Do you prefer to buy full games retail/physical or digital?

[Wariomovie]

I prefer buying the games in retail form, as large SD cards can become quite expensive, and retail games usually do not take up any space on the SD card (except for things like screenshots in Smash and whatnot). Besides, if your 3Ds is ever damaged and you can't transfer the information on it to a new 3DS, the cartridge will still work without the data transfer.

 

[Furyofthestorm78]

100 % retail .
I see the use of digital games, Rune Factory 4, for example, is digital only in this country, but what happens to your digital collection when the 3ds is no longer available? Do you simply forget about them, like they never existed, the huge library of games unplayable due to them being linked to a specific console, which has broken and you are unable to system transfer for reasons... Because you have something new and better?
I would like a significant discount to buy a digital game, like 50% or possibly more to buy digital. I dislike that the digital games are often way more expensive than a retail version.
Of course a physical version could get damaged/ lost leaving you unable to play it, which with digital you would only have that problem if the system breaks. If you are someone who cares for their games, keeps them in cases etc, never lets them too far out of sight, then this may not be a problem, but of course still could be...
Even though the servers have closed on the DS, at least you can still play a DS game without internet.

Something I am curious about, I attempted to try out super smash bros 3ds on my friends console, and it wouldn't let the game start because it needed an update. What happens in the future (eg 10 years) when you want to have a go on an old game, just got a bargain on a used card, then can't play it because the servers have shut down.

 

[Arshan]

Retail, always for me. Although mostly because my mom works at walmart and we get a discount that weighs out our taxes when buying there lol. Although it's always nice to have the box for the game and fully own the game. Nintendo can't take the game away from me if for example, the game gets removed from the eshop. Also, retail games are EXTREMELY helpful if you get a new console with backwards compatibility. It's also nice to have the option to sell your games when you know you aren't gonna play them anymore.
Although one downside to the retail versions is that you can lose the games, which has happened twice to me in the past. Don't forget the manuals can be lost too, which has happened to some of my games which I now can't easily sell :/.

 

[Leaandro15]

Honestly Physically is better and here is why Physical games can be played repeatedly on any game console you own and once you get bored and want to switch it and play another game you can take it out and put another one. Also when you don't want the game you can sell it online for a good price if it's rare or sell it just for money while a digital game it takes forever to download when you download it on the consoles online store and once you play the game and pass it you just simply start ignoring it once you start playing other new games. Also when your console gets messed up or breaks all your games will be lost unless you have a account with the online store and remember the username and password of the account you're good otherwise your games you bought are lost.

 

[AricAttack]

A lot of full, $40 3DS games have made their way onto the eShop. I'd like to ask you guys - do you prefer to buy such games retail or digital if both are available?

With retail, you get to keep the game if unluckily your 3DS's system software goes awry (not that that's ever happened to me, thank God), you can sell it off if you don't like it anymore, and you have a nice cover to put the cartridge in. You can have many games even if your SD card's capacity is small.

On the other hand, the game can get physically damaged and can't be redownloaded like digital games can, and if you have many retail games it's a problem carrying them around for you adventurous travels.

With digital games, you can redownload the game if your SD card gets damaged because your eShop account is linked with the 3DS, and many early 3DS games got price drops when they came on the eShop. You also don't have to change cartridges.

But you can't sell the game off. Once you buy it, you're stuck with it. You also lose the cover, which can be works of art in themselves. If digital full releases grow, the quality of game covers is likely to deterioate, much like how digital media and e-books killed the art of music album and book covers.

Personally I'm all for retail. What about you guys?

I know this is an old thread but once I was playing on my 3ds and for some reason I lost all my digital games and couldn't re download them that's why I prefer digital cause if my 3ds messes up or something bad happening than I can still play them with no data lost

 

[Duffy]

Physical by a mile. But hey, I'm a collector, so I may be a little biased

 

[Samster]

At this point, I'm not entirely sure. Of course, I hate losing cartridges. But the downloads nowadays just take so much space. But Nintendo tries to bribe you into buying downloadable games with Gold Points. I think that I would go with digital, even if it means buying a bigger SD card.

 

[Floral]

I used to be a retail only guy, but now I'm going half-and-half. If I have eShop credit or I plan to get the game as soon as it comes out, digital, unless I order from Amazon because I don't have enough to pay $60/$40 when I order the game.

If I don't get it at launch, I'll usually get a physical copy a couple weeks later for $10-$20 off.

 

[dani20]

I mostly buy retail games, especially the most expensive ones, which I can't afford to lose in case my 3DS breaks. Also I'm thinking the eShop will close eventually and maybe I'll want to play an older game over the years . Apart of this, I really like my collection of retail games, though it isn't very big.
Maybe I would buy more digital games if Nintendo account wouldn't be linked to the console; I mean if I'd be able to re-download them if my 3DS get lost or broken.

 

[Duffy]

Also I'm thinking the eShop will close eventually and maybe I'll want to play an older game over the years.
Maybe I would buy more digital games if Nintendo account wouldn't be linked to the console; I mean if I'd be able to re-download them if my 3DS get lost or broken.

You can always call Nintendo and transfer your nnid to a new console. It definitely isn't as reliable as just haring the physical carts, which I prefer too. I think the eShop will close eventually too, but as long as you already have the game downloaded when that happens you should be fine.

 

[dani20]

@3dsCollector - Yes, I know I could call Nintendo, but I live in Romania; I don't think Nintendo even knows where it is . I'm using UK eShop and I think I should call Nintendo UK, any problem would arise. I really don't know if it is a problem if I live in other country than eShop country...
I also make regular backups of my card; it happened to me once to have a card with problems and I replaced it with a backup.

 

[Farhaan Raja]

If you're getting an indie/relatively small game, go digital
If you decide to get a game like Monster Hunter or Xenoblade, physical is your only option...

 

[Duffy]

If you're getting an indie/relatively small game, go digital
If you decide to get a game like Monster Hunter or Xenoblade, physical is your only option...

I thought Xenoblade was on the eShop? It actually might be cheaper that way lol

 

[Floral]

I thought Xenoblade was on the eShop? It actually might be cheaper that way lol

MonHun is too. They're significantly cheaper digitally, as they frequently go on sale. Xenoblade is $20 on the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and $40 on 3DS.

 

[PersonSP]

!!

So usually physical games are more expensive...but I found a website that sells the physical copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun for 40% off...on the launch day! I've checked them out on trustpilot and they have over 11000 votes and 5 stars. (Guess who is getting the game early? )

 

[Farhaan Raja]

I thought Xenoblade was on the eShop? It actually might be cheaper that way lol

No no no, Xenoblade IS ON the Eshop, but the download size is probably massive.
EDIT: It's 3.8GB

 

[KitKat]

I love digital copies, but physical and digital have their pros and cons respectively.

Physical copies have the excitement going to the store and having the ability of ownership in your hands. So if you lose your console or gets damaged. You will still have the physical copy with you as long as the game was not inside the console if lost.

However, digital copies can make the purchasing process easier and you do not need to worry about losing the physical copy of the game. Sadly, if you lose your console you will lose everything in the process . I have not used the eshop, but if you login on a different console, can you install on the games purchased to the new console? If not, it would be cool for tha ability and have a $5 free to resinstall purchased games. However, that could only work if the console never had a eshop login to prevent abuse and illegal copies.

 

[LeoMessi10]

A lot of full, $40 3DS games have made their way onto the eShop. I'd like to ask you guys - do you prefer to buy such games retail or digital if both are available?

With retail, you get to keep the game if unluckily your 3DS's system software goes awry (not that that's ever happened to me, thank God), you can sell it off if you don't like it anymore, and you have a nice cover to put the cartridge in. You can have many games even if your SD card's capacity is small.

On the other hand, the game can get physically damaged and can't be redownloaded like digital games can, and if you have many retail games it's a problem carrying them around for you adventurous travels.

With digital games, you can redownload the game if your SD card gets damaged because your eShop account is linked with the 3DS, and many early 3DS games got price drops when they came on the eShop. You also don't have to change cartridges.

But you can't sell the game off. Once you buy it, you're stuck with it. You also lose the cover, which can be works of art in themselves. If digital full releases grow, the quality of game covers is likely to deterioate, much like how digital media and e-books killed the art of music album and book covers.

Personally I'm all for retail. What about you guys?

Well to be honest if i can get a game i really want cheap retail im gonna buy it but for Christmas my parents got me the 2ds with Mario kart preinstalled so i started getting on eShop and buying games i really like eshop but i think i like the cartridge way better just because of the storage

 

[pokerus]

It depends. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to go out to the store so I just download it digitally. But then again if I'm that lazy I'll just buy it off of Amazon or something. I don't really feel like investing in a larger SD card to store games on so most of the time I try to buy the retail copy.

 

[V_Weeb]

Depends but most of the times retail I just like owning a game but sometimes Digitally feels like the way to go because it's cheaper and the sometimes crazy sales