Virtual Game Cards and Nintendo Today

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Nintendo announced they were doing a Nintendo Direct for the Nintendo Switch a few days ahead of launching a Nintendo Direct for the Nintendo Switch 2. What was left to show? Not only was I surprised by the number of games coming on the Nintendo Switch – Fantasy Life is coming after Level-5 said it wasn’t in their last video? – but I think that Nintendo has yet again shown they are looking at creating a great ecosystem for consumers.

I love Nintendo as a company, and have never shied away from the fact that if I could only afford to own one video game console, it would be a Nintendo console. I think Nintendo has often done a good job of catering to their consumers with great features, and that has slowly grown over the years with apps like Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Sleep, Pokemon Cafe, etc. With the announcement of Pokemon Today, and calendar-esque application for your smartphone that will keep you up to date on the latest goings on of Nintendo, Nintendo is yet again putting consumers first.

Sure, this will obviously be a great tool for Nintendo to push the latest and greatest titles your way. I’m sure you will get things like, “The Legend of Zelda launches in one week, preorder today!” and the like. But as I get busier with my kids and less attuned to what’s going on in the video game space, I think having prompts like that within a Nintendo dedicated application is actually a good thing. Over the past few years, I’ve missed and forgotten about a ton of video game launches, not because I don’t care, but simply because other aspects of my life are taking priority right now. I assume that with Nintendo Today, the application, via Nintendo, will be keeping me up to date on all the new games, features and more coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo’s other surprise move today was the introduction of virtual cartridges, which is ultimately the chance to share your digital games with yourself on another Switch (and I assume without the pesky primary / secondary switch issues) and even loan out games for two weeks to people within your Nintendo Switch Family Account. I’ve been using a family account for years with my wife and 3 sons, all of whom own a Nintendo Switch. I cannot tell you the number of headaches digital purchases on my account have caused over the years. As a video game reviewer, I get a ton of Switch digital games and unfortunately, all of my kids and my wife often want to play as well. That means them logging into my account on their Switches to play, locking me out of my own account on my own Switch.

That appears to be a thing of the past with this new feature. Although we haven’t seen it in action yet, it seems like a simplistic way to share digital titles with your family, while maintaining accounts, saving data, and more! I’m excited to see what more comes from Nintendo over the next few months, but I have to assume that these features at least will have an impact on the Nintendo Switch 2 as well!