I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (2025)

From the day that the Switch version of 13 Sentinels was announced I've said that I'd double-dip on it as long as the port job was competent and the game didn't take a really noticeable hit in terms of image quality and/or performance. Performance was especially a concern since some of the more intense battle sections notoriously brought even PS4 Pros to their knees, dropping the otherwise smooth 60fps down into the teens as particle effects ravaged the CPU.

Well, a demo dropped on the Japanese eShop yesterday, and I made a Japanese eShop account so I could download it and share my impressions of the port job with you all.

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (1)


Finally we can play another Vanillaware game on a handheld with an OLED display (RIP Vita)

I had seen some YouTube videos of people playing the Japanese Switch demo, and I was a bit worried. I was seeing what looked like pretty noticeable compression on all of the 2D art assets, and some videos even appeared to suffer from judder or frame drops in certain areas. Well, I'm very happy to tell you that pretty much all of those concerns were allayed completely after having actually played the demo myself.

Rejoice, people. This is an EXCELLENT Switch port by Atlus.

I put it through its paces in both docked and handheld, and from what I can tell we're looking at native-res 720p60 in handheld and 1080p60 in docked. If you look veeeeery closely you might be able to tell that some compression is in place that was absent in the PS4 version, but honestly it looks pretty phenomenal to me whether you play it portably or on your TV. An important thing to note about 13S is that it was originally developed with the Vita in mind, and that version was eventually scrapped due to the Vita aging out of relevancy during the game's long development cycle. I think that the initial target being the Vita is partly due credit for this game being able to look and run very close to its PS4 counterpart on the aging Switch hardware.

Here are some handheld captures I took. They were uploaded from the Switch, so unfortunately they were compressed in transit. Trust me when I say it looks much sharper with less compression artifacts in person (click to see full size):

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (2)

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (3)


I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (4)

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (5)

I also took a few docked screenshots for comparison, including a few battle captures:

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (6)

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (7)


I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (8)

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (9)

Honestly, I think that most people won't be able to see any difference between the Switch and PS4 versions. Really discerning players who've played the PS4 version on either the Pro or PS5 might be able to spot some slight visual downgrades in the combat sections, but even then they're so subtle that I think many eagle-eyed players still won't notice.

Time will tell whether or not the more intensive, large scale battles that occur later in the game will be able to somehow avoid the PS4's framerate drops, but in these early demo sections everything was smooth and clear. The one downgrade that I can tell was made in the combat sections is that the particle effect explosions that accompany kaiju deaths have been toned down a bit in this Switch port. They were always the main culprit for frame dips on the PS4/Pro, and now here they are noticeably lessened in both quantity and complexity. Seeing as how they made even my PS4 Pro beg for mercy when things got crazy on-screen, I think that this was a necessary adjustment by Atlus.

So, yeah. Those are my impressions. I'll definitely be buying this again on Switch both to support Vanillaware and to play through it again in handheld mode. I hope that this thread puts some concerns to rest for fans who were eyeing a double-dip purchase like I was, but more importantly I hope it convinces new players to finally give this game a shot. I went into it thinking it'd be Vanillaware's weakest game to date, and I came out of it shouting my love for it from the rooftops. It's now one of my favorite games of all time, and if anyone gets me going talking about it I can't shut up.

This Switch release is a second chance for this underrated gem to move more copies than it did initially. If you have any interest whatsoever in experiencing a truly gripping narrative that playfully and expertly harnesses the unique medium of videogames in its delivery, PLEASE give 13S a shot when it releases on Switch. Vanillaware deserves it for making such a fantastic game, and Atlus deserves it for doing such a great job with this port.

I have played 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch. Here are my port quality impressions. (2025)
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