Topic: Cartridge or Download?

Hi there! I'm purchasing my first system (Switch) for my kids, ages 6 and 4. I have two questions:
1. Is there an advantage of buying the download code vs. the physical cartridge?
2. Mario Party or Mario Kart as a first game for a 6-year-old? (Keeping in mind that we probably won't buy other games often at all.)

@amykry
1. Cartrage can be good for over 8 years (I lost DS carts all the time when I was 5), so go digital judging by age of your kids until they are a bit older. Although, you might need to buy a pretty hefty SD card to hold games like Super Mario Odyssey and the such.

2. Mario kart all the way. Mario Party can be lacking in content and can only be played with single joycon, where MK8D can be played with all controllers

@amykry Physical versus digital is all about convenience versus "right of ownership forever", "ability to sell, share, trade, etc." If you're not buying a lot of games it probably doesn't matter which one you go with in any real terms, just a matter of preference if you think you or the kids would rather have a physical object to possess and insert, or the convenience of picking it up and playing any of the games. As Mystic said, you will need to get an appropriately sized MicroSD card for fitting more than a few digital games. For just a few you might be able to fit them on the system storage.

Mario Party is fun, and fun for multiple people to play, but at the end of the day it's a boardgame with minigames and might get monotonous if overplayed as the only game. MK8 is a timeless arcade game series.

The sad part is that there are quite a few physical games for the Switch that have mandatory downloads even with the physical cartridge. In my opinion, if you're only purchasing a handful of games, purchase a 200GB micro sd card and go all digital.

I would suggest digital for those ages. The cartridges are small and easy to lose (and swallow if they can over come the bad taste). Just wait on a sd card sale and get your digital on! Mario kart has tons to unlock and even in adult gamers gets played for the life of a system usually. You may want the new super mario bros u deluxe when that comes out. I'm still working through those on the wiiu.

@amykry Like others have said, the cartridges are small and easy to lose. But also when you buy digital you do get more reward points which you can use to put toward future games. Also Mario Kart is definitely the better choice if it's the first game. Mario Party is, like is sounds, a party game that is only really fun multiplayer, but Mario Kart can be enjoyed alone or together in short or long bursts. Also MK8 has a handicap mode for true beginners.

Also I encourage you to set up the parental controls features and use the phone app, so you can control what your kids do on the system.

Digital games are a safe bet when you have children, because Switch cartridges are really small and may be prone to being lost. Just make sure you have a microSD card that's large enough for plenty of games, and also ensure it's always in your Switch. Mario Kart is the better choice for a kid's first game, it's very easy to get into and it's enjoyable whether you're going solo or playing with others. Mario Party, on the other hand, can take a very long time to finish a single board, unless you're only playing minigames. And even if you just play minigames in Mario Party, in my eyes it just won't leave as big of an impact as playing Mario Kart for the first time as a kid, as it's much more fast and exciting. So, definitely Mario Kart.

I'm going to stick my nose in here, as I have kids of similar ages. There is definitely something to be said for cartridges - not least that they are usually cheaper than buying games digitally, sometimes by a considerable margin. And, as @NEStalgia points out, if your youngsters tire of or simply dislike a game, you can at least sell it, trade it in or possibly even return it. Incredibly, the digital store doesn't offer returns.

They'll have a ball a Switch, though. Mario Kart is great for four-year-olds, as there are various tweaks like steering and acceleration assists that can even the balance with older siblings. Kirby Star Allies has also been very popular with my kids, as a game they can play together (with the older one taking the Player 1 role).

If you do decide to go digital, make sure you record the Switch’s number on the back; I believe you may require this to regain all downloads if Switch is stolen or lost.

FYI, all games requires download regardless it's either game update or just updates. Even eShop requires updates so your cherry picking isn't flying here.

If you have young kids using the system, I would DEFINITELY go all-digital. Get yourself a hefty SD card and go to town.

I like cartridges. If the unit, whatever it is, fails to operate....then I'm out my games if downloaded.

If unit fails to operate you can’t play cartridges either xd Unless you want to buy another switch, then i believe you can just redownload games.
That being said, i prefer physical games myself as i like seeing my collection on the shelf. But if you don’t care about owning it physically, just buy digital version, easier to operate for kids and no risk they will lose the game.

Digital is pretty much the only option for kids of that age range. It’s easy, you can get discounts towards future purchases, and it doesn’t take up space in the home. Just try not to use download codes or at least throw them away after using them. Kids don’t only eat cartridges.

OK, I'm going to chime back in. There is definitely something to be said for having a physical cartridge for your kids to insert into the console. It makes every game feel like a real purchase, something that was earned and is real, rather than something that just appeared on the home screen while they were away. You can wrap a physical game, making each new one a real treat, while a digital game just turns up - unless you want to make them watch you navigate the eShop and feed in your credit card number!

I mix physical and digital, but having physical does give you an opportunity to teach your children about respecting physical objects (esp electronics...), and everyone likes the action of choosing a game and actually inserting it into the slot, feeling for the click when it slots in. If a digital game turns up, my kids are definitely still happy - but there's no ceremony. It's just: "Oh cool, new game." And then they never think about where it comes from (although they still say know enough to say thanks.)

Anyways, that probably just says more about me than being actual good advice - we all grew up with physical media, right? - but I still think it's a nice sentiment.

My nephew loves it when FortNite came out and I had it downloaded he played till the battery was 20% but he also likes BoTW physical as well since there not in the case but the HORI 24 case hold so he has access to all the games already. And I got like 10 of those now so math would be 24x10=240 games right now. Some of those games are CE and JPN game like Bayonetta Climax that has both Physical cartridge and now it sells in the range of $300-400USD Physical and I bought it at ~200USD imported.