The perfect microSD playing cards for the Nintendo Change 2

If you wish to increase the storage of your Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll want a microSD Categorical card. That is not the identical because the extra conventional microSD cards you’ll have purchased for the unique Change or different gaming handhelds; Categorical playing cards are newer, sooner and considerably dearer on common. However they’re your only choice, and given how a lot house certain Change 2 games chew up, you’ll in all probability haven’t any alternative however to get one finally. Which to purchase, although? If you happen to’re on the lookout for the most effective microSD card for the Change 2 at this time, we’ve damaged down what it’s best to know earlier than taking the plunge.

The perfect microSD playing cards for the Change 2 (aren’t all that essential)

The Change 2 is the primary mainstream system to require microSD Categorical for storage enlargement, so there aren’t many choices in the stores simply but. Of the handful of suitable fashions launched to this point, we’ve now examined seven: the SanDisk microSD Express Card (aka the “SanDisk GamePlay microSD Express Card” at Walmart), the Lexar Play Pro, the Samsung microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2, the Samsung P9 Express, the PNY microSD Express Card, the GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 and the Onn microSD Express Card. The primary 5 are made by real storage producers, whereas the GameStop and Onn playing cards seem like rebadged variations of different fashions. We used the 256GB model of each card apart from Lexar Play Professional, which was 1TB.

After timing these microSD Categorical playing cards throughout a spread of Change 2 video games, our recommendation is easy: Get whichever one is in inventory for the bottom worth within the capability you need. They aren’t identically quick, particularly if you wish to transfer a sport to the cardboard from the console’s inside storage (or vice versa). However the variations in load instances and general efficiency inside precise video games are powerful to note until you will have a stopwatch useful.

All 5 playing cards loaded up the digital model of Mario Kart World, as an illustration, between 18 and 20 seconds. Every loaded the primary Grand Prix race in about 6.5 seconds. Attending to the beginning display screen of Cyberpunk 2077 took about 38 or 39 seconds in every case. Loading a save in a very asset-heavy space (Jig-Jig Street) then took between 26 and 29 seconds, relying on the cardboard. (The one exception was with the Onn card, which averaged nearer to 31 seconds with that individual activity, although that’s additionally the most affordable alternative.)

With Fast Fusion, a smaller native Change 2 sport, the preliminary load all the time took six to seven seconds, whereas every card loaded the primary championship race in roughly 4 seconds. It was an identical scenario with the Change 2 improve for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (utilizing a Change 1 cartridge): Every card took simply over six seconds to get to the beginning display screen, between 19 and 20 seconds to load a save simply earlier than the ultimate boss, about 16 seconds to quick journey between Kakariko Village and Korok Forest, and so forth. We noticed no vital points with in-game masses when enjoying every sport, both.

All of this implies that the Change 2 has a comparatively particular goal for these playing cards to hit, and that there is probably not a lot room for one mannequin to leap too far out in entrance of the others. We’ll additionally be aware that the console’s built-in storage was constantly sooner than any exterior choice: The hole wasn’t all the time large, however no card really outpaced it in any of our exams. Loading that demanding space in Cyberpunk, for instance, took about 22.5 seconds on common. So in order for you absolutely the quickest load instances, don’t put your sport on a card in any respect.

If you happen to want the psychological consolation of figuring out you technically have the most effective card obtainable, get the SanDisk microSD Express Card. It had no outliers throughout our many sport loading exams, and it was constantly proper close to the highest when it got here to transferring video games to and from system storage, which implies it affords robust sequential learn and write efficiency. Benchmark testing on PC with instruments like CrystalDiskMark backed this up, as famous in our broader microSD card buying guide.

Placing Mario Kart (a 21.9GB file) on that card took 4 minutes and 39 seconds on common, which was solely second to the Lexar Play Professional by six seconds. It was the quickest to jot down Quick Fusion (3.5GB), taking a median of 27 seconds throughout three runs. Solely PNY’s card was sooner to maneuver video games again to the console’s storage, however that one was far slower at writing video games to the cardboard — getting Mario Kart on there took seven minutes and 11 seconds on common. Simply be aware that the 128GB model of SanDisk’s card has slower sequential writes than the bigger variations, together with a lot slower sustained write speeds (100 MB/s vs 210-220 MB/s). So transferring a sport to that individual mannequin will take for much longer. The Onn card was additionally slower to maneuver video games again to system storage, taking about 50 seconds greater than the SanDisk with Mario Kart and almost three minutes longer with Cyberpunk.

Virtually talking, although, pace variations aren’t as essential on this case as having plenty of house to carry video games at a worth you possibly can dwell with. To make issues simple, we’ve listed each Categorical card we’ve seen at retailers on the time of writing under. Bear in mind: You need microSD Categorical, not “Excessive,” just like the branding SanDisk makes use of for some conventional microSD cards. A microSD Categorical card can have an enormous “EX” emblem printed on it.

128GB

• SanDisk microSD Express Card ($64 MSRP)

• PNY microSD Express Card ($48 MSRP)

256GB

512GB

1TB

• Lexar Play Pro ($220 MSRP)

• GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($190 MSRP)

As you possibly can see, whereas the SanDisk card is quick, it’s additionally the costliest of an already-pricey bunch. Is it price an additional $10-20 to shave a pair seconds off sure masses in sure video games, or a pair minutes when transferring a sport to exterior storage? Most likely not for most individuals.

However inventory for all of those playing cards has been a bit patchy for the reason that Change 2 landed, significantly for the Walmart Onn mannequin, which has usually been the most affordable alternative. Extra just lately, the GameStop-branded playing cards appear to have bought out too. If just one card is definitely obtainable by the point you learn this — and you will need to have it at this time — it’s protected to simply get it. You gained’t lose or acquire all that a lot relating to real-world efficiency.

We’ve beneficial holding off on shopping for a microSD Categorical card for so long as potential in earlier updates to this information, and finally every mannequin above ought to nonetheless come down in worth over time. We noticed a number of Express card discounts throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as an illustration.

However between President Trump’s tariff hikes and the continued AI-driven shortages for reminiscence and high-capacity storage, you’d be justified in the event you needed to seize the most important card you possibly can moderately afford sooner quite than later. This stuff are nonetheless dear in comparison with conventional microSD playing cards: The Samsung Pro Plus, for instance, prices $17 for 128GB, $27 for 256GB, $50 for 512GB and $95 for 1TB as of this writing. And ideally, we’ll see extra high-capacity choices down the street: Nintendo says the Change 2 technically supports playing cards as much as 2TB, however up to now solely a pair even go as much as 1TB. It’s best to nonetheless attempt to use all 256GB baked into the Change 2 first, even when it means having to delete a sport or two. However in the event you completely want more room straight away, the playing cards above needs to be wonderful at this time.

What are microSD Categorical playing cards?

Most microSD playing cards are based mostly on a typical known as Extremely Excessive Velocity (UHS), of which there are three variations: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. The overwhelming majority of playing cards you’ll have purchased previously make the most of UHS-I. These have one row of pins within the again and a theoretical most information switch pace of 104 megabytes per second (MB/s). (Although many playing cards are capable of surpass that restrict with proprietary tech and card readers.) The unique Change has a UHS-I microSD slot, as do most different gaming handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck.

UHS-II playing cards add a second row of pins and may attain as much as 312 MB/s. These are pricier and far much less frequent than playing cards based mostly on UHS-I, however they’re supported by some cameras and higher-power handhelds just like the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X. UHS-III, in the meantime, is twice as quick as UHS-II in principle (624 MB/s), however no microSD playing cards have truly used it.

UHS-I playing cards have held on through the years as a result of they’re low cost, broadly supported and quick sufficient for the issues most individuals want them to do: document 4K video, stash images and so forth. However with the Change 2, Nintendo needs more. The brand new console is dramatically extra highly effective, which permits it to run demanding games which will have initially been constructed for stronger {hardware} just like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X or gaming PCs. The system also uses UFS 3.1 storage internally, which is way speedier than the eMMC storage utilized by the unique Change. (A customized file decompression engine helps enhance load instances as effectively.) So if the Change 2 goes to just accept microSD playing cards, it wants ones that gained’t carry a critical drop-off in efficiency and may maintain up with trendy video games.

Therefore, SD Categorical. This customary has technically been around since 2018 however largely went nowhere till the Change 2 got here alongside. It additionally makes use of a second row of pins, but it surely lets microSD playing cards reap the benefits of the PCI Categorical (PCIe)/NVMe interface, which is similar underlying tech utilized by modern SSDs. Consequently, it will possibly produce significantly sooner learn and write speeds, with a present theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.

As famous above, real-world efficiency gained’t be fairly that quick. Even when it was, the most effective microSD Categorical playing cards would nonetheless be a lot slower than the NVMe SSDs used by the PS5 and Xbox. (Sony recommends SSDs with sequential learn speeds of no less than 5,500 MB/s.) And so they’ll fall effectively under their peak speeds underneath sustained masses: SanDisk, as an illustration, says sustained write speeds for its 128GB Categorical card can drop as little as 100 MB/s.

However they’re nonetheless a marked enchancment over outdated UHS-I playing cards, and in principle, they need to be faster than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes loading sport ranges, asset streaming, retrieving saves or copying video games to exterior storage. Whereas SanDisk’s microSD Categorical card can produce sequential learn speeds round 900 MB/s, Lexar’s Professional Silver Plus — the highest UHS-I choose in our normal microSD card information — topped out simply over 200 MB/s, and that’s with a proprietary reader. (On the primary Change, it’d be nearer to 100 MB/s.) Sequential writes and random speeds have been three to 4 instances higher as effectively, and typically much more relying on the benchmark we used.

It stays to be seen how effectively these Categorical playing cards will maintain up with years of use, and there’s no approach to know precisely when their sky-high costs will drop. Non-Change 2 units that help microSD Categorical are nonetheless exceedingly uncommon, and the usual itself isn’t backwards suitable with UHS-II, so that you’ll be restricted to UHS-I speeds if you wish to use your card with one other system (until you purchase a pricey external reader). Nonetheless, whereas the elevated prices and restricted choice are annoying, the tech itself is worthy of a next-gen Change.

How we take a look at microSD Categorical playing cards

We put our microSD Categorical playing cards by a collection of exams meant to simulate how folks would use every card on the Change 2 in the actual world. We primarily labored with 4 video games: a mid-sized title in Mario Kart World, a small one in Quick Fusion, a comparatively giant one in Cyberpunk 2077 and a hybrid in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which ran off a Change 1 cartridge however used a roughly 10GB Change 2 improve pack that was downloaded and put in digitally.

We first timed how lengthy it took to maneuver every sport from the system’s inside storage to the cardboard in query, and vice versa. We then timed how lengthy it took to load every sport when put in to a given card. After that, we measured how shortly the playing cards might load sure in-game eventualities: the primary Grand Prix race in Mario Kart; the primary championship race in Quick Fusion; quick touring between the Jig-Jig Road, Embers and Downtown Central areas in Cyberpunk and quick touring between the Kakariko Village, Korok Forest and the Hyrule Fort City Ruins areas in Zelda. (We selected these locations within the latter two video games as a result of they’re extra taxing than different areas.) With Cyberpunk and Zelda, we additionally timed how lengthy it took to load up totally different save recordsdata in these places.

With every take a look at, we accomplished three to 5 runs to account for any irregularities and marked down the common time taken between them. We did every take a look at in airplane mode, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, to reduce any efficiency drain that would come up from background downloads. Between every take a look at, we additionally spent no less than an hour enjoying the video games off every card to make sure there have been no vital drop-offs in comparison with the console’s built-in storage.

Current updates

December 2025: We’ve examined Samsung’s P9 Categorical card, although our normal buying recommendation for this market stays the identical.

November 2025: We’ve examined the 256GB model of Walmart’s Onn microSD Categorical card and edited our information accordingly. It’s typically slower than a lot of the different choices we’ve tried, particularly when transferring video games to and from system storage, and in artificial benchmark exams on a PC. However the efficiency drop-off isn’t significantly noticeable in precise Change 2 video games, so in the event you see it in inventory and simply wish to pay as little as potential, it’s an honest purchase.

September 2025: We’ve taken one other move by this information to verify our recommendation continues to be correct. We’ve additionally famous a brand new 512GB model of PNY’s microSD Categorical card and confirmed {that a} “SanDisk GamePlay” Categorical card bought at Walmart has the identical efficiency as the usual SanDisk mannequin we suggest above, simply with a special title.