Skip the Free Gengar Pad: Switch 2 Bundle's Best Pick Is Storage
Nintendo bundles usually mean one free game and zero genuine choice. The new build-your-own Switch 2 bundles, starting at £395.99 in Europe, flip that script: pick your console, a game, an NSO membership, and one accessory entirely free. The accessory list runs from officially licensed Gengar and Mimikyu Hori gear to 256GB microSD Express cards — which turns a routine hardware deal into the first Nintendo bundle where handheld owners have a decision worth thinking about.
For anyone who has watched a 117GB Final Fantasy 14 install eat nearly half of the Switch 2’s 256GB onboard capacity, that free card is the most useful thing Nintendo has bundled in years. US readers get the simpler $499 ‘Choose Your Game’ bundle instead — a console plus a code for Pokemon Pokopia, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Mario Kart World — with no accessory layer and no hard choice to make.
The 256GB Problem: Storage Math Beats the Gengar Tax
The official SanDisk and Samsung microSD Express cards are the most expensive items on the free-accessory list, which makes them the obvious value pick — and the right pick for how a handheld actually gets used. Licensed Pokemon hardware carries a built-in markup, which is why the £30.99 Gengar HORIPAD Turbo feels like a steal at zero cost. But a gamepad is a want. Storage is the thing that keeps the Switch 2 feeling like a portable library rather than a download queue.
With Final Fantasy 14 demanding 117GB on its own, the onboard 256GB shrinks to almost nothing once a couple of AAA installs land; doubling your capacity with a microSD Express card is the difference between uninstalling to play and actually keeping your rotation on the device.
The 480p Camera Trap and a Deal That Bypasses the US
The bundle’s one genuine trap is the Hori Piranha Plant camera. It only manages 480p image quality, it’s already prone to discounts at UK retailers, and any USB-C webcam you already own will produce a sharper picture in compatible Switch 2 games. Free is only a bargain if the thing keeps its value, and this one turns video calls into blurry blobs.
The Pokemon alternatives — the Vault Case, the Mimikyu range, the Eevee Cottage Core controller — are legitimate picks precisely because licensed accessories almost never go for zero. And if you want the biggest saving, the card still wins; a case is nice, but 256GB of extra storage works for every game you’ll ever install. That flexibility is the point, and it’s why the US version of this deal lands flatter: $499 gets you the console and a game code, no choice, no accessory. Nintendo rarely trusts buyers to make the value call themselves. The correct answer for most handheld owners is the card — it’s the only free accessory that keeps working long after launch week. If you pick the Gengar pad anyway, no judgment. Just know you’re paying the licensing tax in reverse. If the free card isn’t enough, Walmart’s Switch 2 memory card deals have you covered.