Summary
While Nintendo’s cartridge-based hybrid console is home to a plethora of exceptionally optimized titles, it would be fair to say that much of its software will require additional storage other than the Nintendo Switch’s built-in hard drive to be playable.
From seemingly ‘impossible’ AAA ports to extensive remasters of seventh-generation greats, the Nintendo Switch’s high install base and hybrid nature have ensured that many developers and publishers have sought to make their titles playable on the system. However, this has sometimes resulted in under-optimization or genre-specific gargantuan file sizes being pushed onto the arguably underpowered console.
Several games that might have otherwise earned a place on this list have been omitted due to the annualized nature of their entries, defaulting to including only the latest (and largest) entries instead.
8TSUKIHIME: A Piece Of Blue Glass Moon | 23GB
The Ground-Up Remake Of Type-Moon’s Acclaimed Visual Novel
Despiteits position as a visual novel— and one with significant eroge content at that —TSUKIHIME’s inaugural 2000 release was undoubtedly a considerable success. As such, beyond its anime and manga adaptations, the 2024 remakeTSUKIHIME: A Piece Of Blue Glass Moonhas brought this gore-infused high-school visual novel to modern consoles.
However, despite its focus on narrative, music, and 2D art, Type-Moon’s ground-up remake of the original’s ‘Near Side of the Moon’ routestakes up a fairly extensive 23 GB of storage on Nintendo Switch. Considering that many other visual novels on Nintendo’s hybrid system can be compressed into a size in the single digits, and the concentrated efforts ofTSUKIHIME: A Piece Of Blue Glass Moonto deliver only one-half of the originalTSUKIHIMEexperience, Type-Moon’s school-focused interactive fiction remains surprisingly large.
Considering the originalResident Evil: Revelations' place asa once-upon-a-time exclusive experience on Nintendo’s 3DS handheld, and its sequel skipping eighth-generation Nintendo hardware altogether,Resident Evil: Revelations 2’s 2017 release on Nintendo Switch was seemingly a landmark moment for the console.
While not following up on the narrative strands of the subseries' inaugural title,Resident Evil: Revelations 2continues the original’s episodic format and moving-while-shooting mechanics to bolster the third-person horror experience. Yet, considering thatResident Evil: Revelations —even with the HD textures of its 2013 re-release — takes upjust over 12 GB of storageon the Nintendo Switch, thecomparatively gargantuan 24.22 gigabytesneeded to playResident Evil: Revelations 2is a testament to its ballooned scope and scale.
While Nintendo’s hybrid console did not find its vast library filled with a copy of Rockstar Games’best-selling open-world installmentGrand Theft Auto 5,that is not to say that the development and publishing titan did not find a place for any of their software on the Nintendo Switch.
Originally developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games,L.A. Noire’s motion-capture-infused interrogations and third-person crime-fighting were critically and commercially acclaimed upon its original 2011 release. However, with the title’s 2017 re-release boasting a new set of HD textures and an improved lighting engine, the Los Angeles-set action-adventure title found a new selection of homes on Microsoft and Sony’s eighth-generation consoles alongside Nintendo’s hybrid hardware.
Considering that the collective storage required for all three third-person open-world titles contained within Rockstar’s 2021 re-releaseGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Editionsits atan understandable 25 GB,L.A Noire’sexpansive 28.14 gigabytes requiredputs into perspective everything contained within its 2017 re-release.
With25 diverse Legends in its rosterfor players to utilize through its Battle Royale and Arena Shooter gameplay, respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall-inspired FPS has remained a solid free-to-play title on Nintendo’s hybrid console since its 2021 Nintendo Switch release.
In borrowing mechanics and systems from EA’s critically lauded FPS franchiseTitanfall, while providing a seemingly unique take on the well-trod ground of Battle Royale titles such asFortniteandCall of Duty: Warzone,Apex Legendshas carved out a unique place for itself on cutting-edge PC builds and handily portable Nintendo Switch Lite’s worldwide. Considering its six-year lifespan shows no sense of running out any time soon, and its games-as-a-service model prioritizes continual updates and tweaking to its systems,the 30 GB requirement forApex Legends' downloadremains reasonable to this day.
Withmore than 17,000 individual players availablein EA Vancouver and EA Romania’s collaborative take on the formerFIFAproperty holder franchise, it’s not difficult to see howEA Sports FC 25has garnered such a large storage requirement on Nintendo’s hybrid console.
While critics and players have often criticized Electronic Arts' by-the-numbers sports sequels due to their regular lack in innovation, the series' ballooning game size is another bitter pill to swallow for players. As a result, 2024’sEA Sports FC 24’seye-watering 31.83 GB requirementhas been superseded in the soccer series' Switch install size only by its sequel, which provides fans of ‘The World’s Game’ with32.41 gigabytes worth of gameplayon the go.
Considering that, despite the relative age of 2015’s award-winningThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it remains that there"aren’t many games that feel as fresh as CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece,“the fact that the action RPG made its way onto the arguably underpowered Nintendo Hybrid system is still momentous.
However, even though the Nintendo Switch"might just be the best option"to experience the open-world third entry following Geralt of Rivia, it remains that the 2019 portrequires over 40 gigabytes of storageto be played. With the core game taking playersapproximately 100 hours to fully experience, and the Nintendo Switch’sComplete Editionincluding all of the title’s DLC, the seemingly gargantuan size of its download can be explained.
Despiteits usual brutalityand tight 2.5D melee-focused combat, the arguably weathered tech of the Nintendo Switch has resulted in a release ofMortal Kombat 1that is, from a technical standpoint,“a train wreck of epic proportions.“However, regardless of its visual and mechanical misgivings, WB Games' latest installment to theMortal Kombatseries on Switch effectively brings all of its content to the hybrid console, resulting in a ballooned file size.
NetherRealm Studios' 2019 port of theseries soft-reboot comes in at 47.52GB, dwarfing the series' former Switch installmentMortal Kombat 11’s33.27GB file size. It is then a shame that this out-of-the-ordinary download size has not justified its proportions due to the software’s technical misgivings.
Considering Visual Concepts Austin’s installment of the annualized basketball sports title wasone of the best-selling titles of 2024,NBA 2K24’s astronomical file size clearly did nothing to dissuade players from picking up the title on Nintendo Switch.
Ported to Nintendo’s hybrid console asNBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Editionandrequiring 60.57 gigabytes of storage, 2023’s basketball title superseded its series predecessor in terms of Nintendo Switch download size. With its predecessorNBA 2K23needing a relatively measly — yet still eye-watering —55.63GB of space to play, and its sequelNBA 2K25being59.87 GB in size, 2K’s annualized sports series sits as one of the Switch’s most storage-demanding series to date.
