Nintendo Switch 2's hidden HDR setting is easy to miss – here's what it does
This HDR setting on Nintendo Switch 2 is easily missed
👀 The Nintendo Switch 2 has a hidden HDR brightness adjustment setting that's easy to overlook
👉 After calibrating HDR, press 'Y' on the Super Mario Bros. Wonder artwork screen to access the brightness slider
⚪️ This setting adjusts the "paper white" brightness, affecting how bright white areas appear in HDR
📺 Experimenting with this setting can optimize HDR output for your TV
The Nintendo Switch 2 lets you enjoy HDR in compatible games, but you'll want to tweak your display settings to ensure it's optimized for your TV.
However, there's one hidden HDR setting on Switch 2 that's easy to miss – and I'll admit I also overlooked it when compiling my best Nintendo Switch 2 settings guide (thanks, My Life in Gaming).
It's not difficult to see why, though. Under 'Adjust HDR', you'll find the usual test pattern screen that asks you to make one of the sunshine patterns disappear. Once you click 'Next', you'll see an image of Super Mario Bros. Wonder artwork displayed, and you're prompted to press 'OK'.
Take a few more seconds, though, and you'll see that you can also adjust the brightness by pressing 'Y'. Doing so will present a slider, allowing you to make the image brighter or dimmer, depending on your preference. You can also cycle through other still images, which include Pikmin 4, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 3, and the Switch 2 home screen in the Basic White and Basic Black themes to see how things look.
This adjustment seems to affect the Switch 2's "paper white" setting, and won't override the previous calibration screen. "Paper white" refers to the brightness of a paper-white surface when HDR is enabled. It's a reference point for calibrating the overall brightness of a HDR image, and helps to determine how bright the brightest parts of the scene (such as a white object) should appear.
If you feel like your HDR output on Nintendo Switch 2 is lacking a bit of oomph or is overly bright, it might be worth experimenting with this HDR setting that countless people will have missed.
We recently published our comprehensive Nintendo Switch 2 review and described the new console as "the best console Nintendo has ever made. Period.” You can also read our Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller review, which we believe is “the pinnacle of video game controllers.”
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.