In Mario Odyssey, there's a recurring challenge where you use the rumble to find the location of a hidden object. I don't know if it's just a psychological trick based on my perception of movement correlating to stronger vibration, but it genuinely feels like as I move toward the lightly rumbling controller that it not only gets more intense but actually moves under my hand, as if the vibration had moved laterally inside the controller.
The gist appears to be that the HD rumble effect allows intensity and speed to be controlled separately. Traditional rumble uses a weighted motor which shakes harder and faster as current increases. I definitely have noticed rumble effects in Mario Odyssey that feel like light, rapid trembles as well as heavy chugging thuds. There's boss fights where the sensation of the rumble actually gives you an idea of how successfully your hits are landing, and it really works. However it works, it's pretty stunning.
This story has a developer explaining:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/1/15499328/tumbleseed-hd-rumb...
The gist appears to be that the HD rumble effect allows intensity and speed to be controlled separately. Traditional rumble uses a weighted motor which shakes harder and faster as current increases. I definitely have noticed rumble effects in Mario Odyssey that feel like light, rapid trembles as well as heavy chugging thuds. There's boss fights where the sensation of the rumble actually gives you an idea of how successfully your hits are landing, and it really works. However it works, it's pretty stunning.