Your physical Nintendo 3DS, Switch 1 and 2, and PS Vita games have an expiration date: Do this if you don’t want them to stop working forever
We explore a relatively unknown problem affecting platforms such as 3DS, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, and PS Vita: this is how their physical games deteriorate over time.
For years, many of us have defended the physical format as a total guarantee against the ephemeral nature of digital formats. “If you have it on disc, cartridge, or game card, it’s yours forever,” we often say. However, a recent report reveals the stark reality affecting platforms such as Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, and most likely Nintendo Switch 2 as well: their game cards are susceptible to the passage of time due to the type of memory they use. Eventually, every one of them will stop working, and no, it’s not because of programmed obsolescence. In this news, we explain why this happens and what you can do to delay as long as possible the dreaded moment when your physical games will no longer be readable by the console.
The case of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire on Nintendo 3DS: When your games stop working without warning
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released on Nintendo 3DS worldwide in November 2014. They are two remakes of the original Game Boy Advance Ruby and Sapphire, released on this console in 2002. Ruby Omega and Sapphire Alpha were generally well received and became all-time bestsellers on 3DS, amassing over fourteen and a half million units sold worldwide, ranking fourth within the system’s top sellers list.
Precisely this high volume of sales made them a notorious case within the Nintendo 3DS catalog in the early 2020s, when cases began to be reported of many units that, without any apparent problem, suddenly stopped working. On forums like Reddit, websites like GBAtemp, and trading sites like eBay, there was a lot of hubbub about it, pointing to possible whole defective shipments of these two beloved titles. Roughly speaking, the games would crash, indicating some kind of corruption, or they wouldn’t start at all. In the worst cases, the 3DS would not detect the inserted game card.
The reality was even harsher: that there began to be widespread reports of “dead game cards” six to eight years after release was no fluke but pointed to a more serious problem: Nintendo 3DS games use a type of NAND Flash memory that is extremely vulnerable to the passage of time. This means that, if these cards are left unused for extended periods of four or five years, the games will become unreadable and will not work.
Without intending to, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire became the harbingers of a dismal future not only for the Nintendo 3DS catalog but also for the PS Vita, the wildly successful Nintendo Switch, and even its successor, Nintendo Switch 2.
NAND Flash problem affects Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2: do this to extend the lifespan of your games
This incipient mishap did not only affect Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire but was probably the most famous and notable case of this problem. Since Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PS Vita game cards use similar technology (NAND Flash or variants), all physical games on these consoles may become unusable in the future.
NAND Flash memory works by storing data using electrons trapped in tiny cells. Over the years, these electrons slowly leak out due to the effects of time, temperature, and quantum physics itself through a phenomenon called leakage or poor charge retention. When enough electrons leak, the data is corrupted and the console can no longer read the game, identifying it as defective... or even not being able to read it at all, as if it were not inserted into the system. This leakage is a widely documented problem in the technological field.
This is not something deliberate so that we have to buy new games again, but a defect due to the unavoidable physical limits of the type of memory used. Fortunately, there is a practically infallible method to postpone this electron leakage, and it is very simple: it consists of inserting each game card in its respective console and leaving the game running for a few minutes.
As a recent Nintendo data leak reveals, internal error correction mechanisms called ECC (Error Correction Codes) exist in at least the 3DS and Switch 1 consoles. Every time we insert a game card and the console accesses its contents, the system can detect small degradations and correct them automatically before the massive accumulation of errors causes the game to become irreparably unreadable. In addition, 3DS—and probably Switch as well, since its code is partially based on that of this other console—implements special “refresh” commands that recalibrate and partially restore data integrity, further extending the lifespan of games.
Friendly reminder that you should probably plug in your card-based games every 5-10 years, if you want them to keep working. This includes 3DS, Vita, Switch 1&2, e.g. pic.twitter.com/TvY6QtyLZt
— Does it play? (@DoesItPlay1) June 23, 2025
Cartridges from classic consoles such as NES, Super NES, Game Boy, Genesis, or Nintendo 64 are not affected by this because they use physical ROM chips that do not have this problem, so we do not have to worry about the games becoming unusable... although we do have to make sure that their internal batteries do not die if we do not want to lose our game saves.
Everything points to this issue also occurring in the recently released Nintendo Switch 2: it most likely uses the same NAND Flash technology as its predecessors, with evolutionary improvements such as higher capacity and faster access times, but with the same structural limitation of data storage using electrons in load cells, prone to leak over time.
This is a widespread problem that potentially affects any physical game on these systems. The estimated lifetime of these game cards is between ten and twenty years under normal storage conditions we also perform these periodic maintenance tasks, which can extend the estimated lifetime of the game cards by several additional years.
The leakage phenomenon turns the purchase of games from these systems into a real lottery, especially when several years have passed since their original release. Unknowingly, we could purchase a new, sealed game card that does not work due to the problem that these NAND Flash memories are subject to.
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