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Nintendo announced the release date for the upcoming spin-off Pokemon Pokopia and, after it did, also confirmed it is a Game-Key Card instead of a standard cartridge. This means that if you get a physical copy when the game launches on March 5, 2026, you will need to have an internet connection to fully download the title and will have no game data on the cartridge you purchase. An early purchase bonus is a Ditto rug. There’s also a new trailer going over those types of physical copies on YouTube featuring this game. The over 2,300 comments, as of 10:15am ET on November 11, 2025, are entirely negative.
The video uses Donkey Kong Bananza, which is a standard Switch 2 cartridge that features the full game, and Pokemon Pokopia, which it turns out is a Game-Key Card with no actual data on the cart. The video clarifies that a Game Card has everything, requires no internet connection, and lets you enjoy the game anytime, anywhere, even if something happens like Nintendo servers going down and the storefront and downloads being unavailable. The Game-Key Card essentially “unlocks” a digital copy of the game for a system, with the box and the cartridge featuring notation showing its nature.
When someone uses a Switch 2 Game-Key Card for the first time, they must have access to the internet and enough space on their system. If they don’t, they have a useless chunk of plastic. In the example shown in the video, it suggests the Pokemon Pokopia sample might be a 10GB game. Whenever you want to play a Game-Key Card game, you must put that cart into the system. Even though it is all digital and downloaded to the console, it is inaccessible without the cartridge.
Here’s the explainer video:
Pokemon Pokopia will come to the Switch 2, and the release date is March 5, 2026.
