List of Nintendo Switch game cartridges which do and do not require downloads

[JEDGAR1000]

Originally Posted by neo_reloaded

Also, there's a broader issue with Switch games and patches, but I'm not sure if this is the list for it, or if a separate list should be made. Surely if there were a 'Game of the Year' re-release of a game with new cover art and a new UPC/SKU that included all the patches on cartridge, that would qualify for this list, yes? However, with some Switch games, they are silently being reprinted with the latest patches on the cartridge all the time!

I've only confirmed this with first-party Nintendo games - I've yet to see a single third-party game do this, but I haven't thoroughly investigated that so I could be wrong. But first-party Nintendo games seem to be updated very regularly. I have in my possession a Super Mario Odyssey cart with the latest 1.3 update (released in April 2019) already on the cartridge, a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild cart with the latest 1.6 update (also April 2019), and a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe cart with the latest 1.7.1 update (January 2019). I'm waiting on purchasing some other games to make sure that the flow of patches has stopped because I don't want to keep rebuying things. Smash Bros. definitely has more patches coming, for example.

The back of the actual Switch cartridges has a serial number that increments by 1 for each new revision. The cart revisions don't directly map to the game patch numbers; I think they just increment the cart revision number every time that sales have justified a new batch and there is a new latest version available at that point in time. This cart revision information and the correlated patch number could be maintained in a list if others were interested.

I would count that, is there any distinction in cover art between the re-releases, or just serial numbers? Also, if possible, could you provide an example of the serial numbers for the updated versions (or older ones to avoid).

[BlueberryWaffles]

DOOM (2016) has the main game on the cartridge, but requires the multiplayer part to be downloaded.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by JEDGAR1000

I would count that, is there any distinction in cover art between the re-releases, or just serial numbers? Also, if possible, could you provide an example of the serial numbers for the updated versions (or older ones to avoid).

There's a slight update on the back cover art. First-party Nintendo games have an additional barcode separate from the main UPC that seems to be a revision number of some kind - but even that seems different from the cart revision number on the back of the physical cart, so it's all a bit confusing. I will post some pictures and examples this week.