Fans are questioning why the brightness looks off on the Nintendo Switch 2 and getting frustrated with the functions of the A and B buttons. Fortunately, these settings are easily tweaked in the Settings menu, but they're not easily found.
Since the Switch 2 has been out for only a week, a lot of people are still exploring all that it can do while enjoying their new portable gaming machine. It's understandable to just rip the package open and start playing, but to get the most out of the Switch successor, there are a few settings that should be adjusted for the best experience. Read on to find out which settings we recommend tweaking when firing up your Switch 2 for the first time.
Stop charging Switch 2's battery at 90%
A way to preserve battery life is to not fully charge or deplete the your device's battery. Fortunately, Nintendo added a quick setting just for this.
To enable this setting, go to System Settings from the Home screen > Controllers & Accessories > go down to Stop Charging Around 90% and hit OK to enable.
For those instances where you need absolutely every second of battery life, like on a long flight, make sure to disable this option when you're doing that last charge before a trip. Or better yet, just buy a power bank.
Swap the A and B buttons
For those who jump from one console to another, going back to a Nintendo console is always frustrating because of the functions of two buttons: A and B. Since the NES, Nintendo has always used the layout of B then A on its gamepads, with B always being the cancel button and A as the confirmation button. However, in the case of the Xbox, PlayStation or even the Steam Deck, the confirmation button comes first and then the cancel button comes after it. This results in confusion, and frustration, for people who jump from another console to the Switch.
Nintendo finally implemented a setting to change this around on the system level, which now allows the B button to be the confirmation button, and the A button to be used for cancelling.
To swap the A and B buttons, go to System Settings from the Home screen > Controllers & Accessories > go down to Swap A and B and hit OK to enable.
If you use a Pro controller or another controller, you will need to enable it on each controller. Also, this will not change the text settings.
Set your captures to auto-upload to the Nintendo Switch app
One handy setting if you're big on game captures is the auto-upload option. Instead of having to select each capture to get uploaded to your phone, the Switch 2 will do it for you once this has been enabled.
To enable Automatic Uploads, go to Album from the Home screen > select Upload Settings > Automatic Uploads and press OK to toggle on.
Keep in mind that this only works for the Nintendo Switch app, which is different from the Nintendo Today app.
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Turn off screen burn-in reduction
If your Switch 2 isn't quite bright enough, Auto Brightness is the likely cause. This option can be easily turned off by holding
the Home button and disabling it from the Quick Settings menu. However, there is another setting that dims the screen that you might not be aware of.
Screen burn-in reduction is enabled on the console out of the box, and it's intended to keep the screen pristine. It lowers the screen's brightness after some inactivity, but if for some reason you want this off, we've got you covered.
To disable screen burn-in reduction, go to System Settings from the Home screen > Display > Screen Burn-in Reduction and press OK to toggle off.
Turn on Dark mode
Everyone loves a Dark mode on their devices, and the Switch 2 has one. The trick is that Dark mode is called "Basic Dark" on the Switch 2.
To enable the Switch 2's version of Dark mode, go to System Settings from the Home screen > Themes and select Basic Dark.
Make sure to adjust the brightness...again
All the previous options can be done in handheld mode, but the next two involve HDR, which requires connecting the Switch 2 to a TV via the dock. If your TV supports HDR, the Switch has a setup for getting the most vibrant-looking visuals.
It's easy enough to find. Simply go to System Settings from the Home screen > Display > Adjust HDR
This will then go through the setup of setting the brightness to where you can barely see two symbols. Once that's done, a second screen will come up. Here, you can adjust the brightness a little more by pressing the Y button. This will help fine-tune the brightness for you, just in case the previous HDR setting made it a little too bright or a little too dark.
HDR Output for Compatible Software Only
Not only can the Switch 2 output HDR, but it can also use a "fake" HDR for non-HDR games. Out of the box, the Switch 2 is set to have HDR on all games, but there might be an older title that looks washed out because it doesn't support HDR. Instead, you can switch the setting to allow HDR only on games that support it.
To change this setting, go to System Settings from the Home screen > HDR Output and select Compatible Software Only.
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