The Switch 2 has a ton of new features and a much more detailed list of settings you can tinker with than its predecessor. Here are four you should change right from the jump to improve your overall experience with Nintendo’s new Mario Kart World machine. Just go into the settings menu inside the gear icon near the bottom right of the home screen to get started.
Calibrate HDR and turn it off for games that don’t support it
The Switch 2 offers upgraded visuals, including HDR (high dynamic range). It’s supposed to make the picture quality more vibrant with darker darks and lighter lights, but it can also make games look washed out if they don’t support it. Oddly, the Switch 2 turns HDR on by default for everything. Fortunately, you can toggle it to only turn on for games that support it. You’ll also want to calibrate HDR for your TV display when the Switch 2 is docked. You can do that by using one of those dials where you keep going until the image is barely visible.
Automatically turn charging off to improve battery life
The Switch 2 contains a nice new option to have your battery life cap out around 90 percent when you’re charging it. This is to help extend the overall life of the battery, and it’s ability to retain a charge years down the road. Once again, it’s just another straightforward option you can toggle to from the settings menu, and you can always go back and fully charge up before a trip or another extended period of being away from an outlet.
Turn off this one internet setting to boost download speeds over Wi-Fi
Nitnendo’s new hardware supports the new internet protocol IPv6. Unfortunately, in practice, having that active as part of your Wi-Fi internet connection seems to slow speeds down by not automatically connecting to faster wireless signals. The good news is that players seem to have been able to bypass the mystery issue by going to internet settings for their network and toggling the IPv6 slot off entirely. Anecdotally, that seems to allow players to connect to 5G networking speeds. Lots of players are having issues with Wi-Fi speeds though, suggesting Nintendo might need to deploy a bigger fix in the coming weeks.
Check your Switch 2 controllers for updates
Unlike some other consoles, the Switch 2 doesn’t appear to automatically push out new updates for accessories like the Joy-Con or new Pro controller. As a result, players need go into the settings menu and occasionally check if there’s anything new to download. You can a still play games with older-version hardware, but anything that’s not fully updated could be prone to bugs or performance flaws that wouldn’t otherwise pop up.
Turn off manually unlocking the screen
The first time your Switch 2 goes into sleep mode you’ll need to pump the A button several times before the console comes back on. Turning manual off will make it so you no longer have to press the A button three times to unlock the screen. That’s a nice thing to bypass considering the Switch 2 is the tiniest bit sluggish when waking up from sleep, taking a few seconds extra to notice controller inputs. Now, if only you could turn the locked screen off entirely.
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