Games That Allow You To Save Internally.

Some PlayStation Vita games will let you save to the internal memory on the cartridge; others require you to have an external memory card, in a situation reminiscent of the Nintendo 64's confusing "Controller Pak." Kotaku Japan compiled a list of the Japanese launch games and their memory requirements, allowing us to see how common the external memory requirement is.

Known launch window games requiring separate memory cards include Ridge Racer, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, Sega's golf game @Field, Hot Shots Golf 6, the AR title Monster Radar, and the assuredly Japan-only Dream Club Zero Portable. Everything else saves to memory included on the game itself -- with one exception: the status of (sigh) Touch My Katamari is unannounced.

That's for the retail versions of these games. Here's the list of games whose PSN versions require you to use an external memory card for save data:

All of them.

I thought you were talking about the PSP we all know and love :(

Nope, isn't this in the Vita section?

Ready to learn even more about the intricacies of Vita game saving, long before you'll ever hit "save" on a Vita game? After reporting the list of games requiring external memory card, Kotaku Japan followed up with SCEI to get more information about the save system.

Games capable of saving directly to their own cartridges, the site learned, won't offer you the option to save to an external card. That means you'll never be given the choice -- games that can save internally will always do so. The site also discovered that you'll have to have a memory card in the Vita at startup in order to operate games that require external storage.

Sony told Kotaku Japan that in addition to save data, some games may use the memory card for DLC. Got it?