Opening a Nintendo Switch Cartridge. (NOT AS BIG AS YOU THINK!)

[ashhole]

It's easier to keep track of them when they're larger

[kittenvibe]

Better to have too much space than not enough room

[PokeRedstone]

There’s actually multiple Nintendo Switch cartridges for different storage capacities. 1 GB, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. When the switch first came out there was a rumor that 32 and 64 are too expensive for most third parties to want to put games on so they often just put them on the 16 gig ones and make it so you have to download the rest of the game.

[ObiwanNekody]

Opening one that took up the full case also shows you, clearly, that sometimes the case is the correct size.

[BigTime]

It still blows my mind sometimes that these massive games can fit on that small rectangle.

[ricardobino]

Literally the first game you opened showed you that it actually was necessary to make it that size.

[JusteazyGames]

It's not that the cartridge is double the size it needs to be. It's that (like your first example) that size is needed, sometimes, and it is more reliable to build a system around a universal cartridge size than it is to try and build a system that could fit 20 slightly different cartridge sizes for all the various chip sizes inside.

[Omgitssoup]

"double the size then they need to be"

Okay, so let's just say in a hypothetical reality we go to a system where there's zero wasted space... That Luigi's Mansion 3 will now have squished cover art, it will be significantly more difficult to take it out of the switch and now there will be like three or four different variants of switch cases with the different size games.

[georgecranston]

They are made large so that when you slot the cartridge in you have a part exposed for you to press down on. This allows you to eject the game easily and have the contacts for the slot further in the console to prevent damage to them.

[Scout_Master]

My head explodes knowing that so much memory, HD graphics and content can fit into such a tiny cartridge, when in ancient times, in addition to being enormous, they still had their limitations, what an irony.

[CubeRob]

It’s probably better to make it bigger than it actually is because that means You can find it better

[Dyl_Apple]

Another thing to think about is that the cartridges do come in multiple different capacities

[therockrancher]

"Double the size they need to be" is an understatement. They could be a single millimeter wide, BUT HOW WOULD YOU FIND AND PUT IN A CARD THAT'S THAT SMALL

[Cristian-etbg]

There’s multiple reasons why. 1: easier to keep track of. 2: some switch games are like 100mb while others are 40gigs. Bigger chips can hold more memory modules. 3: it secures the game more by making sure that there’s enough room for cushioning and plastic that holds it still incase it’s dropped

[IonicShadow]

The creator of the design of the cartridge remembered how on the n64 expansion pack there was a little slot that never got filled, so he made the cartridge able to fit inside, which is why the cartridge is bigger than it needs to be

[JmMateo]

That's because some games require more storage to store the game so it obviously takes up more physical space while Nintendo games usually take up less storage

[NewbToons]

the anger I felt rise inside of me when you cut Luigis Mansion 3 in half is indescribable.

[dahuchsi]

I really like this video. Straight to the point, not clickbaity, and you have a great tone. Well done.

[ronnbot]

At some point, it's too small to be practical. I mean, Nintendo could've used a form factor similar to micro SD cards, but kids would easily lose them, and it would be a pain to swap games on a regular basis.
Besides, some games are just smaller both in terms of file and physical size as you've shown.
Also, Nintendo of America chose a bigger cart size for the NES compared to the Famicom it was based on for marketing reasons.

[unmortal]

There's actually a really good reason for that they are more likely to survive a drop when they're not a solid Mass like that other one because they have a lot more empty space so they don't hit the ground as hard and they have more mass to absorb the energy relative to the weight and they are easier to handle