Everyone Must Calm Down Concerning the Swap 2 Display and ‘Ghosting’

My getting old, stick drift-wracked original Switch was stacked with a library of video games I truthfully forgot I owned. The Switch 2, with its larger, brighter show, has breathed new life into this backlog, and it has develop into my new excuse to revisit Hades and Kentucky Route Zero. A brand new batch of naysayers declare the display screen isn’t value taking part in your older 2D titles on as a consequence of reported ghosting points, however the specs are rather more difficult than any not-a-tweet put up on X might suggest.

The Swap 2’s 7.9-inch show is a much better viewing expertise than the unique Swap, however it could be worse in a single side: ghosting. In its evaluate of the Swap 2 revealed over the weekend, Digital Foundry shared a few of its insights into a number of odd features of the hand-held’s show. Heavy ghosting is generally a results of lower-quality or older shows that create artifacts when objects are transferring rapidly throughout the display screen. The show can’t clear every body rapidly sufficient, and this could add an impact like a momentary blur to characters or objects. Whereas it is a downside with each flat panel show, Digital Foundry reviewers mentioned their expertise with ghosting was worse than with a Switch OLED and even in comparison with the unique Swap.

Whether or not you may discover ghosting might rely upon what recreation you play—particularly with 2D side-scrollers—however some customers on-line have already taken these notes about ghosting to say Nintendo opted for a less expensive or worse show on the Swap 2. Whether or not you, pricey reader, will discover these points or not is whether or not you’re delicate to picture blurring or if you wish to stare on the display screen with such depth you could possibly burn a gap via the hand-held.

You may see the ghosting impact finest in a video posted by YouTuber Bob Wulff that showcases footage performed at 240 fps. Slowed down, you may see the ghosting impact a lot simpler than you may should you had been looking at your display screen. Whereas it’s indicative of an LCD show that’s cheaper, it’s not the sort of impact most individuals with untrained eyes would be capable to spot. It’s not one thing you may see in different video evaluations that point out ghosting, like YouTuber Taki Udon’s current review of Nintendo’s handheld.

Since everybody’s citing the Swap 2 ghosting once more, right here is an excellent slower-mo breakdown.

Even at 240fps you see dramatic ghosting between frames. The picture freezes for JUST sufficient time so that you can get a nonetheless picture, earlier than going proper again to ghosting. https://t.co/3zJFQpTOy6 pic.twitter.com/LnLdZ6VMHJ

— Bob Wulff (@BobWulff) June 22, 2025

Now the massive query: does this matter? For many customers, not likely. The Swap 2 nonetheless outputs video in handheld mode at 1080p decision and as much as 120Hz refresh price with VRR, or variable refresh price. Which means the image is a better decision than the unique Swap’s 720p and the Steam Deck’s native 800p, and with the upper refresh price it may possibly showcase each body of a recreation that pushes body charges to its restrict whereas in handheld mode. Presently, solely Nintendo Swap 2 Welcome Tour showcases any 120 fps content material for the hand-held, and we may have to attend till we get Metroid Prime 4: Past to see whether or not it may possibly actually make use of these larger refresh charges.

In Gizmodo’s own review for the Switch 2, we didn’t discover any overt challenges taking part in video games on the hand-held’s display screen. Launch video games like Mario Kart World and Cyberpunk 2077 (the latter defaults to movement blur turned on, which might obscure any hints of ghosting) appeared vibrant on the brand new show. Like everyone who loved the Swap OLED, we had been upset we missed out on the “natural light-emitting diode” show for higher distinction and the deepest “blackest” blacks. The Swap 2’s IPS LCD show is brighter than the unique Swap. Nonetheless, {hardware} aficionados had already complained that Nintendo’s newest console doesn’t technically meet the minimal brightness to attain HDR, or “excessive dynamic vary.” This enables a display screen to create higher variance between the darkest and lightest components of the display screen.

The tip result’s the $450 handheld console seems to be nice, although it could not meet the bar set by probably the most hardware-hungry digital sleuths. What’s worse is the folks on-line who attempt to characterize Digital Foundry’s findings as a black mark in opposition to the Mario maker, regardless of the positioning’s largely constructive tackle Nintendo’s new console, particularly when it comes to efficiency when the hand-held is docked and linked to a TV.

We wouldn’t be stunned if Nintendo waits a number of years earlier than providing a premium Swap 2 improve so as to add an OLED display screen, prefer it did with the unique Swap. Already, the console has offered so nicely—with a claimed 3.5 million items offered within the first 4 days—that Nintendo will most likely take some time to push any new {hardware}. OLED has fewer points with ghosting than LCD, however the issue persists irrespective of which panel you utilize, simply to higher or lesser levels.