The best Nintendo Switch SD card deals this Black Friday

The Nintendo Switch doesn't come with much onboard storage, which is why you'll need to buy a microSD card to expand it. Good job that we're into the best Black Friday deals period, then, as those microSD cards (that's the specific size required – smaller than 'normal' SD cards) are even lower-priced right now.

The original Nintendo Switch offers 32GB storage; the newer Switch OLED model doubles that to 64GB. Either way, with system information using up some of that space, once you start downloading a game or two you'll quickly use up the space – a download averages around 8GB, but can be over 30GB.

Picking an SD card for your Nintendo Switch requires some considerations (I'll detail 'Class speed' at the base of this article, for example). Also don't buy anything that seems too good to be true: there are reports of fake cards being sold on Amazon from not-reputable brands. So stick with our recommendations below!

SanDisk 128GB microSDXC for Nintendo Switch: was £34.99 now £12.99 at Amazon

The best for most people, and not just because it's got an official Nintendo affiliation and a Mushroom on the design. The price is great, the storage is four times that of the Switch's onboard capacity (double that of the OLED) and will serve many players very well indeed.

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SanDisk 256GB microSDXC for Nintendo Switch:

It only costs about a fiver more to buy double the capacity, with this 256GB card being a fan-favourite thanks to the Mario star and bold yellow finish. Reputable brand, great visuals, great price – a star deal, you could say.

SanDisk Ultra 256GB microSDXC card: was £25.34 now £15.99 at Amazon

Not fussed about Nintendo branding but want extra capacity for not much more cash? Reputable brand SanDisk has a 256GB card that's a specific Amazon Prime Day deal – and therefore when it's gone, it's gone! It's the same speed as the smaller capacity above, but that's fine for background storage.

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SanDisk 512GB microSDXC card for Nintendo Switch: was £76.99 now £37.99 at Amazon

If you're a Nintendo superfan then the Animal Crossing branding here is a lovely sight (before it's hidden away inside the console). If you want a large card capacity then this one could, say, save The Witcher 3 (at 31GB!) some 16 times over!

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SanDisk Pokemon 1TB microSD card for Nintendo Switch: was £127.99 now £79.99 at Amazon

If you're a Pokemon fan with massive capacity desires – gotta catch 'em all, after all! – then this official SanDisk card with Snorlax on the front provides 1TB at a cut of the usual price. Not one to snooze on this Black Friday!

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Nintendo Switch SD card speeds and classes explained

Note that it's actually the microSD format that Switch accepts, i.e. not full-size SD cards. That includes microSDHC and microSDXC up to 2TB in capacity, as directed by Nintendo on its official site (although no 2TB microSD cards exist at the time of writing, it's a theoretical maximum only).

The Switch supports UHS-I type cards (circa up to 100MB/s speeds), not the newer and faster UHS-II type.

However! There are also U1/V10 and U3/V30 types, the latter proven to be faster for install/loading even on Switch. Look for the 'bucket' U-shape with the number '3' inside it on the card as a visual identifier.

There are also Application Standards, A1 and A2 (expressed literally as so in a visual form), the latter far faster with read/write. While either is compatible with Switch, the console won't take advantage of A2, so don't overpay for this feature.