It’s been almost two decades since the classic Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic came out on Xbox. Since then, KOTOR has been ported to practically every system imaginable, and most recently, it has made its way to the Nintendo Switch. 

Like many others, I have been blissfully reliving my teenage years revisiting KOTOR on my Switch in anticipation of Aspyr’s impending next-gen remaster. Knights of the Old Republic ages surprisingly well but requires hours of old-school grind. 

With a few savvy KOTOR cheats, you don’t have to grind anymore. 

Whether you are revisiting a game you already poured ample hours into, or you’re a first-timer wanting to see what all the fuss is about, these cheats will help take you on a power trip through the galaxy in no time. 

Table of Contents:

1. How to Unlock KOTOR Cheats on Nintendo Switch
2. Why Use Cheat Codes?
3. List of KOTOR Cheats Available on Nintendo Switch
4. Add Any Feat, Power or Skill Guide
5. Add Experience
6. Turbo Speed
7. Create an Item Guide
8. Get to Know the Cheat Bot
9. Adjusting the Camera

How to Unlock KOTOR Cheats on Nintendo Switch

After the most recent update for Knights of the Old Republic on Nintendo Switch, players can easily access the cheat code menu at any time:

simply press in on the left thumbstick three times to open the menu. 

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You’ll then have access to a treasure trove of KOTOR cheats at any point in the game. From there it’s your choice to use this for good, or for evil…

Why Use Cheat Codes?

Using cheats may earn a raised eyebrow from gaming purists, but they can do wonders to enrich a player's experience–especially for an older game. 

There are two main philosophies to using KOTOR cheats on Nintendo Switch:

You already beat KOTOR and are just trying to have a good time:

Grinding for experience and high-level equipment can feel like work, why put yourself through that again? Giving your character a boost in XP or nabbing some extra credits can help speed up your playthrough. Or you can use some more game-breaking cheats to go on a well deserved power trip, or role-play your character in a more specific way. 

You missed out on KOTOR at launch and want to see what it’s about:

Playing a 20-year-old game can have some drawbacks, slower pacing being the most notable. A few well-timed cheats can help get things moving when you feel the grind is cramping your style. And, since you aren’t getting anything from the nostalgia factor here, some crazy cheats like adding Jedi weapons and maxing out the fun feats can help spice the game up. 

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic holds up surprisingly well for its age in 2022, and the game doesn’t necessarily need cheats to be palatable. However, some of these KOTOR cheats are too damn fun not to play around with.

List of KOTOR Cheats Available on Nintendo Switch

There is a pretty well-rounded arsenal of useful KOTOR cheats available to help boost your character's journey either to the light or the dark side of the force:

1. Add any feat, power or skill
2. Add 1000 experience
3. Add 5000 experience
4. Add 10,000 experience
5. Turbo Speed
6. Create Item
7. Spawn Cheat Bot
8. Adjusting the Camera

Add Any Feat, Power or Skill Guide

In this menu, you can add any feat, power or skill to your protagonist's ability pool. 

Feats: add any feat to your character.

Feats are useful ways to give you advantages like duel wielding weapons, or fulfilling equipment requirements like heavy armor. You can play around with role-playing your character as a master sniper by selecting Weapon Specialization in Blaster Rifles and Master Sniper Shot. Or you can go nuts mastering a bit of everything. 

Important note: If you want to use a lightsaber early (more on that in a bit, because of course you do!), you must at least add the feat Weapon Focus: Lightsaber. You can also skip ahead to the higher level Weapon Proficiency or Mastery tiers if you want to feel more like the Jedi Master or Sith you are. 

Powers: add any force power to your character. 

Skip the hours of intense Jedi training and meditation and immediately become the ultimate force user. Force powers unlock helpful abilities like heal, buffs like Master Valor and potent attacks like Force lightning that make mowing through enemies so much sweeter. 

Unfortunately, it seems you can’t add any powers to your character until you unlock your Force sensitivity through the narrative–so no force choking Bendak Starkiller on Taris friends. 

Skills: max any skill for your character’s level. Here you can choose to max out:

• Computer use
• Demolitions
• Stealth
• Awareness
• Persuade
• Repair
• Security
• Treat Injury

Selecting any of these cheats will automatically raise your skill to it’s max for your level. Cross class skills will be nerfed accordingly and class skills will rise to their peak. If you want to raise your stats any higher, you’ll have to first level up your character. 

Add Experience

The next three KOTOR cheats on Nintendo Switch are straightforward, allowing you to add either: 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 exp at a time. This allows you to give you a little boost if you're just wanting to avoid some grind, or blow past any opposition. 

Turbo Speed

Arguably the most fun and the most helpful cheat. 

If you find the pace of KOTOR too slow and you’re not there for the sights, Turbo Speed is like a fast-forward button. It might break the immersion of seeing your character power walking ridiculously through the Star Wars universe, but it saves a lot of time. 

Just select Turbo Speed in the menu again to slow things down again. 

Create an Item Guide

Here you can create any item in the game. This is the most helpful section of KOTOR cheats for Nintendo Switch players wanting to role play in a more fluid manner than the narrative allows. 

You can shortcut your way to the best armor, weapons, grenades and credits on a whim. It’s a pain, but items within their categories are titled as arbitrary file names that tell you nothing about the item you’re creating–so you have to explore a bit. 

Because most of us just want to shortcut our way to the force, here’s a lightsaber guide to get you started down the path of a Jedi, or a Sith. 

Lightsaber color guide:

1. Red: g1_w_lghtsbr01, g_w_lghtsbr02,
2. Light Blue: g1_w_lghtsbr02
3. Blue: g_w_lghtsbr01
4. Green: g_w_lghtsbr03
5. Yellow: g_w_lghtsbr04
6. Violet: g_w_lghtsbr05
7. Malek’s Lightsaber (Red, same base lightsaber stats): g_w_lghtsbr06
8. Dark Jedi Lightsaber (Red, same base lightsaber stats): g_w_drkjdisbr001

Lightsaber Crystals Guide:

1. g1_w_sbrcrstl20: Heart of the Guardian (buffs crystals)
2. g1_w_sbrcrstl20: Mantle of the Force (buffs crystals)
3. g_w_sbrcrstl01: crystal Rubat (attack +1, energy damage 1)
4. G_w_sbrcrstl02: crystal diamond (attack +3
5. G_w_sbrcrstl03: crystal eralam (attack +2, energy damage 2)
6. G_w_sbrcrstl04: sapith (attack +2, energy damage 3)
7. G_w_sbrcrstl05: nextor (attack +1, keen)
8. G_w_sbrcrstl06: Opila (energy damage 3, Massive crit +2-12)
9. G_w_sbrcrstl07: Jenruax (blaster deflect +5, energy damage 2)
10. G_w_sbrcrstl08: Phond (physical dmg +1-6 piercing)
11. G_w_sbrcrstl09: Luxum (attack +2, +1-6 vs droid)
12. G_w_sbrcrstl10:Bondar (Stun chance 25%)
13. G_w_sbrcrstl11: Firkrann (attack +2, +2-12 vs droid)
14. G_w_sbrcrstl12 Sigil (attack +1, energy damage 1-6)
15. G_w_sbrcrstl13 Upari (attack +3, energy damage 1-8)
16. G_w_sbrcrstl14: Blue
17. G_w_sbrcrstl15: Yellow
18. G_w_sbrcrstl16: Green
19. G_w_sbrcrstl17: Violet
20. G_w_sbrcrstl18: Red
21. G_w_sbrcrstl19: Solari (light side only: Attack +3, +1-8 vs dark side, +3 physical dmg)
22. G_w_sbrcrstl20: Rough-cut Upari Amulet (+3 bludgeoning dmg, +1-6 bludgeoning dmg vs droids)

How to Use the KOTOR Cheats’ “Cheat Bot”

Need a little help in battle and your party just isn’t cutting it?

Call up your aptly named friend the “Cheat Bot” will give you a hand. Select this option and a friendly protocol droid appears. 

He doesn’t seem to do much at first, but after talking to your new companion you’ll find several dialogue options to navigate. This is where things get a little crazy…

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Cheat Bot Dialogue Options:

• I want to quit (exit dialogue)
• I need to set the planet location variable
• I need to make an NPC available to my party
• I need to check the status of a game variable
• Determines the various planets that can be selected on the Star Map
• Determines how many Star Maps have been discovered
• Determines whether the party should be captured by the Leviathan
• I would like you to self-destruct in 5 seconds. (Cheat bot disappears)

You can access locations, add party members, etc. here. Have a favorite character you wish you could hang with earlier than the story wants you to? Go for it. Want to fast track to your favorite planet? Be my guest. 

The cheat bot is an admittedly random way to give you access to some of the most game-breaking KOTOR cheats on Nintendo Switch you can find. 

Adjusting the Camera

The KOTOR cheats menu gives several options to play with your camera if you want to take a sweet screenshot or explore the environment. 

Toggle Screenshot Mode

This mode removes the UI from the play screen so you can take all the scenic screenshots you want. Not that you would particularly want to focus too much on the rough edges of these polygons from 2003.

Toggle Flight Camera

Escape the confines of your 3rd-person camera and explore the expanse of the world around you. The controls for this camera are very tanky and take you off the rails very quickly off the beaten path of the game's architecture, but it can make for a good screenshot or some good fun at least. 

KOTOR Cheats on Nintendo Switch Wrap-Up

While I’m not typically an advocate for cheats in video games, I do think they can make a dated game both more accessible and enjoyable. You can circumvent a lot of the grind that defined the older generation of gaming, while respecting your valuable time. 

Going overboard with these cheats can definitely spoil the fun, but a little boost in XP, credits, and an early item or NPC can go a long way in enriching your role-playing experience. 

May the Force be with you friends.

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