If you buy a physical copy on the 3DS, does it need to download?

I own a Nintendo 3DS and I was wondering if you buy a physical copy of a game, e.g. Pokemon Sun, does it need to download?

Solution 1:

When you purchase a physical 3DS cartridge, the cartridge contains the game on it. You will not need to download the game.

Note however that this is separate from game updates, which you will still need to download onto an SD card. I don't believe Pokemon Sun / Moon have any such updates yet, but if you were to buy, say, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you'd need to download the updates that have been published since the release date.

Solution 2:

You need to buy the game card (cartridge) that goes with it:

This isn't like a computer where you download stuff: all the memory is stored within the cartridge rather than the 3DS itself (speaking about the game memory). Updates may/will be downloaded onto the 3DS itself though.

Solution 3:

If you have the physical game cartridge, then no. All data is stored on the game cartridge. Just note that while the game data is stored on the cartridge, update data is installed to the SD card