Why Some Switch 2 Games Look Awful And How To Fix It
The problems stem from the way players are able to adjust HDR from within the Switch 2 settings screen. Respected display expert Vicent Teoh found that oftentimes clicking on the arrow to increase brightness simply did nothing. Making it difficult to properly complete the calibration process. Moreover, the amount of clicks it takes to adjust one setting might be wildly different depending on what a player chose on prior screens.
Another major problem is that to get the best HDR experience with the new console, players must have a display capable of HGiG, which is a form of dynamic tone mapping and many newly minted Switch 2 owners probably don’t have a display that supports this technology. Teoh specifically mentions LG OLED TVs from 2019 onwards should be OK in this regard but doesn’t list any others. Thankfully, there are a myriad of TVs from LG, Samsung, Panasonic and others that support HGiG, but the setting may need to be toggled depending on the model's default configuration.
So is there a way to fix this? Yes, but it’s not going to be easy. Teoh notes what brightness levels should be at different steps of the process, but it requires having measuring equipment most don’t have. There’s a way to accomplish this using an Xbox Series console and then doing some math to try and translate it to the Switch 2, but it’s not an elegant solution.
The best advice is to have a recent OLED TV and enable HGiG in its settings. Players should then just do their best to go through the steps that Nintendo provides, and hopefully that gets them to a decent enough place. Turning off HDR is also a painless and far less frustrating option.
Hopefully, Nintendo can find a way to sort this out with a software update at some point in the future.
