The Evolution Of Nintendo's Cartridges

Every generation of video game consoles brings on new challenges and new ideas. Out of all the major video game companies in the market today, none have gone through such drastic changes as Nintendo. As one of the longest running gaming companies in the world, Nintendo didn’t start with video games. In fact, their very first product ever was a line of hanafuda playing cards back in the 1890s. Now firmly in the video game industry, they have had a long list of consoles, each with unique designs and features. However, for today’s video we will be looking at something smaller, but just as iconic; the video game cartridge. From the Nintendo Entertainment System to the recent Switch, NIntendo has always had something for players to click in or insert to get the game started, and their history and evolution is an interesting tale. So we will be starting with the earliest example of cartridges, the Nintendo Entertainment. From there we will hit on other Nintendo gems like the Nintendo 64. We’ll even look into the development of some odder cartridges like the unique design of the DS and 3DS cartridges for their handheld systems. Lastly, we will take a look at the Nintendo switch and how this tiny tablet and console has taken the cartridge game a step further. Will Nintendo continue their tradition of cartridges in the future? Who’s to say, but sit back and relax and enjoy this dive into gaming history.

00:00 Intro
00:27 #1 Nintendo Entertainment System
01:37 #2 Gameboy
02:46 #3 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
03:51 #4 Nintendo 64
04:54 #5 Gameboy Color
05:56 #6 Gameboy Advanced
07:10 #7 Gamecube
08:14 #8 Nintendo DS
09:17 #9 Wii
10:00 #10 Switch
10:57 Outro

Written by: Zack Latino
Narrated by: Antony W.
Edited by: Jean Bernard

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[kps]

It’s funny how they could barely fit anything on a big cartridge but now they can fit HUGE games on such a small cartridge

[jsyt]

The 64DD was a floppy disc reader, not a CD reader. Nintendo did not sell a cd reader for the n64.

[dustybunny]

I love when they started to put in rechargable batteries in.

[ksweeley]

A correction with regards to the GameCube, a Japan only GameCube actually COULD read CDs and DVDs along with the GameCube discs, look up the Panasonic Q game console.

[Rizky-Gumilar]

Amazing how Nintendo is still here fighting in the gaming console bussiness even after their ups and downs over the years. Hope they'll still be here for many more years!

[JJSP]

Failed to mention gba had movie cartridges as well.

[craigmoss]

I was hoping for more information about the cartridges like tech specs and what storage capacity they could have or something. You seem to talk more about the consoles themselves than the actual cartridges.

[japhreal]

0:24 “cartridges”
Shows a cd disc for a sec

[gardevoirtrainer]

I still find it crazy that such games can be put on such tiny 3ds and Switch cartridges.

[DSTREK]

I feel like you spent more time talking about the consoles than the cartridges. The title made me think it'd be about the cartridges.

[TricksterZorua]

Quite a few mistakes in this video:

- The shown GBA 'white cloth cartridge' is a GB cartridge, not to mention it's an unofficial third party tool that came years later after the GBA
- The N64DD was a *zip drive*, not CD drive. Zip drives were a whole another beast of a memory storage method.
- GameCubes didn't use mini DVDs but a different type of format, that had 1/4th of a DVD's memory, so calling them DVDs at all is misleading for multiple reasons.
- The 3DS cartridge with its 'notches' is a bootleg cartridge, not an actual official cartridge.

I'm a bit baffled at these mistakes as a simple glance at Wikipedia would show those mistakes. Has there been any research done for this video?

[IPrpl_]

at 9:02 it shows a picture of a knock-off ds cartridge and the editor thinks that the "notch" is the weird grooves.

[gabrielfernandoism]

Amazing content, loved it. Thank you.

[Riz]

I think the switch carts are pretty amazing, so small and seem to work well with pretty big games

[zenbmonk]

The Nintendo 64 is still to this day one of my all time favorite gaming console & the Game Boy Advance SP for portability.

[allthelonely]

9:03 Did they seriously not know that that cartridge isn't an actual 3DS cartridge and is just a bootleg multicart with a bunch of DS games on there?

[Raweroa]

Nintendo: Made cartridge bitter to keep kids from eating it.

Adult: IM GONNA LICK IT.

[maskitoad]

I love how they keep doing T H I C C boxes for such a tiny cartidge

[animesenpai]

Fun fact: the reason Nintendo changed the famicom to the NES for the west was because Nintendo made it looks more like a vcr to apply to western audiences

[jeffmassi]

Just letting people know but the original GB was very hard on batteries despite what there saying here, considering it took a whole package (4 AAs) just to make the system run and the only indicator that the batteries were dying was a flashing red light and once the batteries died or needed replacing, there was no saving midway through so whatever you did was gone. Now eventually they came up with a portable battery pack that hooked into the side the pack was very clucky but it did last longer than the AAs so there was that.