Just using an SD card requires modding your Switch to run homebrew and, er, "backups," right?
A properly constructed cartridge that can masquerade as a retail Switch cartridge would make owners who aren't willing to modify their console very happy indeed. That's how the various NDS/3DS carts work -- just plug and play (literally).
Correct! The newer models (including all OLED versions) were already patched from the factory (or more accurately, redesigned to prevent the soft-mod from working).
Not sure if running from the cart slot is permitted to even detect anything not properly signed by Nintendo. Which means this one is squarely for "backups" and nothing else.
It does have a specific niche: users of OLED models that just want to play "backups" and don't want to bother soldering chips to their products. A few people will like the hassle-free multicarts.
I don't seem to recall Nintendo making me pay anything for something I didn't want.
I'm 100% in favour of emulation and whatnot, but I don't understand what your problem is.
Remakes, re-releases and ports? What's the big deal? If you had BotW on the WiiU, don't buy it on the Switch. TotK came out on the Switch, so they're still releasing new games.
Again, I love the emulation scene and I know piracy is important for game preservation. I don't understand what your complaint is, though..
That's what a flashcart is. It's a cartridge with an SD card in it, which has game ROMs on it. You can see a microSD card in the flashcart in the video.
Because then you could buy any old SD card and Nintendo makes no money from you. This way Nintendo can sell you the same NAND flash except wrapped in a propriety Nintendo container with the multiple orders of magnitude price increase to pad the bottom line. They can also pursue you for civil or criminal charges if you attempt to break into the container of flash charging you with copyright infringement and attempted hacking.
Edit: ignore my post. Its not a Nintendo first party product.
Lol, you've made some assumptions there. It's not a Nintendo product. Nintendo would NEVER release any kind of flash cart themselves, as they're begging to be used for pirated games.
Everything you've said about game carts are basically why we'll never see an officially licensed product like this from Big N themselves.
With that in mind, it still makes no sense as a product because you can run games off the SD card already (I assume. Very out of touch with Switch hacks)
It makes perfect sense as a product because running game backups off an SD card without any hardware modding only works on the oldest console version. If you have a Lite or OLED (or even just the patched original model) you need a mod chip which is not an easy install.