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New Nintendo Switch Owner: Physical or Digital?

Megatron

Member
I mostly go physical whenever possible, I simply like having a physical collection. But now there's a legit account system, so going digital is a better option than before.

Is this true? If you lose your switch can you easily get your games back? Or sell it and buy one later down the road? I don't think you can, so I'm not really sure what they improved.
 
It's the first console I'm trying to go mostly digital with. I'm tired of game boxes eating up space in my home, and the accessibility is nice. Zelda I have physical, but it'll probably not leave my cart slot for some time.

Now if only Nintendo would learn how to do proper sales.
 
Is this true? If you lose your switch can you easily get your games back? Or sell it and buy one later down the road? I don't think you can, so I'm not really sure what they improved.

To answer your questions: Yes and Yes.

By the way, if your loose your Switch and physical games, they are gone forever. Digital games you can simply transfer to another Switch because they are tied to the account.
 
Physical for big session games like Zelda and Xenoblade
digital for indies and animal crossing.

I love the look of the game cases and that the games are acual cards instead of discs.

possible stupid question: Now that 2TB SD cards are possibly coming next year, is there actually a physical limit how big they can get?
I mean those micro-SD cards are TINY, so is running out of space a possibility?
 
To answer your questions: Yes and Yes.

By the way, if your loose your Switch and physical games, they are gone forever. Digital games you can simply transfer to another Switch because they are tied to the account.

You're not wrong, but there are caveats. Again, this:

A warning to anyone going digital: Nintendo accounts are still hardware-bound on Switch. The difference is that you, the user, can "deactivate" a Switch, freeing up your account to be used on a different one, rather than having to rely on Nintendo customer service to do that for you. But be aware that in the event that your Switch is lost or irreparably damaged you'll have to rely on Nintendo customer support to deactivate it on their end, and if they're unable to do that for you for any reason everything tied to your account will be permanently lost.

Not to be a downer, but people should know about this stuff going in.
 

seady

Member
You're not wrong, but there are caveats. Again, this:



Not to be a downer, but people should know about this stuff going in.

I don't understand the part u said "and if they're unable to do that for you for any reason everything tied to your account will be permanently lost". I am sure Nintendo can help. They have amazing customer suppor, and I am sure they can control anything that has to do with your account.
 
Digital for smaller indie stuff that don't have a retail release, physical for big, tentpole games.

You also get the My Nintendo points with physical carts.
 
Digital. Go 100% future with the Switch. That's the magic of it. The storage is so cheap and the games are not that large, so you have all of your games everywhere you go.

You'll save money going physical, but carrying multiple cartridges around is restrictive and over.
 

Logash

Member
Digital for smaller indie stuff that don't have a retail release, physical for big, tentpole games.

You also get the My Nintendo points with physical carts.
You get them with digital purchases too. It's just automated. In fact, I think you actually get more from digital.
 
Physical for all the big games + importing Cave Story physical.

Digital is pretty tempting with the Switch however. I'll probs be picking up FIFA and Rabbids digital. Love being able to just boot up the game and given how portable the console is playing your library on the fly is just way too handy.
 

angelgs90

Member
Physical mostly. I only purchase digital games when there's no physical option.

Tends to be cheaper in most cases, and you can sell the game if you want.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i'm all digital across PS4/PC but on Switch I bought physical games. just as well since my Switch crapped out so i was able to sell my copy of Zelda.
 

boyshine

Member
I've sold all my Xbox One games + a lot of B/C 360-games and repurchased the ones I want digitally.

For Switch I decided to go digital from day one. I bought Bomberman physical because the publisher told me they only had 20,000 copies made for Europe, but I'm guessing there was a reprint, because they're everywhere now.

Besides collectors editions, I'm not buying another physical game - disc or cart, ever again.

And for Switch the answer is obvious, having your entire collection available without carrying dozens of cartridges is just practical. It's all about convenience for me, and having everything available without the fear of losing or misplacing, which always is a problem with handheld systems.

And the boxes just feel like big empty shells now, nothing to collect there. More shelf space for amiibos :p
 

-shadow-

Member
Depends on the game, Zelda and Splatoon 2 I got physical, but Puyo Puyo Tetris was digital without a doubt because having a smaller puzzle game makes more sense to me digitally. Moving forward I'll be looking at it on a game by game basis.
 

zigg

Member
Physical is almost cheaper if you use GCU or (at least while they still have the program) Amazon, you get sharing/sale rights, and doesn't require you to pay for storage expansions for your system.

Digital saves you from having to eject or insert a card sometimes.

That's how the calculus works from my end.
 
I used to be all physical for nintneo games because their account system was straight bs, but now, it's all digital. I regret not getting zelda via digital but it's my only physical game so i wont need to ever switch carts.

Dont ever want to have to switch carts.
 
I don't understand the part u said "and if they're unable to do that for you for any reason everything tied to your account will be permanently lost". I am sure Nintendo can help. They have amazing customer suppor, and I am sure they can control anything that has to do with your account.

In the short term, availability of Nintendo's customer support services may vary depending on the region you're in. In the long term, we're counting on those services to continue to be available, with no recourse if they aren't. If you have faith that they will continue to be available that's understandable, but users should know what they're signing up for.
 
Physical is almost cheaper if you use GCU or (at least while they still have the program) Amazon, you get sharing/sale rights, and doesn't require you to pay for storage expansions for your system.

Digital saves you from having to eject or insert a card sometimes.

That's how the calculus works from my end.
There's discounts for eshop cards if you know when and where to look, plus not having to pay tax. The main difference in price is being able to sell physical games back, and needing extra money for an SD card
 

Robiin

Member
It's the first console I'm trying to go mostly digital with. I'm tired of game boxes eating up space in my home, and the accessibility is nice. Zelda I have physical, but it'll probably not leave my cart slot for some time.

Now if only Nintendo would learn how to do proper sales.

This is me. Zelda physical, but everything else digital. Means I will always have Zelda available too because it won't leave the game slot.

I just purchased a 128GB MicroSD card. Will hopefully last me the lifetime of the system.
 

Rootbeer

Banned
my approach is pretty simple... 100% physical when possible, digital where it's not possible. I love the cartridges and it also gives me more flexibility in lending/trading/selling in the future.

I love flipping through a case of all my cartridges. Very satisfying.
 

Indelible

Member
Physical all the way, I have saved so much money trading old games toward Switch games. I will take the savings over the inconvenience of having to change carts.
 

Luigiv

Member
Got Zelda physical, just for the sake of owning a physical game but every other game I got digital. You can't beat the convenience of having all your games all the time.
 
You get them with digital purchases too. It's just automated. In fact, I think you actually get more from digital.

And digital.

You get WAY more My Nintendo points with digital. Like several times more.

You'll get several times more with digital downloads

Whaaaat. I never knew that. :O

What are my nintendo points?

The (so far) disappointing follow-up to ClubNintendo. :/
 
As an update, I ended up just buying Zelda and Mario kart 8 on the eShop, and the process was super smooth. Both games also downloaded within a few hours. So great having my games digitally and being able to roam around the house with the tablet when I want to.

I think I'll wait until black Friday time to get a large micro SD card. I only see myself getting Mario between now and then anyway.
 
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