Game Card

A Game Card is a type of ROM cartridge used for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo 3DS. The name comes from the fact that the cartridges utilize the Secure Digital Card format, resulting in a small, flat shape reminiscent of a playing card. Game cards serve as a successor to the larger Game Paks utilized in the Game Boy line, the NES, SNES, and N64. Nintendo DS game cards use the serial code prefix "NTR" (referring to the Nintendo DS's codename "Nitro") while 3DS game cards use the serial code prefix "LNA" on the game label and "CTR" on the back of the cartridge. Nintendo game cards are manufactured by the Taiwanese company Macronix.

Game cards are A x B x C, with 3DS game cards additionally featuring a small appendage to the right of the game label to prevent them from being inserted into an original DS. Game cards are additionally color-coded based on which system they're designed for: DS game cards are either dark gray or black, DSi game cards are white, and 3DS game cards are light gray. Unlike game paks, game cards do not come in any special-edition variations.

The Nintendo 3DS and New 3DS are backwards-compatible with DS & DSi game cards, but the latter two systems are incapable of running 3DS game cards. Additionally, DSi game cards cannot be run on the original DS due to them taking advantage of DSi features that the DS lacks. For the same reason, the original 3DS cannot run game cards designed specifically for the New 3DS.

Despite ROM cartridges having fallen out of fashion for home consoles as a result of the Sony PlayStation's success over the N64, game cards have continuously found success with Nintendo handhelds as a result of their faster loading times (which is especially advantageous due to how handheld games are typically played in short intervals), lower vulnerability to piracy, and reduced system manufacturing costs (optical discs require an optical drive in order to be read and ventilator to prevent said drive from overheating; cartridges can simply be read with pins attached to the motherboard).