Physical Copies For Switch Version Of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM TRILOGY Include Download Codes

Having released in April of last year for the Nintendo Switch, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy will soon be getting a physical release — outside of Japan, that is — but there is one catch, at least for Australian players; the physical copy will not actually come with a cartridge.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy has been reported to include three download codes — one for each game, obviously — and absolutely nothing more inside the box. The reason for this may be the fact that the whole collection is 18GB in size, and Nintendo Switch cartridges can only hold up to 16GB. 

Had the this Naruto Shippuden title been only a two-game collection, it would've been easier to split and players could've gotten, at the very least, one crtridge and one download code; perhaps becoming problematic for the developers. The Japanese physical copy of the Ultimate Ninja Storm trilogy, however, does include all three games in one cartridge; the reason being that it's not multilanguage.

It is yet unknown if Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy's physical copies in other parts of the world will also only get the box with the download codes and no cartridge in them but it is very likely that this is the case. 

As surprising as this whole thing may seem, however,it has been slowly becoming sort of a trend to have publishers — especially in games that compile more than one title in them — reducing costs by only including one cartridge in the box and a download code to get the other titles.

Physical copies for games like Bayonetta 1 And 2, as well as both Mega Man Legacy Collection 1+2 and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2, also got the "download code treatment"; even when these titles were either sold separately in Japan(like Bayonetta), or actually included more than one cartridge like the both Mega Man Legacy collections.

Start with Naruto's origins in Ultimate Ninja Storm, relive Shippuden and his ferocious battles with Akatsuki in Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and experience the beginning of the Great Ninja War in Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, all in one game!