[RUMOR] NX to be a Cartridge Based Console

Now this is a rumor that's been going around for quite awhile now, but now that there is some pretty good evidence it might actually be true I decided to post about it. NX may opt for cartridges instead of the now standard optical discs. A recent trademark for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild showcases this as well, with the "physical media" section including "video game cartridges" in addition to things like optical discs, etc. like we're used to. But what makes it even more interesting is that no other Wii U game features this, and this is the only one coming to NX, meaning NX most likely uses cartridges. (or at least has the option to use them in addition to discs)

Personally I hope this is the case. Cartridges themselves may look outdated, but in reality they're actually better than discs. It allows for more storage, faster loading times, and they're just easier to take care of than discs. I wouldn't mind if this was false and they still used discs but cartridges would definitely be the better route to take imo.

Eh really I'm fine either way, it's not like it'd be a big difference, except depending on where you put it in so I know how to set it up without it being a hassle every time I switch a game. Though I guess if it is cartridge based solely then there wouldn't be backward compatibility, and if there's both, then that'd be weird.

If this is true I believe the NX will not be able to play Wii U disks sadly. With that said Cartridges are harder to break and if there similar to the 3DS ones everything might work out alright at the end of the day.

If the NX is cartridge based, does that mean that it might also be able to play 3DS games? I would love that, being able to have the ability to play 3DS games on a bigger console via the television would be great & I'd really support something like that, more so if you can play both NX & 3DS games on the go or at home.

Yami Yugi wrote:If the NX is cartridge based, does that mean that it might also be able to play 3DS games? I would love that, being able to have the ability to play 3DS games on a bigger console via the television would be great & I'd really support something like that, more so if you can play both NX & 3DS games on the go or at home.

I didn't even think about that, I hope so! I think it's expected that Wii U backward compatibility won't really be a thing with NX, moreso if there's no optical disc drive, but being able to play 3DS games would definitely cover that up and be a pretty cool feature. There's so many games on 3DS and I have a pretty huge backlog for it so it'd be a good way to get through that. xD

Yea, I have a few 3DS titles I need to focus on myself. I got a bit lost in Fantasy Life, I was doing the life of a Paladin & got lost in what to do after a certain point. I lost interest after a while & went to a different game after that. XD

I think it'd be interesting for Nintendo to go the cartridge route & then watch it take off while Sony & M$ would be left wondering why their 4k upgraded consoles aren't going anywhere.

Yami Yugi wrote:
I think it'd be interesting for Nintendo to go the cartridge route & then watch it take off while Sony & M$ would be left wondering why their 4k upgraded consoles aren't going anywhere.

I can totally see this happening, it's interesting that at one point Nintendo was being ridiculed by their use of cartridges on N64 (and even with the smaller discs on GameCube) because switching to discs was supposedly more technologically advanced, but now it seems like switching back to cartridges could be best and Sony and Microsoft are behind instead.

I'd really like to see how things would go if the NX really is a cartridge based console. They could do some interesting things with it. They could make the cartridges around the size of the 3DS' which could benefit the console. Faster load times would also be a plus. But that comes with the drawback of having less space to work with correct? I can see why all the consoles have moved from cartridges to optical discs a long time ago. The Nintendo 64 still used cartridges while just about every competitor used discs instead. I can see the NX going through a similar tough time but perhaps this can allow for some really unique things if they do go with cartridges.

The console could potentially cost less but wouldn't the cartridges cost more? There's definitely some advantages and disadvantages to going with cartridges but I'd like to see what positive things could come from this if it's true.