Trails of Cold Steel III Runs Surprisingly Well on Nintendo Switch

The porting process isn’t always a pleasant one. In the past, NIS America seems to have had some growing pains with first bringing older titles to PC and then to Nintendo Switch.

However, like with people, it seems some publishers change. After going hands-on with the Switch version of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, I’m glad to say that the game is running great on the hardware. Load time between areas and battles was surprisingly short, and I saw no problems with framerates during massive attacks and cutscenes. It was nice to be able to experience a mobile version of this title given that a playthrough can take over 100 hours.

What troubles me about the release is that the previous two entries are currently not available on the platform. While the game does contain an option on the main menu to catch you up to speed, some elements of the experience are lost. However, this is not really up to NISA as publisher XSEED owns the license to publish those titles in the west.

When it comes to the Switch release, players can expect to get 26 cosmetic items for free. This allows you to customize characters with silly glasses and new outfits. However, there is a downside to this version of the game. Trails of Cold Steel III runs at 720p 30fps in both docked and undocked modes. The resolution hit is most like to allow the game to run better on Switch, but those coming off of the PS4 or PS4 Pro version will quickly notice the difference. That said, I don’t mind the resolution hit because this game offers more in terms of a compelling story, characters, and RPG battles that I’ve never worried about how the title looks.

The Switch release seems to be a way to expand the audience of The Legend of Heroes to a new group of players. If you’ve played it before, you probably won’t play it again here. However, what’s most important is that this is a quality port that shows the publisher has what it takes to take on these projects. There’s also the fact that this is a long game and playing it during a commute might be just what some players need to complete this awesome adventure.

In case you missed it, check out our review of the game.

You can watch our gameplay preview from the Switch version of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III below:

Let us know if the Nintendo Switch version is something that you are looking forward to and what you would like to see from NISA and Falcom in the future.