That mmight be because currently the SEO space for "nintendo switch cart firmware" searches seems to be globbed by mentions to the flashcart project, depending on where / how do you search. Currently it eats up the first page and a half for me, even on DDG.

I have the physical carts that prove it. It's how I got my Switch in Pegascape to upgrade firmware safely in the first place. It was also critical to getting some very early upgrades (3.x) going. Perhaps they're just not doing it anylonger for newer fws?

A few sources on the existence of such carts include various threads at gbatemp, gamefaqs, and the ChoiDujourNX FAQ. What I don't know is if the upgrade is part of the game cart data or if it's partitioned sepaately.

[–] Pneuma@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago

I think you're right about SEO cluttering up searches with flash cart and also probably search engines becoming crappier in general. Everything I encountered so far has been telling me "no" and I had to look really hard to start finding traces of updating through game carts as far back as around 2019.

That said, the general consensus nowadays is still "no" since I guess they stopped doing it for newer firmwares as you suggested.

In any case we'll find out in due time as people start getting their hands on the flash cart and see how the cat and mouse plays out.