Nintendo switch cartridges or online code

[EasterIssland]

Which one do you prefer and why? I’m inclining for online so there is less waste around the house , easier not to loose etc.
if online does that mean I need a subscription?

thanks

Online, because then you can't loose them, and less clutter like you say. You don't need a subscription.

I think some people prefer the cartridges so you can re-sell them, so perhaps that's a factor.

One advantage of the cartridges is that you can play them offline - so if you go away, have no WiFi etc. You can download the online games but bear in mind each switch has a memory capacity which can fill quickly.
Tbh we prefer the cartridges for the bigger games.

Cartridges. They have a couple of advantages - you can lend them to other people, and you can trade them in/ sell them when you're done, so you can get some money back.

I would only really buy an online game if I know I'm going to keep it forever, so games like Zelda and Mario Kart for example.

We always buy digital, the advantage being it takes up no room and you can’t lose them. We bought extra memory for it.

I should investigate on this. We love flying so I don’t want to be putting up with “are we nearly there” on our 13h flight next year so they can play with it. Thanks

Thanks. The first one I wanna get is the kart and I’ve seen it cheaper somewhere hence why asking which one shall be worth getting

Google to the rescue
“Yes, once the game is on the Switch. You need internet to acquire the game in the first place, but once you have it installed, you can play it anywhere”

so I think we’d be covered in the flying scenario.

many thanks for the answers!

I like cartridges personally, they feel more real and I like the tangibility of it. I have a cartridge case which fits in my normal switch case, so carrying them all is not an issue.

Cartridges for the resale opportunities and you can play games offline.

So you can't play the non-cartridge games you've purchased without an internet connection?

thats what I understood but seems like google says you can play

You absolutely can play digitally purchased games with no internet connection as long as it’s downloaded to the device

your only issue in the flight scenario would be that you have offloaded a game due to a storage issue, as in, you still own it and can download it any time BUT it’s not currently installed. Then you wouldn’t be able to redownload with no WiFi.

as long as you make sure you have downloaded all the games you need for the offline period, it’s not an issue

Once you've downloaded the game you can play without internet. You can also buy a massive micro SD card for £10 which hugely increases the memory so no problem storing all your games ready to play whenever you feel.

Yes you can, as long as it's downloaded to the device.

The Switch doesn't have an enormous memory capacity though, so you can't have large numbers of games downloaded at the same time.

If you're going to buy a lot of games (and most people will over the time they have the console), you'd have to keep re-downloading the ones you want to play as they'll be stored in the cloud.

My digital/ downloaded games are Mario Kart and Zelda because I know I'll never want to sell them, and then a few small indie games from the Nintendo e-shop (some of which you can't get in cartridge form).

Anything else I'd buy on cartridge unless I saw a very good deal on the e-shop.

As pp said, the memory isn’t great (8gb?). Cartridges aren't ‘clutter’, they’re less than an inch square 😂

Cartridges for the resale value unless it's there is a really good deal on the eshop.

We regularly sell and buy games from CEX

As mentioned above, if you go digital I would also buy an SD card to increase the memory capacity. Otherwise you quickly find yourself deleting games to download others (you can download your deleted data again, but once you’re at memory capacity you have to start swapping games round to play).

Thanks! I’ve ended up buying the oled with Mario kart online code from Argos as the price was quite good. Will see for future games what to do

There's multiple switch users in our home and we prefer cartridges because it's easier to share between us without having to buy multiple copies.

We all each have our profiles on each others switches but if I bought a game on my account on my primary switch, all the other profiles can play my purchases but on the secondary switch only the person who bought it can play and an online connection is needed until the game loads . Digital copies can't be played on two switches at the same time but there's ways round this but it's a faff.

Neither of us want to share a profile because we want our own save files and stats etc and it's just more convenient to pop in a cartridge than do the work around if we're both wanting to play at same time.

When there was only one switch in the household most of the purchases were digital and I regret that now because Mario games tend to have a decent resell value and the ones I completed and won't play again I can't sell on.

We have a mix but I really like the cartridges as I like the idea of being able to live beyond DS's switch, by being sold or borrowed or passed on. He has a little case with spaces for them all which works well.