Nintendo Switch Game Card (2017 - ) | Museum of Obsolete Media (original) (raw)
The Nintendo Switch is a video game console introduced in 2017.
Unlike other eighth-generation video game consoles such as the Microsoft XBox One and the Sony PlayStation 4, the Switch can be used a home video console connected to a TV set, or as a handheld game console. A handheld-only version, the Switch Lite, was introduced in 2019.
The Switch and Switch Lite can use either physical media in the form of Game Cards, or games can be downloaded from the Nintendo eShop. The Game Cards are flash-based but read-only, with game play data stored in the console. Some games require extra memory for game content to be installed in the console, and the Switch can use microSDXC cards to offer this.
The Game Cards offer capacities ranging from 1 GB to 32 GB, but because of their small size are coated in a chemical (denatonium benzoate) that makes them taste very bitter, to avoid accidental swallowing.
As the Switch does not have an optical drive, games from the Wii and Wii U cannot be played, nor can games from other consoles using ROM cards, such as the Nintendo DS or 3DS. Emulated versions of games from previous consoles are available on the Nintendo eShop.
The Switch range has been very successful and as of September 2020 had sold 68 million units.