The Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a hidden HDR setting that improves the console’s visual quality, according to a report.
As early adopters continue to explore the ins and outs of Nintendo’s latest console, a surprising discovery has been made regarding its HDR output, one that could significantly improve visual quality for users who take the time to enable it correctly. It turns out that the Nintendo Switch 2 features a hidden HDR setting that is not immediately obvious during setup.
While calibrating peak brightness on the Nintendo Switch 2, the standard first step for HDR setup, users are taken to a second screen that appears rather ambiguous. Pressing the Y button here unlocks a secondary brightness adjustment slider. Unlike the initial peak brightness setting, this slider seems to control the paper white level, affecting how midtones and highlights are displayed without overriding the original calibration.
On tested displays such as the LG C1 OLED, lowering this secondary slider below the midpoint resulted in significantly improved contrast, with less overexposed shadows and cleaner menu visibility. The Nintendo Switch 2’s system dashboard and in-game visuals reportedly appear more balanced, with midtones gaining definition and highlights popping more dramatically, which is a key aspect of HDR.
What makes this even more unusual is that most game consoles offer two or three clearly labeled calibration screens for HDR setup. In contrast, the Nintendo Switch 2 hides this crucial adjustment behind a button prompt that many users may completely overlook. There is no automatic guidance or explanation provided by the system UI.
For those looking to get the most out of HDR on the Nintendo Switch 2, it’s also recommended to set your TV to HGiG mode, if supported. This disables dynamic tone mapping and allows the console’s HDR settings to display as intended, without interference from the TV’s own processing.
