Nintendo Switch: Game card or download?

[nocturnal YL]

More of a rant than anything else, though I'd appreciate it if someone can tell me to swing either way.

I'm rather torn between the choices, and I hate it when I have to pick between options when they don't offer obvious pros and cons.

With the Japanese release of Fire Emblem Warriors coming close, I'm finally going to buy a Nintendo Switch. And now I'm facing the problem of whether I should buy packaged games or download them.

The pros and cons should be pretty obvious, but I'm listing them here anyway to clarify what do I have in mind:

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Packaged games:

• Have a more "premium" feel, and game publishers seem to support this idea. See: Splatoon 2 or MHXX editionsof the Switch include physical copies; Nintendo sells the updated Snipperclips as a packaged game, reinforcing the "physical = bigger games" idea.


• Games with physical bonuses. Happens a lot with Japanese-styled games, so it's a big thing to me.


• Servers can go down, and Nintendo services are even less dependable. If I have physical copies, I'll at least have my vanilla, version 1.0 games if my microSDXC card corrupts after the eShop eventually closes (already happened to DSi, can happen to newer systems).


• Price. Sometimes I'd buy old games or games that aren't popular at a lower than usual price.

Download games:

• Everything will be in the same place: the microSDXC card. Game data, updates and DLC will all go together, and I won't get the weird feeling where it feels like I'm tearing games in halves when I eject my game card.


• They don't take physical form. No swapping cards, and I can jump from game to game with just the menu.


• The system menu really encourages downloading games. Ejecting a game card would remove the game's icon from the menu, but you can't use it to launch the game, either.


• Downloading games means retail games and eShop-only games (and free downloads) are treated the same way, instead of having some but not all "ghost" icons in the menu.


• Loading from the microSD card slot is faster than loading from a game card (Nintendo why), although this only results in a minor difference, unlike the optical disc-based Wii U.

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So basically, this is a battle between consistency (download) versus premium feel + sense of ownweship + price (packaged). And I don't want to mix them, which would only lead to even more inconsistency.

I've been trying to convince myself one way or the other for two weeks. I'm currently leaning towards physical, but consistency is a rather attractive motivation. I'm already feeling a bit uneasy with a third of both Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) and Fire Emblem Fates (JP Special Edition) not residing with the game media, but for most of the time (before I think about the Switch), I could forget about it.

Oh, and I'm comfortable with such data separation happening to the PS4. I'm still not sure, but if I do buy that, I'm dead set on buying physical. It's kind of hypocritical, but I don't know why. Maybe it's because Nintendo has a far worse data management and online service record.

[Nester the Lark]

I don't really have strong feelings toward physical vs. digital. I buy games both ways. I suppose I usually opt for physical when I have a choice, but it's not something I go out of my way for. (I wouldn't bother trying to order anything from Limited Run Games, for example.)

However, in regard to the Switch, there could be an argument for going digital if you plan on using the portability aspect of it a lot. That way, all your games would be in once place, and you wouldn't have to worry about carrying around (and possibly losing) game cards.