The Nintendo Switch Lite was announced in 2019 as a “lite” version of the original Nintendo Switch. You can only use it as a handheld console. Playing on the TV is not an option. But, you will pay $100 less for this version of the console.
The Switch Lite comes with an internal memory of 32 GBs. This is not very much. A typical game uses 3-8 GB of space. The console software also uses 3 GB. This means you have effectively 29 GB of free space. With this amount of free space available you can only hold 5 average games.
Factors that affect the usage of internal memory on the Nintendo Switch Lite
The amount of space you would be using depends on a few factors.
The first factor that affects your space usage is whether you use physical games or digital ones.
People who use physical games don’t actually need to download the entire game onto their Nintendo Switch Lite. The game itself is stored on the cartridge and your progress is saved on the Nintendo Switch Lite’s internal memory.
Now this means that if you are downloading a game like “South Park: The Fractured but whole”, you would be using 18 GBs to just begin playing. You could probably install a few more small games but not a lot.
To maximize your storage use, you could only download those digital games that don’t use excessive space and have heavier ones as physical games instead. This way you can have all of your data and progress stored in the Switch Lite, and still be able to play other games too.
Secondly, if your games are all big titles and take up significant space, you will have a lot less room on the Nintendo Switch Lite. Regular games still take up anywhere from 3-8 GBs of space just for the game and additional storage is required for saving the progress and data. With a library like this, you could still get away with having 10-12 games on the Nintendo Switch Lite, but this number could vary, depending on the amount of progress you are saving for each game.
Finally, if you have a memory card or not. Most Switch users want to play the heavy, big-name titles as soon as they come out. This means that a lot of them end up having to get the digital versions, as the cartridges take some time before they can be shipped out. If you are one of those people, you could get a memory card to expand the storage that your Nintendo Switch Lite offers. You can get a memory card and add up to 1 TB of storage onto your Nintendo Switch Lite! If you do this, you could store hundreds of games onto your device without ever having to worry about your space running out.
If your memory card is smaller, like the 32 GB or 64 GB memory cards, you could also choose to transfer data from your internal storage to a memory card and even transfer the data between different cards.
The amount of games that can fit in the Nintendo Switch Lite’s internal memory of 32 GBs is around 10-12, or less if you’re downloading bigger games onto the device. But, with all the different factors mentioned above, you can get a lot more use out of your Nintendo Switch Lite and even end up with enough space to hold hundreds of games easily!