New HyperX MicroSD cards give you plenty of space for Nintendo Switch games

By Gabe Gurwin Published August 13, 2018

Mike Epstein/Digital Trends Image used with permission by copyright holder

HyperX, a peripherals company primarily known for its PC products, including keyboards and mice, is jumping into the Nintendo Switch accessories mix with a new line of MicroSD cards. Designed to exceed the technical requirements for the Nintendo Switch, the cards give you plenty of extra space to store digital games and extra download files you need for the system.

Compatible with the Switch, mobile phones, and other devices that support the MicroSD card, HyperX’s cards are available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB sizes. With a 100MB/s reading speed and 80MB/s writing speed, the cards are well above the Switch’s requirements, though this might be overkill for some players. The cards cost between $50 and $200, depending on the size you pick, but a SanDisk MicroSDXC card with 256GB of space currently only costs $100 on Amazon. The speed on the card is slightly slower, but we’ve had no issues with SanDisk cards during our time playing the Switch so far.

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Regardless of the brand you pick, you do need to purchase a memory card if you plan on using your Nintendo Switch regularly. Many games are simply too large to fit on the system’s tiny proprietary game cards, so additional content must be downloaded, and it can quickly fill up the tiny 32GB of onboard storage space.

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Currently, all data — aside from things like your purchase history and account information — are saved on the Switch or its memory card. This will change in late September, as the Nintendo Switch Online service will give paying subscribers the ability to back up their save data in the cloud. If their system happens to break, they’ll be able to download this all again after getting it repaired — a handy feature for anyone with a huge Super Mario Odyssey file, though it’s one that’s included for free for Xbox One owners.

There are certainly plenty of Switch games this year to fill up your memory card’s capacity. In addition to July’s Octopath Traveler, later this year we’ll get Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as the Pokémon spinoff Pokémon: Let’s Go. Both are exclusive to the console.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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