Nintendo Switch OLED: the 10 best games to play

So you’ve unpacked your sleek new OLED Nintendo Switch and are looking to see your investment pay off. What games are really going to show the improvements of the new model? The question is surprisingly complicated!

The thing about an OLED screen is that while it will perform better than an LCD screen, the differences will be much more noticeable in certain circumstances than others. Very colorful games, or games with super high contrast, will definitely show up on the OLED screen, while games with a more realistic or muted aesthetic won’t look much different than they did on the old LCD screen.

To that end, we’ve selected a selection of games that best showcase the power of the Nintendo Switch OLED model.

Metroid Afraid

Image: MercurySteam / Nintendo

We’ll start with the obvious. Metroid Dread launched alongside OLED and is probably the best demonstration of what the new hardware is capable of. AfraidThe combination of extremely dark shadows and bright neon laser bursts makes for a striking demonstration of the new display. (Try to play Afraid in portable mode and then switch to docked mode on a non-OLED TV, and the difference will be obvious).

Mario Kart 8 deluxe

Image: Nintendo EPD / Nintendo

The best-selling Switch game of all time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it is also a fantastic masterpiece for the OLED switch. The game’s colorful characters and levels are considerably more vibrant on an OLED screen. Even something as simple as Mario’s hat will make you question if you had truly I knew the color of Mario’s hat before this.

Weather Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shows Mario at his best, basically all Mushroom Kingdom games look great on the OLED so don’t forget to boot Odyssey, Bowser’s fury, or any of the games in Super Mario 3D All-Stars (if you bought it in time).

Hollow knight

Image: Team Cherry

Surprise released for Nintendo Switch in 2018, Hollow knight It is still one of the best games on the platform and one of the best Metroidvanias ever created. It’s also great for showcasing the power of the OLED, thanks to its 2D art that emphasizes the hard, dark lines around most characters, along with environments that constantly play with light and shadow. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to choose this game, OLED is a very good excuse.

Tetris Connected effect

Image: Monstars Inc., Resonair / Enhance Games

How do you improve on Tetris after almost 40 years? Somehow, Tetris effect found a way with its mind-blowing visuals and satisfying twists in the main game. The game took a while to get to Switch, but now the latest version, Tetris effect connected, it’s here. Many levels start with a pure black background that slowly comes to life as you fill in the lines, and that visual feast looks impressive on the OLED. Watching dolphins traverse a galaxy while completing a Decahexatris is a sight to behold.

hell

Image: Supergiant Games

Polygon’s choice for the game of the year in 2020 has always been a blast, regardless of what platform you play on. But hell It is also suitable for OLED model improvements. The art style of the game uses colorful characters, shaded by cells, surrounded by hard black outlines, and as a result, everything just stands out. Whether that makes chthonic gods even hotter is a question you’ll have to answer for yourself.

Devil 2 risen

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

This remake of one of the most successful hack-‘n-slash RPGs of all time looks solid on an OLED screen, although it takes some time to get to the areas that work best (specifically the game’s darkest dungeons. lit by torches). We have included it in this list mainly due to the larger screen size of the OLED model. In portable mode on a normal Switch or a Switch Lite, Devil 2Text and UI elements are easily lost and confused. While the OLED switch display does not that much larger, the increased size makes this game much more playable.

TOEM

Image: Something We Did

This adorable indie game about taking pictures takes place entirely in black and white. Do you know what OLED does really well? Contrast, of course! And what could be more contrast than black and white? It also helps that TOEMThe simple graphics style allows the game to run at a native resolution of 720, making everything super sharp and clear.

Spelunky HD and Spelunky 2

If you can withstand intense platforming difficulty, Spelunky HD and Spelunky 2Released on the Switch just a couple of months ago, these are two beautiful demos of the OLED display. The colorful 2D sprites from both games shine bright on the OLED, but if you’re looking to really impress yourself, keep playing until you hit a dreaded dark level. These areas are almost completely black, but illuminated with occasional torches and glowing insects. Good grief, talk about a perfect storm for the OLED model!

Iron tails

If you’ve ever wanted to play a tough game, like 2D Souls, but wanted it to feature a group of mice fighting frogs in a medieval setting (voiced by the guy who played Geralt in the Witcher games!), Iron tails is for you. It looks amazing on the OLED switch, thanks to its hand-drawn 2D artwork, which is one of the best we’ve seen in recent memory. Just be careful – despite the adorable looks of the clothed mice, this game gets grim really quickly.

Cruis’n Blast

Image: Raw Thrills

This bizarre console-turned racing game features giant underground yetis and playable hammerhead sharks. Cruis’n Blast it’s so outrageous and over the top that traditional “good graphics” concepts don’t really apply here. The game offers you basically all color palates, seemingly all at once, which is sure to give your OLED switch (and your eyes) a workout. There are very few racers on the Switch that can match its vibrancy, and thankfully it performs very well in handheld mode, so you can really use it as a showpiece for the OLED display.