I was hopeful after preview event comments and discourse but the Switch 2's display is instantly a noticeable huge downgrade over the SWOLED.
It has truly terrible pixel response times leading to very bad LCD motion blur – something handhelds like the 2yr old ROG Ally don't suffer from, Nintendo have gone with a lower end panel here. As someone who suffers from motion sickness due to motion blur, it's completely unavoidable as every game feels like motion blur is enabled. Brightness is also average even on max.
It's a step up from the OG Switch, but that was a fairly mid-low panel 8 years ago. It makes the system feel like a partial downgrade in a noticable way which is a bummer for handheld gamers.
Edit (useful info) – if you disable auto brightness the max brightness is indeed notably improved.
Edit #2 – Apparently according to TakiUdon there are indeed 2 panels being used by Nintendo. Yet to see evidence of both compared directly https://x.com/TakiUdon_/status/1932617514783289830
by ctyldsley
41 Comments
Good lord.
LCDs will never match OLEDs
Sticking with my OLED till a Switch 2 OLED drops in the future.
I own Switch and OLED. And I prefer Switch 2s HDR screen.
> As someone who suffers from motion sickness due to motion blur, it’s completely unavoidable as every game feels like motion blur is enabled.
Yeah this is a console thing. It helps blend frames together in low framerate games. Being able to turn off motion blur and depth of field is one of the main reasons I play on PC when I have the choice.
I simply do not believe you get motion sickness from LCD panels. IPS panels of the last 10 years haven’t really had much of an issue with smearing. It’s definitely no match with OLEDs response time but I’ve never heard of anyone saying they get this with IPS panels.
Reading discourse about gaming online you wonder how anyone possibly played any videogame before 60+fps and OLED became the standard.
You’re so dramatic.
There is zero world where VRR, HDR, and 120fps can be considered “lower end.”
no comment but i love SWOLED as an abbreviation
Turn off auto brightness and the screen gets considerably brighter… like a lot a lot.
It’s brighter than the old OLED which is 340 nits. This new LCD is 450 nits. It’s not great – especially if you’re expecting impressive HDR but it’s still a great experience imo..
Screen compared to V1 is better in every aspect imo, colour, brightness… inc motion blur. So if you’re coming from LCD you have nothing to worry about. Yes theres backlight raised black levels as you’d expect but I find the backlight more uniform/less distracting than V1 which had brighter hot spots.
Pixel response is like every LCD I can think of – I think it really comes down to how sensitive you are to it. I’m sensitive to OLED black smear when playing at night.
When I brought up the LCD display during the reveal, I was told LCD technology has come a long way and “just look at the PS Portal LCD”. Sigh.
I mean, I don’t plan on throwing my OLED out lmao
For certain games with lots of black I will probably choose to go with the OLED.
It’s less of a downgrade and more of a side grade. Yes, it lost those pure blacks and amazing contrast, but it gained 120hz VRR. If given the choice, I take the later.
I’m not even buying the Switch 2 anytime soon but I swear people are so spoiled and pissy about the tiniest things in this space.
I hear you.
I’m very sensitive to input lag and pixel response. And this Switch 2 display is a ghosting, smeary mess.
I want the real numbers on this, because what I’m seeing is honestly baffling for a gaming display in 2025. I would be very surprised if the grey to grey response was less than 30ms.
120fps is meaningless if the pixels are only refreshing at effectively 30 or 40.
You can even see it on the menu. Scroll quickly through your display settings while on dark mode, you’ll see the text smearing and ghosting it’s unbelievable.
I am honestly gobsmacked that Nintendo thinks this is okay.
Op you are genuinely onto something here. Me and my mate who also notice this stuff can’t believe how bad the pixel response is.
The rog ally is a perfect comparison.
Don’t listen to all the others who couldn’t tell you the difference between hz and fps in the first place. It’s a slow lcd, who knows how much blowback there will be
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I love being a casual so I don’t have to be burdened by this.
The screen looks great and rather comparable imo
Here is someone else showing the exact issue:
https://x.com/carygolomb/status/1930672469343351136
OP you are right.
Not your fault OP but the switch 1’s screen was actually very good for 2017, especially for a 300 dollar device. I have no idea how this sentiment became so common but it’s objectively, measurably untrue that it was poor for the era or even average. https://youtu.be/QvDdaVZ7MCU?si=PS3-Jolkj5F2IB2w
It looks worse but it s not terrible
OP. I’ve done a lot of testing and [made some videos](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8j34r0278tpu830laplx3/ALR2w2qOumyvnf4sEyoMRhg?rlkey=tzun2pcu2i3m80ndsfq7lb1ia&dl=0) to prove your point.
Mario Kart and Metroid Prime make this REALLY obvious.
I’m yet to test on an OG Switch 1 LCD, but I’m inclined to think it’s not even as bad as this.
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Here is a [falling Morph Ball on Metroid Dread Switch 2](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jfcz2cdwez1panugabdap/falling-morph-ball-switch-2.png?rlkey=g6bh3mia7njhr0sl5zcluk004&dl=0):
Here is the [same animation on a Switch 1 OLED](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i87yh17qk3a9hdbqsc4vs/falling-morph-ball-switch-OLED.png?rlkey=8u0hqjkolxf2y5zktg974exnm&dl=0):
Take note of how long the ghost trail is, and also how bright/intense it is. This is the measureable blur that OP is talking about. And yes it can make some people feel sick, especially when in first person using a 3D camera.
Even when running 60FPS, the Switch 2 LCD has a visible 3-4 ghosts or “smears” in a single photograph.
This is some 2000s LCD era shit.
Here are my [full videos comparing games here.](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8j34r0278tpu830laplx3/ALR2w2qOumyvnf4sEyoMRhg?rlkey=tzun2pcu2i3m80ndsfq7lb1ia&dl=0)
Another data point. This gives me motion sickness as well. I am going to return it and wait for the OLED or next upgrade. Already have the switch one OLED and Xbox series X. So I really don’t need this now.
I can confirm this issue on mine as well. It’s so unfortunate because I want to love it, but I am literally getting motion sick from the screen, which never happened on the OG or my OLED.
I have to say, while I don’t think the display is terrible, I do agree with a lot of what you’re saying. There’s pretty clear blurring, but fortunately it doesn’t bother me too much. I will say the display is probably the worst part of the Switch 2. It’s still a decent display, but I think it was slightly overhyped in the previews and is the only thing stopping the Switch 2 from being pretty much perfect
Don’t worry mate, you’re not alone, I immediately noticed the horrible ghosting as well. Probably just spoiled by all of my main devices being OLED now (phone, TV, PC monitor, steam deck), but yeah it’s really hard to go back…
Nintendo is banking on people double dipping when the OLED 2 does inevitably come out. I didnt buy a switch 1 until 2019 so I am a patient gamer. I want to buy one for my son eventually. He has an OLED as he plays undocked quite a bit, and I dont want to get the LCD Switch 2. If it was out before Christmas I would definitely buy one but I would guess 2026 at the earliest. Which will be unfortunate.
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Games that don’t benefit from the better power or don’t have a switch 2 upgrade pack are still best played on the oled. It’s just so beautiful.
That is not true. The Switch 2 display is amazing and so bright. Also 1080p make it more crystal clear than the OLED.
I just played my first game on the switch 2 for about 2 hours, and had to turn it off bcus of the headaches from motion sickness.
I was playing animal crossing. I’ve never had this problem on the previous generation switchs’.
But funnily enough, it feels like with every new game coming out or every new display screen coming out, my motion sickness is just getting worse and worse.
Although I’m honestly about to start looking into seeing medical professionals like neurologists, ENTs, opthamologists, etc, bcus this issue to me feels like beyond a bloody joke. I need to know if it’s just me and age, or if technology is just becoming a bigger and bigger problem for me.
The amount of games being released that I want to play but can’t bcus of motion sickness is insane.
eta : At least I won’t have a problem with the battery running out as I can’t even play long enough for it to be properly drained, hahaha.
I’m not buying till oled releases. This is a waste of money right now
Having owned a 2018 11in iPad Pro, I know the pain.
On the spec sheet having 120Hz, HDR10, VRR seems like a premium panel. But there’s a huge difference in panel quality. The iPad one has notoriously bad smearing, so the image looks way worse in motion than my phone’s OLED screen with the same nominal specs.
People should demand more for a $450 console. This is clearly a huge downgrade from the prior model. The HDR label is worthless if the underlying panel has poor black level, low peak brightness and slow response time
I’ve played exclusively in handheld so far with the switch 2 and I’ve noticed absolutely no issue, so I’m assuming that I’m someone who’s not bothered by motion blur. I’m sorry that some people are though, it sounds debilitating and that sucks. That said, I think the overwhelming majority of people will never notice it at all. We’ll see if this gains any even remotely significant traction as time marches on, but I will be extremely surprised if it does.
They are trying to maximize their profits and will release an expensive oled one later, we all know this.
They’re saving that for Switch 2 v2
I’m go glad I never notice this stuff. Looks great to me. I thought the switch 1 was fine too