Need A Good MicroSD Express Card For Nintendo Switch 2? They're Going Fast
The Nintendo Switch 2 comes with 256GB of storage onboard. That's an 8x improvement over the original Switch, but pardon us if we're not exactly impressed considering that current-generation games on other platforms basically start at about 60GB. Fortunately, you can expand the storage just as you could on the first machine, but not exactly in the same way. Your microSD card from your Steam Deck isn't going to work in the Switch 2.
You're going to need a microSD Express card. The Switch 2 is actually one of the very first consumer devices to support the SD Express standard despite the fact that it was launched way back in 2016 (that's nine years ago, folks.) It was intended to offer a massive upgrade in storage speed for digital cameras and other uses, but cameras have largely stuck to the CFexpress standard due to superior thermal handling and higher raw bandwidth (thanks to x4 lane support.)
So saying, you probably don't have a microSD Express card, and you're definitely going to want one if you're getting a Switch 2. While all of Nintendo's games seem to be coming on real PCI Express-enabled game cartridges, it has been revealed that many third-party games will not have proper physical cartridges for their "physical" releases.
Instead, they'll come with a "game-key card" that you insert into the cartridge slot. This works essentially like a physical license for the game; you still have to download the game from the Internet, but once you have it downloaded, you can play it on any Switch 2 machine, as long as the game card is inserted. This also allows the game to be re-sold among fans, like a regular physical cartridge. The game-key cards are much cheaper to manufacture than a real cartridge, allowing developers to get their game onto store shelves with a much lower barrier to entry.
Since you still have to download the game, you need space to do that, and we're here to help you with that. When shopping for memory cards, look specifically for the "EX" logo above on the card. Don't be fooled by cards that say "Express" without actually being "SD Express" cards. All of those other logos—SDXC, A1, U3, whatever—don't matter, because SD Express is actually a different physical connection that is not present on older SD and microSD cards.
Due to the relative unpopularity of SD Express until now, there isn't much stock available for microSD Express cards. In fact, there are only a handful of listings on Amazon, and half of them are sold out already. If you're looking for a microSD Express card to use with your Nintendo Switch 2, here are all the ones we could find at this time:
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Lexar 1TB Play PRO microSD Express Card: $199.99 at Amazon
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Lexar 512GB Play PRO microSD Express Card: $99.99 at Amazon
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Lexar 256GB Play PRO microSD Express Card: $47.69 at Amazon
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SanDisk 256GB microSD Express Card: $71.99 at Amazon
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SanDisk 128GB microSD Express Card: $49.99 at Amazon
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