Bigger 64GB Nintendo Switch Cartridges Delayed Until 2019 Michael Kwan December 27, 2017 News So, everything old is new again. Somehow, the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) are cool again thanks to their “classic” mini reincarnations. And now it feels like we’re living the Nintendo 64 dilemma all over again with the Nintendo Switch too. You see, those tiny Nintendo Switch cartridges aren’t really big enough and they’re not going to get any bigger for quite some time. As it stands right now, the maximum capacity for Nintendo Switch cartridges is 32 gigabytes. Considering that the carts are only about the size of a postage stamp, that doesn’t sound terribly unreasonable, but games are getting bigger all the time and the Switch needs to keep up. The original plan was to have 64 GB versions available later next year, but now there are reports that the bigger capacity won’t be available until 2019. The workaround is that developers can force gamers to download copious amounts upon initial installation, but that’s not exactly ideal. Just ask any number of Xbox One or PS4 owners who are saddled with these giant updates. The reason why I bring up the N64 reference, in case you’re not so familiar, is that the Nintendo 64 ran into a similar kind of capacity challenge as its cartridges couldn’t get anywhere near as much data on them as the discs being used on the Sony PlayStation (PS1). By going with a cartridge for the Switch, Nintendo painted itself into a very familiar corner. As it stands, you can load data onto a microSD card for the Switch, but that’s neither ideal nor does it come anywhere close to the amount of on-board storage you find on the Xbox One or the PS4. To put this into perspective, something like Batman Telltale Series rings in at 6.1 GB, whereas smaller titles like Morphite and Boost Beast only take up 893 MB and 293 MB, respectively. The good news is that Breath of the Wild only takes up less than half of the 32 gig maximum, but developers who want to pack more content are pushing up against the limit for Nintendo Switch cartridges already. Share This With The World!
