Quote from: Adam Corsetti on May 12, 2025, 16:53:03Quote from: MrRom92 on May 12, 2025, 16:18:30Exactly what is "preservation" about the full game being on the cartridge or not?
In theory, many years down the line, you can pop a cartridge into a Switch 2, and it will just play. Without relying on the servers to download a game still being active, or connecting an old console to a modern home network. Other gamers just like having a physical copy of a title.
In reality, many years down the line many Switch and Switch 2 cartridges will fail to function, as their data will have been corrupted, just as we are starting to see in Nintendo DS games and other cartridges that use variations of flash rather than true mask ROMs like the cartridges of yore.
Physical releases have absolutely nothing to do with preservation. Having the game downloaded on an SD card that can then be backed up and carefully managed by the owner is a more legitimate form of personal preservation than it simply existing on a cartridge you purchased from a retailer and expect to be able to run 20+ years down the line.