Why bother?
As is the case whenever an older major third-party franchise gets announced for the Nintendo Switch, eyebrows were raised when the Batman: Arkham Trilogy was revealed in Nintendo’s recent Direct presentation. It turns out that skepticism was on point!
According to WB, although the Arkham Trilogy will be sold physically, the cart only contains Batman: Arkham Asylum. Yep, only one of the games in the “trilogy” will be included physically, and you’ll need to download the rest. Don’t just take it from me, read the entire FAQ entry on the game’s official site:
Does the Nintendo Switch physical version of Batman: Arkham Trilogy include all three games on one cartridge?
Batman: Arkham Asylum will be included on the Batman: Arkham Trilogy game cartridge. Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight will require an online connection to download and install both titles when the Batman: Arkham Trilogy cartridge is inserted into the Nintendo Switch console. All three games will then be playable as long as the cartridge is inserted into the Nintendo Switch console.
Welp! At least you get “all previously released DLC” with that download when it comes out this fall!
This is part of a longer trend for third-party games
Although The Witcher 3 managed to cram the game on a higher-capacity cart, many third-party Switch games have suffered the same fate as the Arkham Trilogy. In fact, Arkham wasn’t the only series that’s fending off criticism in that very same Nintendo Direct, as Konami revealed that Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 1 would also require massive downloads.
Start clearing up your SD space now if you’re partaking in either of them later this year.