come in handy when I do.

This site is becoming like a shopping channel.

I've got the 200gb one and like it. I'm eyeing the 400 one but have to admit it's too expensive now. I'm good for another year or so, and then I'll buy it around the time when I need it as the price will have dropped by then.

Buy physical whenever possible but ran out of internal space anyway. So I bought another 32 GB SD card.

I'll probably end up getting a 128 GB Sd card when needed. I still have space left on the system after 2 months of use, although I haven't downloaded retail games, and don't plan to in the future.

@Azooooz
Me too.
But I like White better.

Me will choose Sandisk Micro SD 128 GB.

@Franklin Whatever it takes to pay the bills I guess

Don't buy an SD card until you really need one, they will only get cheaper. Likewise don't buy one larger than you need, you can always get another later.

What about those "official micro sd cards"?

@ReshiramZekrom

What bills? They did fine before. Do they have shareholders to placate now?

@Spoony_Tech The cost would get passed onto the consumer regardless. More internal storage (especially for a portable) would require a larger SSD. Those are pretty expensive, especially at the higher storage limits.

By opting for a smaller size, it doesn't force people that wouldn't go for DL versions of games to pay the cost for it. Judging by the sales of the NPD for example (which doesn't track digital) there are still A LOT of people that buy physical. It wouldn't be fair to force them to pay for the extra storage they wouldn't use in the first place.

EDIT: After all, Nintendo doesn't sell at a loss unless they have absolutely no choice (ie moving shipments faster).

Gosh. I remember buying a 512MB xD memory card for my camera for $75 back in 2005 and now you get can x400 that amount for the same price (different format, mind you).

I have seven physical games with updates and save data and six downloads and I've still got plenty of memory left. I can see how a few big game downloads could suck up your memory very quickly, but it seems unfair to say that additional memory is essential.

@Spoony_Tech I told people at beginning. It's stupid from Nintendo giving the people only 32gb memory while they could've easily given people like MS and Sony did 500gb of HDD. Nintendo is smart pushing people to get the SD card eventually anyway. I'm sure Ninendo has some deal with them. We don't know behind closed doors. But one thing is for sure... Nintendo is a very expensive hardware! You have to get for everything something... you get really the basic system for that price...

I may upgrade to a 200GB micro SD soon. Been using the 128gb one since launch and still have 60GB left on it. However I need a new micro SD for the new phone I'm planning on getting, so might as well get a 200GB for Switch, since I'll need it eventually and move my current 128gb to the phone lol.

Nice list but that price jump for marginally more between the 256 and 400 is kind of a joke, but that's how it goes with the newest/biggest.

I had a spare 64GB Lexar lying around and stuffed it into the Switch a few weeks back. I'm nothing near even eating into the 32GB since I buy my games not rent them so I question if I'll ever use it up. I know I'll end up getting many of those Nintendo/Hamster ACA games but they're not massive.

If you live in the USA you can get micro SD cards at a fraction of these prices from MicroCenter (especially if you have a store in your area that you can physically pick them up at) but they do online orders too, and of course amazon has many third party sellers that have great deals as well. I personally prefer the MicroCenter house brand of media storage because over the last 25 years i have been using them in various formats, they have had a 100% success rate in safely storing my media. I cannot say the same for name brands, including SanDisk which has failed me repeatedly.

Question, do we even know if the Switch has a "300 software downloaded at a time" limit like the Wii U and 3DS? Despite the many releases I dunno if the Switch has reached 300 games yet, let alone anyone that's brought that many, but just in-case anyone's found out another way....

I'd personally avoid Samsung cards with Nintendo products. My 128GB EVO micro SD failed almost immediately. Data was corrupted and the Switch. I put it in my go-pro while on vacation and had zero issue. I formatted it and put it back in my Switch and the issue returned. I called Samsung and they sent a replacement but told me they had issues like this with the New 3DS and Switch fairly regularly. The new card has the exact same issue but it doesn't happen as often.

When i preordered my Samsung Galaxy 8 i went for the Gear VR option with the extra 256 GB Micro SD Card.

It's cheaper to buy the games from BestBuy with the unlocked membership than buy digital and a memory card.

I ran out of room with Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2 and Mario+Rabbids on the internal already.

I wouldn't buy from any of these links - take a little time and poke around on craigslist/ebay or approx for people selling new cards in the packaging. Just got a brand new in package Samsung EVO Plus 256GB SDXC (class 10) for 80 bucks last week - also brick n mortar stores have crazy deals - guessing black friday would be great. All the links NL listed are pretty much at full cost.

400gb micro sd card? this is new to me! but seriously i don't really need that much space because i will be buying all physical and i have plenty of micro sd cards lying around which includes a 128gb one so i'm good really.

@NESguy94 really? that is the micro sd card i was going to use too :S maybe i should use the sandisk 64gb i have instead.

@Curlynob when you play a switch game for the first time does it install anything to the internal memory or is it all loaded from the card? i know patches will take a bite of the storage space aswell.

@the8thark My thoughts exactly. I love NL but I'm tires of these unmarked ad articles.

You can buy any microSD, not just these. So go buy them where they are the cheapest.

@Spoony_Tech There are cheaper 256GB card options out there. I've seen them for $100 at Walmart before, and my Galaxy S7 actually came with one for free when I bought it about a year or so ago.

@tanookisuit Yeah, the 400GB micro sd card literally was released to the public just this last month. Prior to September 2017, 256GB micro SD cards were as big as they got. As such, it is understandable why the 400GB cards cost so much after only just dropping into the market. Thing is, micro SD cards decrease in price fairly quickly as time goes on. This time next year, that 400GB card will probably cost around $175 or so, and there may be a 512GB option by then too.

Has anybody upgraded their cards yet? Is there some special process for moving stuff or do you just have to download everything again?

@huyi Switch doesn't install anything from the game card to your internal memory. Games just runs straight from the card. Patches and game saves will use up your internal memory, but not at an alarming rate. The only exception to this seems to be a couple of large upcoming third party games where they've avoided the costs of using a larger capacity game card by forcing you to download parts of the game. I have physical games like Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 DX, ARMS, Splatoon 2, Pokken Tournament DX and Super Bomberman R and downloads like Minecraft, FAST RMX and Overcooked with no additional memory (and I'm not running out either).

@Alucard83 PS4 and XB1 are static gaming systems. Have you seen the physical size of a 500GB 2.5-inch SATA HDD? Where would that fit in the Switch? I'm not sure it would be a good idea to put a fragile rotating disk HDD in a portable system even if there was room. Secondly PS4 and XB1 both install games on the hard drive before you can play them, they need that HDD to function. Switch does not, physical games play straight from the Game Cart. I have maybe 15 physical games for my PS4 and I have to uninstall and reinstall games all the time.

@duffmmann yeah it's crazy that we have 400GB micro sd cards now in that tiny little thing, i still have a 160GB external hard drive i brought more than a decade ago, i can't wait to see 1TB micro sd cards that will be mindblown.

i brought a 256GB micro sd card for my s8 plus but i will be eyeing up that 400GB micro sd card when it goes down in price that is for sure

@Curlynob that is good to know about the game data but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of extra space anyway i have plenty of micro sd cards that can be put to good use.

Good luck byuing a SanDisk card that is not pirated lol. I will keep my games physical and evade games like NBA 2k18 and obligatory downloads.

@Spoony_Tech do remember that it's Samsung branded and it's a class 10 card, you can get unbranded SD cards that are 256 for considerably less, though they are not the same class but it's still cheaper. you get what you pay for.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE They would pass the expense to us regardless. They always sell their consoles with profit in mind. Anything substantial in storage size would increase the cost of the portable. This would, in turn, increase the price of the console overall. Seeing as not everyone buys digital in the first place it wouldn't make much sense to raise prices across the board.

The problem in this case, is that many developers, other than Nintendo (and few other exceptions), opted for the lowest storage capacity cartridges and forced everything else through a download (and still charged a full $10 more for their games in many cases). That's not to say that Nintendo isn't partially at fault here (since this seems like a foreseeable problem), however a lot of devs also seem to be keen to nickel and dime us.

@Alucard83
It was actually far from stupid that Nintendo didn't go with hard disk drives for a portable system......HDD's are not compatible with playing on the go!

@ThanosReXXX The Blu-ray Disc is a closed medium as well, and Sony and Microsoft don't do anything to prevent huge patches, and I don't think they should. Developers should have freedom to do anything they want with their games.

I got a 128 GB card recently, and that'll be more than enough for me, as I can just delete bigger games I'm done with once it starts filling up. There's no reason to horde digital games you're done playing.

I got a Sandisk 256GB and it's great. Got one for my younger brother's Switch, as well.

@NinNin Well, disc-based media has had a much longer history with this kind of behavior, and now that the Xbox One and PS4 are nothing more than custom PC's in a console shaped box, it isn't all that alien of a concept, but were it concerns cartridges, having extra downloads/patches has only been evident since the last generation, and only in handhelds.

And flash modules/cartridges are by design more easily adaptable, a disc, once burnt, is closed, and a cartridge will only be closed literally once the person programming it, decides to close it by means of a piece of software or middleware.

With discs, you can only do this with re-writable media, which is of course never used in consoles. And even if it is, then it will only be used by developers, for testing purposes.

And as I have already mentioned in many different comments sections, having cartridges with incomplete software completely and utterly defeats the purpose and advantage of the medium in itself: cartridges should be complete, plug & play products, without all of these usual shenanigans.

The reason that Nintendo went with cartridges besides the obvious size advantage and robustness of the medium for travel (something that disc-based would be highly inferior to), is because the medium is established and has proven itself, as a completed, self-contained product.

That fact is not in any way diminished or disturbed by current game sizes or zero-day patches/updates that developers are all too willing to ram down our throats nowadays.

Third parties are apparently all choosing the cheapest cartridge, the 8GB one, a size that was already available for the 3DS, albeit in a different form factor.

I don't just blame the third parties, I also blame Nintendo, because both of them should have made better agreements and/or compromises to see to it that we, the customer, would have access to a better product, as in: bigger capacity cartridges, that contain complete products (or at least more complete than they are now).

I don't know if the myth of those high cartridge prices is true, I personally don't believe it, but even if it would be true, then both parties should still make it work: Nintendo should be willing to make them more available at a lower price, and win those moderate losses back through end product sales, which would in my opinion be higher if the games would come with less or no additional downloads, and the developers should be willing to use those larger capacity cartridges, or should demand it from Nintendo, instead of both parties now putting the burden on the shoulders of the gamers, who are continuously forced to buy more or bigger SD cards, making the games even more expensive.

And of course you also have to add an external hard drive to your other consoles at some point, but those prices don't even begin to compare, so Switch owners are definitely at a big disadvantage here.

And that's a problem that is both completely unnecessary and quite easily solved...

@ThanosReXXX If I'm a developer, I won't like to be forbidden by a platform owner from doing things that other platform owners allow me to do. It's not that I agree with releasing huge patches, but to actually solve this problem, Sony, Microsoft, and Steam must have the same rule. If only Nintendo did that, many games would release late on the Switch, which would result in less revenues and profits for the developers. It would be like chasing them away.

As for the costs of the game cards, they will definitely reduce in time. The situation should be better in a few years. In my opinion, the storage issue is somewhat overblown. If you only buy physical copies and indie games, a 64 GB microSD card should be enough for a long time, and you can buy one for less than $15. Yes, it would be nice if you didn't have to buy it, but it's not expensive at all. If you only buy digital copies, the game cards are irrelevant.

I bought the Kingston 128Gb one in the photo
Best purchase i have done
it Costed me nearly 90 euro here but is worth it.
Have now installed the MicroSd card today and ready for lot of fun

@NinNin Good to have that perspective of you being a developer, makes your point of view a little bit clearer, but to elaborate on it: I don't mean that developers should be forbidden to do things or told what to do (we'll leave that to the bigger publishers like EA) but more like both parties investing time AND some money in a better compromise, meet each other halfway, so to speak.

It is said that 32GB cartridges actually are available, but apparently, no developer is going for them, so either Nintendo is asking too high a price for them (which I think is debatable, for several reasons) or there are some other restrictions/demands that Nintendo has when letting third party developers use that larger capacity card, I don't know.

My point of view is mainly from my own area of expertise, which as you may possibly know, is sales & marketing (since I've mentioned it quite a few times on this site) and in my professional opinion, taking a tiny loss on the cartridges will in the end result in far more sales, because people will definitely be positive about having a more complete product, instead of having to download half a game or even more, resulting in more expenses for all the SD cards we have to keep buying as long as we want to keep playing on the Switch, that's really ridiculous, if you stop to think about it objectively.

Now, let's say that they (Nintendo) would be willing to take that loss on their higher capacity cartridges, then it will give developers more REAL options, instead of one that is actually not a real option (for whatever reason) which, on the customer end, WILL result in more sales, and more sales will make sure that the initial loss of getting the product out with a smaller profit margin, will be resolved.

So, in the end, it seems to me that this would be good for all parties. And after all: the customer is king, so more should be done to keep them satisfied (and keep them buying your products). A happy customer will tell 3 to 5 others, but an unhappy customer will tell at least 10 people, and nowadays even the world, especially with social media and so on.

@NinNin

P.S.

I see I kinda misread that bit about you being a developer: I missed the IF part...

But even theoretically, you do have a point, so I decided to not change the text.

@TossedLlama
we have some strange hybrid physical situation currently, so personally i have gone from a 64 GB mSD to a 128 GB one.
In an ideal world if you were going all physical you would have been A ok. If you choose your games carefully you will be ok however.

We do have some Digital only games though so id say its worth picking up at least a 32 GB mSD as an absolute minimum. but 64 GB is the best priced in the UK at least, the US seems to have better prices.

I finally ordered a Switch today with Mario odyssey and Mario+rabbids, but I am not in the mood for a MicroSD yet. 2017 was a expensive year for me (even more so with my new order), and I don't plan to download stuff for a while. The MicroSD cards are expensive, and so are the downloads. Maybe next year, Mario odyssey will do for now (Mario+rabbids goes on the backburner).

Think I will stick with either a 32GB or a 64GB sd card since I don't intend to buy every sing game that gets released, by the way has anyone heard anything about Steep again?

@retro_player_22 did you ever fill those cards up?

I'm just going to recommend everyone to go for the name brand cards. Transfer speeds on the off brand ones can be a big problem, and it's pretty easy to get a card from China with a fake file system that purposely mis-states the size of the card. It'll act like it has the whole whatever size it says, but just overwrites your files as you go past the acrual storage size.

>Tfw using 32GB Micro SD Card and call it a day

(Mainly because I have been avoiding DLCs and Digital Titles... I'll see if I need to upgrade in the future, but so far, I hope not)

I've taken the plunge and gone all in for the 400gb card at todays amazon lightening deal

@ballistic90 Not yet, I downloaded mostly small apps and indie games so they didn't filled up too much. I have been planning to get another 3DS soon so I could hack that one and use it for playing homebrews on it too.

@retro_player_22 just be forewarned that it's not uncommon for those kinds of cards to falsify the data storage information to report a much higher capacity than it actually has.

@Farmboy74 Same just bought one myself. It's only about £30 more than a decent 256gb SD card and £60 discount. I've got about 70GB left on my current 128gb sd card. With Resident Evil Revelations 1&2 coming out next week, that's another 36gb gone, leaving 34gb. I'm looking to get Skyrim digitally as it's the same price as physical, that's 14.5gb. Leaving just under 20gb left.

Not long left for anyone interested:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074RNRM2B/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@Hyrule with some of the recent 3rd party releases not having the full game on the cartridge I have began to wonder what's the point buying physical.

I also noticed that @JaxonH had also been following SD card prices and had posted earlier in the week that amazon Spain had the 400gb card on sale for 175 euros and I nearly acted on that deal earlier today but for whatever reason I decided to hold off and check amazon UK.

Skyrim is my last physical purchase and I am now looking to all future games digitaly with Doom and Wolfenstien 2 being at the top of the list. To be honest the £30 difference between the 400gb and 256gb cards made the 400gb card a no brainier.

I am now going to donate my old 64gb card to my sons Switch which he is getting for Christmas.

@MsgBoardGamer "The problem isn't the lack of storage; the problems is that compared to other platforms, the Switch doesn't provide the same performance and graphical fidelity for the same Western AAA games. "

Erm... no. That isn't the problem at ALL, not even remotely. The problem is exactly what I described, only we don't know, and possibly will never know the real reasons behind the not using of 32GB cartridges (or greater).

And if those games would be the problems, then they wouldn't be as welcomed as they are, and they are also selling quite nicely, so that's sorely missing what's really going on there. And of course it's also true that a certain amount of people would buy the Xbox or Playstation versions if they also had one of these consoles, but other people actually like being able to take that same game with them on the Switch, and they are willing to accept having that game in a lower fidelity to get that advantage.

And I also never said that the internal storage was too low or a problem, that is what others seem to think. If games came on a cartridge as a complete product, then very little internal storage would be necessary, since it would then only be for patches, updates, and the odd DLC package.

And I did say "if you stop and think about it OBJECTIVELY". Filling in what you think other people might do or are doing, isn't objective, that's subjective.

I'm pretty damn sure that most people would be more happy with less mandatory downloads, and more complete products on their cartridges, and it's up to Nintendo and the third parties to make that possible and provide the customer with that. And like I said in my earlier comment, that would in the end benefit ALL parties, since it would also mean more sales, and less mandatory SD card upgrades/purchases for the customer, yet another positive side effect.

I just picked up a small card today during black Friday shopping. It's only a 32 GB but for me it will suit for now.

@emperor_ing I have a SandDisk 200 GB and im quite happy with it. And i mean, aside from price tags and the brand themselves, there really isent any big diffrences on the cards. I mean, they all work the same right?

@MsgBoardGamer How exactly is it niche? More and more gamers are buying a Switch, it truly seems to be Nintendo returning to form, and for a lot of these people, a Nintendo console is their ONLY platform, so getting the game on a "superior" system isn't even an option.

And you're WAY too hung up on the whole graphics thing. It's just one of the factors in the decision making process for Switch owners, but not the main one, so I'm suspecting that this is your personal sentiment, not a factually proven one.

Games like Fifa, NBA, WWE and whatever other sports games will come to the Switch (I suspect an American Football game to be in the works also) are highly popular, and once again: are only playable in portable mode on a Switch, so that is something not to be so easily dismissed, regardless of whether or not you can play a prettier looking version on the Xbox or Playstation (or PC).

A lot of people are highly enthusiastic about games like Doom and Skyrim being playable on the Switch (including professional media), which bodes well for Wolfenstein and whatever else Bethesda is planning, Rocket League is also doing pretty well and even early reactions to L.A. Noire (which is one of the few games that I actually DO consider niche) are also quite positive.

And then you make another glaring mistake:
"As a sales person, you should know that most companies are glad to make people pay for things at every opportunity if it helps to keep cash in the bank."

Yes, I do know, but that is only true in general. Here, the actual truth is different. Both Nintendo and the third party publishers/developers stand to gain absolutely nothing from gamers having to constantly buy extra storage.

Only Nintendo gets a teeny-tiny percentage of a profit margin on those Switch-specific Micro SD cards that Sandisk is bringing out, but that is so insignificant, that it might as well be neglected.

So, it won't do anything at all for their own sales, and the same goes for the third parties. Now, it is known for a fact, and can be found all over the net, that people are NOT happy about all these huge, mandatory downloads, so that's really becoming quite a thing, which can very easily end up in people not buying certain titles.

The solution I proposed earlier, of handing out these larger capacity cartridges, something that actually seems inevitable in the long run, depending on the life cycle of the Switch and the growth in game sizes, is a far better one, that will also generate FAR more profit in the end, for ALL parties invested in selling these profits.

And the customer is a much happier one as well, for getting a more complete product, and not having to continuously invest in larger SD cards, almost every time they buy another third party game, which in turn might even persuade quite a lot of them to start buying more third party games, finally eradicating the whole "not enough third party games on a Nintendo platform" problem...

@MsgBoardGamer No offense, but you either misread a lot, or just don't seem to/want to understand.

Where it concerns Sandisk's Nintendo Switch-specific Micro SD card line, the potential profit (if any) they can make on that only a small percentage of every card sold (as in 5 to 10), and they only come in two flavors capacity-wise, AND they are more expensive than Sandisk's regular Micro SD cards in the same sizes, so guess which ones will sell better? Talk about niche...

The potential loss of taking a tiny hit on releasing these higher capacity game cards to developers and the public (which will, for Nintendo only be a few dimes per card at purchase prices), will result in far greater profit margin than they could ever hope to reach from being a partner in custom-painted Micro SD cards that they aren't even selling themselves. Those "plenty of reasons that it would not" that you seem to think are true, are by FAR outnumbered by the reasons of why they actually SHOULD be taking that (actually quite calculated) risk.

Companies consider their profits in double digits, so a single figure profit (unless it's at least 9) is considered largely negligible. I've worked for plenty of large, Fortune 500 companies to know this for a fact.

And the facts you keep bringing up aren't really facts. Those comparisons are HIGHLY debatable and factually slanted. You can't compare them 1 to 1 because the market share of the Switch is much smaller.

One console has well over 65 million systems sold, and the other only a little more than 7 million, so even if the Switch sold the same game as the PS4 on a "1 game per console" ratio, then the profit would still always be much smaller than on the PS4, so that's an unfair and unrealistic comparison.

Seen in the right perspective and percentage-wise though, these games are doing VERY well on Switch, and as I already said, they are also very well received, both by gamers and professional gaming media, so that speaks volumes.

That the other parties show no interest in a Switch-like/portable product is completely beside the point and highly irrelevant to the discussion.

And again, the graphics BS, which is NOT "pretty clear" and NOT a major factor. If you want to keep believing that, that's fine by me, I rather stick to actual facts.

And that population of hundreds of millions IS online, so you're failing to grasp that one as well. And an important part of that equation is the professional gaming media, which actually has quite a bit of influence on what the modern day gamer says, does or buys.

You keep bringing up points that are either almost completely false, or at the very least partially flawed/slanted. You'd have to do far better than that to be able to convince me of anything.

Anyways, I have a sinking feeling were not really going to get anywhere with this discussion, so I'm not really too keen on continuing it when I have more important stuff to take care of.

So, thanks for the talk and have a nice weekend, but I'm out.

@antdickens I meant single, sorry, just saw I skipped a few letters

@TossedLlama yeah you should be fine for a while. I would hold off as long as possible since sd cards will only get cheaper.

200 gb FTW! There is no bloody way I'd pay $200 more for a 400 gb card.

@Spoony_Tech Not sure I agree. Carry cases tend to offer room for a lot of cartridges. I can carry more of them in mine than I expect to own. The only benefit of digital downloads that remains for me is not having to physically swap games. But this list of SD cards shows you a ballpark cost for that convenience. Not worth it for me.

This article is useless. There no difference but buy premium cards because I say so.

@emperor_ing probs fake. All mine (i have 4 in different devices ). Work perfectly and have had a few of them for a couple of years

@1UP_MARIO lol no it isn't

SD cards are so much cheaper in Japan.

@TossedLlama
You should be fine without an SD card if you are only buying retail.....unless you are buying an EA game which seem to need up to a couple of dozen gigs!
However, buying a 64 or 128 GB is pretty cheap, 10 seconds to put it in your Switch then theres no need to worry about memory problems.

i bit the bullet and bought the 400gb model after my 200gb ran out of space.

7 months and 15 games in and I'm getting by quite easily with my 64gb SD card. Own about 6 games on cartridge and the rest are digital. Should do me for a good while to come yet too.

I have a 128 which is fine for what I download.
I take my switch out in a protective case which can hold plenty of carts anyway so its not an issue for me.

I grabbed a 128GB card when it was on sale. That's enough for me: I'll just archive stuff I've finished when I start running out of space.

I was about to complain about how much cheaper the cards are in the US compared to the UK, but I think it's showing the wrong price in $ above? I.e. $29.99 for 128GB and $49.99 for 200GB - it's $41.99 & $68.99 when you click the links...

For 300 I’d just buy another switch.....200gb cards go on sale for 50. Then, instead of changing cards I would just switch Switches.

@Thermoclorn I'm all physical too (whenever possible), but these huge patches, including day-1 patches, are going to kill me. I have a 128GB card.

Not sure why anyone would ever need more than a 64 GB card. Until the Switch eshop goes down like 10 years from now you can just delete one game to make room for another if you're running out of space.

At some of these higher prices I could just buy a second Switch.

Buy the time a 2tb one becomes available, Ninty will have the new console out lol

The US prices are totally wrong. I was gonna buy one until I clicked on the link and saw how much they actually were. I can hold out a little bit longer.

I have a 64 GB SD card my Switch can "borrow" until I need to get a larger one, and I don't think I'll fill this one up fast since I purchase hard copies of games whenever possible (but economically beneficial, won't go for a hard copy that's on 100% markup from the digital). I'll probably fill up on screenshots before anything, which I can thankfully transfer to a computer or hard drive.

Even though I don't want to pay $70 for 200 GB or $230 (!) for 400 GB, I can say that SD card prices have gone way done in the last few years, and that's really good. Maybe by the time I really do need to purchase an SD card, they'll be a lot cheaper than they are now.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Too true, they also had the cheek to make us pay for the system and games too!

Not to sound like a troll or anti-nintendo guy or even a Sony fanboy...which I'm sure everyone is going to start complaining about...but isn't it kind of funny of how everyone was always complaining about how expensive the PSP and VITA memory cards were, and here we stand with the same kind of problem with the Switch? These are expensive, and when a virtual store comes into play, especially if Gamecube titles come onto it (just imagine some of the Gamecube games taking up 1-5GB) it's not going to take long to fill them, then you're stuck with paying almost the same price as the console to get a bigger one...especially with some indie games taking up 4GB.

Still never picked up one yet, planning on it for tax returns (since I'm down to 1.5GB left in the console itself), but these are expensive, and I really hope they do an update were you can add better or cheaper cards to it. Still can't get over the fact I paid $100 for an internal hard drive for PS3, another $100 for an 8TB External for PS4 and now something for Switch. Glad that with the 109 games downloaded on the Wii U, I still never had to buy the hard drive for that (considering the only place I could ever find it was Gamestop and it was $80 and hidden behind the counters). Hope nintendo creates a good one that's big enough and cheap enough in price.

Nintendo branded SD cards may very well be why we can't have external USB drives. http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/10/report-nintendo-switch-dock-doesnt-support-external-usb-drives/

Not amused.

The 200GB card that was 125 dollars about a year ago is down to 50 bucks. This 512GB card will be half its current price in a year, 18 months at the latest. Within 5 years we will have 1tb cards on the market, mark my words. and the 512gb cards will be 50-75 bucks.

@JLPick The difference is at least you can shop around for SD Cards whether it be make or price. With Sony, you had no choice but to buy their cards at their prices.

@Heavyarms55 I was about to say the same thing lol
It’s ridiculous when you can buy 3 cards totalling 600mb and it would still,cost less then half of what they want for this 512gb card!
It’s crazy if they think the majority would pay for that, hell its more then close to double the cost of the system. But it will drastically come down eventually because they won’t get as many buyers.
But tbf it probably costs them very little to make so it’s probably all profit for them regardless of halving the price.

@Deathwalka The initial high price is for development costs, once that is made back, the price drops because it becomes only manufacturing and materials.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Technically, you could use another companies memory cards in PSP and VITA (I own a Sandisc in each one). The fact is, is that people complain about another company, and when their favorite company does the same thing...it's alright. I'm not a fanboy of either company (actually love both), but it's just something that I notice on this site, is that nintendo never does any wrong. Not to start an argument, but I loved how everyone praised the Wii U, when the Switch came out, everyone started to disrespect the Wii U then. It's just amazing on how much complaining there is on this site, and I honestly hate reading the comments, but when I do, it's all the same thing. Anyways, no matter what, memory cards are expensive, and I really wish they took a different approach (I mean this in Sony and Nintendo's lands). It's just not going to take that long to fill them up and 512GB isn't that much if you get someone that downloads almost everything (I'm not in that category), but some indie games take up 2-5GB, and with constant updates to games...it can be gone really quickly. Found this out with the Vita and PSP, and even with the hard drives that go into the systems themselves. Sometimes I think this is companies ways of getting consumers to buy another system.

@the8thark
Whats the problem with NintendoLife getting a tiny amount of commission from Amazon sales?? It does not cost any of us anything, we still pay the same price, plus it helps keep NintendoLife going - a tiny price to pay for news/reviews/etc.

@Audiobrainiac
Amazon prices vary every day (or even by the hour), check regularly and you'll find they are more expensive on thursdays/fridays (for people who order for a weekend delivery). Often the cheapest days for items are Tues or Weds.

@FredTheCat good to know. I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.

Well, I took a chance over at Wish and bought a 256GB card and paid $15 including shipping. I know these come from China, but since we can't have save files on it anyways, I figured I would just redownload the game if the card dies. However, to this point, I have not had any problems.

I bought my Switch with a 256gb and filled it and now have a Sandisk 400gb and couldn't be more happier. It did cost me about 215$ but now I see it running around $189.99+10.45=200.44 so at the time I bought it I saved spent jut $15 smacker more but still saved.

@FredTheCat I did not know that! Thanks for the info!

I bought a 128 gb Sandisk mini sdxc card for a ouple of reasons. One, I learned from xp (mainly from owning a 3DS) that you cannot get every game you desire in physical form. Many of the indie games are digital only. Second, downloading demos, updates, and DLCs will fill up the card pretty fast. Finally, a few physical games require that you have a certain amount of memory to download rest of the game.

@rjejr @ThanosReXXX Carrying multiple SD cards is incredibly easy. I found a case that carries eight on eBay for five bucks that's the size of two credit cards. It fits easily into my Switch carrying case, something I assume everybody who uses the Switch portably has. It's literally the opposite of a problem.

@PanurgeJr Ehm... no offense, but you're dragging me back into a topic that I was in over a half year ago, and in which I had a completely useless discussion with a decidedly short-sighted character that has now deleted his account, apparently...

I didn't even know what the whole thing was about anymore, so I unfortunately had to re-browse through my old comments, having to relive the old useless discussion because I wanted to know what the hell you were responding to.

So again, no offense, but you're rather late to the party, to say the least, seeing as my last comment in this thread was from November 2017...

@ThanosReXXX Sorry. My fault for assuming an article NL posted on Sunday was only one day old.

It does explain a bit, however...

@PanurgeJr No worries man, like I said: no offense, but you certainly had me scratching my head in wonder for a couple of seconds there...

But ehm.... article? I think you mean forum post? The most popular ones feature on the right side of the page, but even that doesn't explain how you got here, because the last comment before yours, was from last May....

@ThanosReXXX No, it's an article right on the main page of the mobile site. NL clearly reposted an old guide; I wonder if the links to online vendors were left un-updated as well.

@PanurgeJr Ah, okay. Sounds to me like the mobile site isn't entirely up to speed, then. But in all honesty, I wouldn't be able to tell, since I very rarely visit the site on my smart phone, so I'll have to take your word for it.

I usually just archive the games I beat, but my SD card and hard drive are near maximum, and as this has happened, a couple of the games I haven't played in a while display a little cloud icon when I hover over them ... is the Switch auto-storing these games in the cloud?

Considering I just filled my launch day 128gb this article is right on time.

@SolarJetman IIRC, the little cloud means you need to redownload the game, but your save data should still be intact.

I got a 128 GB PNY microSD card last fall, and haven't had to use much of it yet because I buy games physically. It will get more use once I get more DLC and digital games. I think anything more than 256 GB is really excessive unless you are getting at least one full retail game digitally almost every month.

@Azooooz I like those too

Just wait for micro SD sales on Amazon. Happen very often. 200GB SanDisk cards can be had for as low as $44. I’ve seen the 400GB card as low as $129. If it’s now on sale, wait. No reason to overpay for storage.

"Brands also offer "premium" versions of their products, for example is the SanDisk "Ultra" range which are typically their fastest cards.

We'd recommend going for one of the premium offerings if you can, but it shouldn't make a huge difference for the average user."

Poor advice. Digital Foundry found that using these 'premium' cards with the Switch offers no performance benefit, so people would be better off buying a larger capacity card than a 'faster' one.

...if your budget will only stretch so far, don't waste your hard earned yen on a 'premium' card if you only intend to use it with the Switch - buy a standard card instead with as big a capacity as you can afford.

Do the SD cards have to be formatted to work with the Switch?

do other places sell the cards or are they exclusive to amazon?

After a year since owning my Switch my Samsung evo 256gb micro sd memory card is about 1/3rd of the way full (buy games physical) so hopefully it lasts me another year or two at least. I'm sure by the end of the Switches life cycle I'll have a few 1tb micro sd cards for them, especially if gamecube, n64, dreamcast, Saturn games ect are available in the eshop by then.

Them prices are still a bit steep for my tastes. I'm holding out ok still with my 128GB, but at this rate, I'll be upgrading next year.

I’ll probably pick up a 128GB at some point but I don’t need it yet,

@rjejr Game data is stored to SD card
Hardware patches, save data, and in-game photos/vids can be saved to internal drive

@Koudai1979 yes I'm fairly certain once you input a new SD card it asks to format it if you want to use it for the Switch.

Btw I picked up a 256gb and only have about 40gb left. Resident Evil revelations 2 alone was about 22gb

@Bizzyb Thanks for the reply. That kinda sucks, but it's nothing new. I don't know how much that'll impact my wallet since I don't have a Switch, yet. I do have a Wii U, but I've only ever downloaded demos on it with the exception of Super Mario Bros, so I never needed an SD card for it.

@Koudai1979 Yea you will def need a sd card for Switch but sounds like you won't need the bigger sized (more expensive) ones.

Btw cool avatar...where is thst from??

@Bizzyb Alright. Thanks for the info.

My avatar is a gif I made from the first trailer for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

My 200gb card is big and still getting pretty full. About 35gb left on it. But I also have my Switch internal memory left untouched. If I can beat something like Resident Evil Revelations 2 soon, I can clear like 20+gb off there

I’m using a 128GB SanDisk micro SD card

Kinda wish it had 2 microSD card slots and kickstands. The only ones not only isn't that stable but with only one microSD card slot the space could easily get ramp up very quickly.

@Samuel-Flutter
64gb in new 3ds should work. I have one in mine working. I did have to reformat the card to fat32. by default it came formatted exfat.

edit: sorry just noticed several others already answered

It’s 2018 and the 1,5 year old switch still does not support folders or moving files from internal memory to external and back. I mean what the actual fudge Nintendo? My first Nokia symbian phone from early 2000 with like 50-60mb of internal memory, coupled with a 64mb memory card could do that. Straight. Out. Of. The. Box.

now normally, I advocate buying higher quality when it comes to electronic accessories for your computers and such, and though a lot of times "you get what you pay for", when it comes to micro sdxc cards, I have had great success with those $10-$15 256GB cards on ama-you know who, and such, I really prefer cart games, but some of the updates for the games I have, or those carts that offer multiple games like Bayonetta 1&2 or Resident Evil collection give you one but you have to download the others eat up storage REALLY quick and you'd be surprised how fast that 64GB card you just got goes bye, bye, the generic sdxc cards work great if formatted right by using the free San Disk formatter then formatting in the Switch, you'll be set great

that same 200gb sandisk literally stopped working for me after the last update for the switch. just some info to let you guys know

i had a 64 then a 128 now 200, will see how i go i guess.

was going to go all physical and hold out. Digital only games and hybrid physical mess has stitched me up a bit however.

Now moved to 400GB was on offer for £50 on Amazon for a Sandisk card about 366 GB usable, files transferring as we speak..

I now have a 128gb micro-sd from Samsung. However, it only contains 119gb. And a game like Hollow knight is 5,2gb, yet it eats 6 gb. I paid 33 Euro, so that isn't that bad. However, I am not that fond of the memory I am losing. I probably should just have gotten a official Sandisk-one, but those are more expensive (I live in Holland, so Amazon isn't a option here).

When I see the difference in price between the US and Europe I'm completely disgusted.

@Henmii formatting the file system on the card eats some space, thats where the space has gone

@ICISAZEL,

You probably are right, it also says on the package now that I look at it. I expected a bit less giga bites lost though, but there's still quite some memory on it.

@Henmii The bigger the card the more is eaten, its a relational size

I have had no luck with san disk. The two I’ve bought have failed. I have had no problems with toshiba sd cards. A bit more expensive but they work.

@ICISAZEL,

I probably never will buy a bigger micro sd card then

@sandman89,

Another person on this site also mentioned that his sandisk card stopped working. And I thought sandisk was the best, they are the "proper" ones, right? Hmm, I am happy that I didn't buy a sandisk. I will avoid them from now on. This site maybe should investigate before promoting these cards!

@Henmii definitely I wouldn’t recommend them

@sandman89 , @Henmii

i have Various Sandisk SD cards, touch-wood, not had a failure yet.
Which vendor are you buying from please ?

@ICISAZEL,

My micro sd card is a Samsung one. I think I have a couple of "regular" Sandisk sd cards though, no problems so far (thank goodness).

@ICISAZEL amazon

@sandman89, @Henmii

The only card I have had for on me so far has been a Samsung 128GB. but that may have been overuse.
Was running hyper vms from it to see how it coped.

@ICISAZEL,

My Samsung micro sd is also 128gb. But I don't understand the rest of your story.

@Henmii I belive I burned it out from overusage

@ICISAZEL,

Might have been a very taxing piece of software, I don't know. I played Hollow knight more then 4 hours straight. My Switch got hot, but wasn't scorching. The framerate looked like it became a bit unstable. Maybe I was seeing things. I put my Switch down and played again after 15 or so minutes. Everything was fine again.

you're suggesting we spend more money on memory space than the console itself? And expect most people to be able to afford a $350 memory card. Lmaoooooo ya'll wild
Please don't go broke buying an unnecessary amount of storage space unless you absolutely need it

Considering all the huge patches you have to download from devs who can't be arsed to not release buggy, unusable beta versions of their games on the physical cartridges, unfortunately even those of us who buy physical are forced to get massive internal storage.

Hmm not sure what memory card to get ;-;

Amazon Canada had that Sandisk Ultra Plus 400GB MicroSDXC card for $126 CDN, plus tax and included Prime Free One Day Shipping. So I ended up upgrading from my old 128GB card to that one. So glad I did. I filled up my 128GB card with screenshots and video captures and digital game downloads in less than a year. The 400GB card will give me a bit more of a future-proof option (plus I'll now regularly move over my screenshots and videos to my computer's external 1TB SSD). But honestly I wouldn't have bought the 400GB card without that huge savings Amazon had, since this same card retails for almost $400 CDN everywhere else.

@YiQian It really depends on what games you have digital vs physical and how many games you will have on your Switch. Some games like Battle for Atlas even with a physical card require large 13GB patches. I wouldn't recommend less than 128GB as they frequently sell for $20. I'm just upgrading from a (nearly full) 200GB to a 400GB Sandisk this week. I have a lot of games but most are physical carts. The few that take the most for me are around 20GB each (Bayonetta, Resident Evil Revelations 1 + 2, Battle for Atlas, and a few others).

400GB card is now $99, not $79 but it’s still a great deal for a massive card. Black Friday-Cuber Monday was def the time to buy. 128GB cards were down to $20. I have 200GB card in my Switch now with plenty of space left but grabbed a 400GB card for $79 because it was too hard to refuse.

I personally wouldn't go with no-name brands like Integral, stick to Sandisk or Kingston.

I got my Switch a 400gb Sandisk and its never been happier.

You should add a guide to transfer data from a SD card to another. I heard it's not as simple as on 3DS.

I don't know if it's how the games typically get compiled or what, but MOST of the time Sequential Read / Write is really all that matters.

However.... Some games rely HEAVILY on random read / write. Why this matters? The cheap SD Cards can easily run in the 0.3MB/s speed range for this type of loading. This is really bad.
The better ones run at 10mb/s with some insane ones running in the 25mb/s area.

This is like cheap SSD level of performance.

This is for loading large quantities of tiny files. For example Monster hunter with its huge library of items would often hitch and lag and load the graphics for armor with a delay when opening the inventory. Whereas the people who managed to get SSD hard drives working on their Wii U had no problems whatsoever.

I have a nice 128 Micro SD Card for my Switch so im good with storage for now

currently i have a 128 GB micro SD card and still have tons of space left and the 32 GB the Switch comes with has plenty of space as well

At £27.99 for the 200GB SD card in the UK, you'd be better off just buying 5 of those than going for the insanely priced 1TB SD card that costs £453.99. That thing costs nearly 4 times the price of just buying 5 separate 200GB SD cards!

Idk why this is but the 64GB is $14 but then it's £17. We want answers. #savebritishbankaccounts

Why is there a small piece of plastic cost more that the entire console!

@impurekind "you'd be better off just buying 5 of those than going for the insanely priced 1TB SD card that costs £453.99. That thing costs nearly 4 times the price of just buying 5 separate 200GB SD cards!"
That's the worst kinda planning I've seen. I rather have a 1tb of DLC then 5 200gb that I can loose nor forget where they went. I use large storage not small storage for portability and quicker loading.

I just upgraded from 128GB to 256GB in July and I still have 50-60GB free not including the internal storage being mostly free

@JokerP5 Never saw that coming? huh?

@kitsunetails8 joker puns are great. Im not sure if that was inintendoed tho

@Thermoclorn
I was like you but then it took a couple of games that were digital only that I wanted and it’s amazing how fast you will need a card eventually

I have a 512gb card, that I picked up on Amazon Prime Day earlier this year for $52. Down to about 25gb free remaining on it. Will need to look into the 1TB card soon. Just so expensive for those. Even for the 'cheapest' ones.

@Lawnachaun For fun, I'm curious what sale price you'd act on for 1TB on a hypothetical black friday? No judgment here. I could be in the same situation in a year. The 1TB is the only card bigger than 512, and solves the headache of needing to delete games(that can be redownloaded). Would you bite at $140? It's gonna hit that before it it's $100, I would think. I have to admit, I could sigh, close my eyes, say "dammit", and pull the trigger, rather than having to wait another 6 months to a year to see the next significant price drop.

@Woomy_NNYes Considering that most places that I see sell the 1TB card at $400 to $600, yeah, I would definitely "bite" at $140. I wouldn't hesitate at that price. There are some 512gb cards that cost more than $140. I see the 512gb cards in different places range from $60 to $200, and anywhere in between.

So yeah, $140 I would be cool with. Better than $400+. But I have no problem waiting for a sale, and/or for the price to naturally go down over time.

@Woosh193 A few years later.. you’re absolutely right! I have a 256 Gb micro SD now. There are so many incredible indies, Sayonara Wild Hearts being one of my favorites

I just bought the 200GB

If you live in the US, Microcenter undercuts even Sandisk's prices significantly on their in-house brand micro SD cards. For example, $12 USD for a 128 GB card instead of $20 for Sandisk. That's what I have in my Switch right now.

Just bought a 512GB card from Best Buy last week using the price match from Amazon for $94. I had been needing a bigger card for a while - I think I had maybe 2GB left on my 256GB card.

😱what I’ve just bought a 512gb card for £64 bargain that will last me ages.

Memory cards, no matter how good a deal in six months you will have paid too much. 128gb and some speedy internet is more than enough.

@NintendoLife on firefox, android, the Amazon links & card prices are of screen. I can zoom out to see the rest, but it's a bit messy. Just in case your weren't aware.

Bought a 512gb card for £65 on amazon yesterday, i've been in desperate need of a bigger card for a while now so happy to finally have one

Finally snagged the 1TB card. So all the cross marks on my home screen will go away.

$200 for 1TB? SOLD!!!

The best guide is not to buy a 1TB card when you can buy a 512GB one for peanuts.

425 comments on a micro sd card article !!!, I thought it was a Pokemon sword and shield story for a second there.

Tried looking into purchasing the 1t and it is not 200 but over 400 dollars. Today is in fact Black Friday and the updated article with the info about the 1tb came out less than 24 hours ago. Already a price increase on Black Friday? Seems unlikely. Is link correct from article?

@Orangeonyx When I saw the article there was only 5 minutes left for the $200 price. It shot back up to $450 just after I bought it.

@Trikeboy thanks. It was a blessing it shot back up for me personally. I have a 400gb card and a huge back log with. I internet issues so I decided I could certainly make room for whatever I wanted to get with all the great deals on eshop games this year by deleting some games I haven’t played in a while to make room. Will use that 200 I was considering spending on a huge micro sd card on the same games. I have some decisions to make before December 4 when most of the deals go away!

I’ve got to say, in doing so my anxiety kicked in with the though of Nintendo making the one very terrible call I’m worried it might. In the future when the next Nintendo console comes out, I am really hoping all the digital games I’ve purchased will be able to be played on the switch V 2 or whatever. I decided to take a chance and have gone all digital except for BOTW which has stayed in my cartridge spot since purchase. I even have purchased more games than I normally would on this Hope. Even the ones I could get on my iPhone which I know I’ll be able to play on future iPhones. If Nintendo screws this up and I can’t simply redownload purchased games on the next console eshop, I’ll never buy another game from them unless it’s a Nintendo exclusive. Love the switch but I super worried they will make that mistake and try and make me repurchase games I’ve already purchased from them for the new system.

Upgraded from a 128 to 400. Got it for $49.99 plus 15% credit with Amazon CC. So about $42.50 plus tax....

Switch don't benefit on read speed on expensive cards, so just buy standard Sandisk SD cards and similar.