e-shop game vs cartridge version?

I believe you're mistaking the vanilla with the EX Version which is only distributed digitally.

From everything I've seen the past years, E-Shop versions either are Demos or exactly the same as the Cartridge Versions.
Variations between them can be checked via their Wikipedia entries, as I did for you for Nano Assault.

 

The answer to your question is yes, they are. Unless it's an eShop exclusive. But you will know beforehand through a quick research. But as long as you have both versions (eShop and cartridge) available in the market, they should be the same.

Cartridge versions have regular online updates too. So even if the version of the game in the cartridge is not the most updated, as soon as you insert the game in your console and are connected to the internet, it will ask you to install an update on top of the cartridge version. This update will take space from the console's internal memory or from your SD card.

And then you have games like L.A. Noir, for example, that will require a download to play the game, as the contents of the cartridge on their own are not enough.

 

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yes they are . the eshop version is just the cartridge copied digitaly to the eshop

 

This isn't true. The cartridge is a 3DS file that is always either 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, or 4 GB, whereas any cartridge game's eShop equivalent will take up less space than the cartridge version, because the eShop uses CIA files, which don't have the blank data used in 3DS files to make them be precisely 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, or 4 GB.

 

iirc Shantae and the pirate's curse had Shantae Nab only on the cartridge version on 3ds (i think both Switch versions have it though)

 

I've just realised this question is for 3DS and I was talking about the Switch. Apologies for the confusion!

As for the 3DS, I would say they were the same version and probably size, considering they are the same game with the same contents (excluding updates and DLCs). But I'm not entirely sure. Sorry!

 

bro you literally just stated the reason for most of the size difference and as others have said yes some games to have small differences between cartridge and eShop versions and if you really want so you can check their individual wikis no one has made a comprehensive list to my knowledge

 

Eshop games are indeed "trimmed" - but it doesn't mean what you think (which is usually, and still ambiguously, called "ripped"): they are not padded beyond the size of the contents (also a technical term with a specific definition, ie a NCCH = either a CXI or CFA), and they do not include the system update contents either