It's not that I don't care, I do and think your perspective is very valid, I even kind of mirror it as even in a scenario where I have enough games to play I'm always going to want to know what's on the horizon to some extent. It's just that my comments weren't a commentary on whether or not Nintendo crafted a good backlog of games in the later half of 2020, nor was my comment praising the first few months of the year from a lineup perspective a commentary on the quality of the rest of the years lineup. In fact quite the opposite, it's exactly as I said, I want a direct to make it clear what we can expect for most of the year (some later surprises notwithstanding). So your replies aren't something I disagree with, but I don't think they contradict with what I'm saying either, despite being worded as such (except for the part about being or not being starved for games, but that's moreso because I haven't played AoC yet and have a lot of platforms to play on). 

I just hope that the start of this year is indicative of the rest of the year, consistent quality releases, some a bit nicher some a bit bigger but all of them somewhat at least somewhat major. I also think Rise is going to be at least one of the better Switch games though, so this first quarter is definitely enhanced by that. 

Monster Hunter just isn't for me. I played Tri to review it, and it was one of those games where I get why people would like it, but I didn't.

In terms of just raw quality, the lineup for this year isn't bad. If you happen to be interested in all those games it's a solid first half of the year. But it needs a little more variety. So, for someone like me who isn't interested in Monster Hunter and already played the shit out of 3D World, there's still enough to be excited about.

Well I don't know, I said first few months not the first half of the year, but even then was there really much variety in the early parts of 2017, 2018, or 2019? 2019 is by far my favorite Switch year and even with my favorite Switch game releasing in that first half, you basically got two platformers releasing in it's first half and that was it. Switch's 2017 is helped by the fact it didn't need to cover two months, which is a bit unfair, but even counting that a Wii U port, a simultaneous Wii U release and Arms is not really much in the way of variety, not to mention you had NO BACKLOG on the Switch during this time period. 2018 is kind of the same, you have Kirby and Mario Tennis but then a bunch of Wii U ports. I think a Wii U port with extra content that looks to be the best extra content we've gotten in a Wii U port with the most amount of effort put into it, a somewhat major JRPG, a new Pokemon snap, most likely THE biggest third party game the Switch will ever get, and Persona 5 Strikers (yes, late localization and all) actually shows a lot more variety and consistency than any of those years. Again, it's enough releases in the span of just 4 months that I can say I don't care about almost half of them, and I'm still satisfied, which isn't something you can usually say. 

Because honestly if the lesson here is just "we could do better than any Switch year's first half", I think that can generally be agreed upon unanimously (things usually start heating up around July and even then momentum usually starts in August/September for releases). 

Well I don't know, I said first few months not the first half of the year, but even then was there really much variety in the early parts of 2017, 2018, or 2019? 2019 is by far my favorite Switch year and even with my favorite Switch game releasing in that first half, you basically got two platformers releasing in it's first half and that was it. Switch's 2017 is helped by the fact it didn't need to cover two months, which is a bit unfair, but even counting that a Wii U port, a simultaneous Wii U release and Arms is not really much in the way of variety, not to mention you had NO BACKLOG on the Switch during this time period. 2018 is kind of the same, you have Kirby and Mario Tennis but then a bunch of Wii U ports. I think a Wii U port with extra content that looks to be the best extra content we've gotten in a Wii U port with the most amount of effort put into it, a somewhat major JRPG, a new Pokemon snap, most likely THE biggest third party game the Switch will ever get, and Persona 5 Strikers (yes, late localization and all) actually shows a lot more variety and consistency than any of those years. Again, it's enough releases in the span of just 4 months that I can say I don't care about almost half of them, and I'm still satisfied, which isn't something you can usually say. 

Because honestly if the lesson here is just "we could do better than any Switch year's first half", I think that can generally be agreed upon unanimously (things usually start heating up around July and even then momentum usually starts in August/September for releases). 

Zelda was a cross release, but it was new content. You could make the argument that Wii U owners wouldn't have a reason to be extra excited, but at least no one had actually played it before, and it was the better version. Then you had ARMs in June, Splatoon in July, and Mario+Rabbids in August. Right now we only know what's coming through April, so if they announce great games for May and June, I'll revise my opinion accordingly.

Not to go in circles, but 2018 was different. They'd just released a bunch of great games in the latter half of the year, and particularly about the end of the year. So, it's understandable they're going to have something of a lull.  

It doesn't make sense to just compare January through April or whatever in given years. There should be a relatively consistent flow of games over time. If they're bunched up at particular parts of the year, whatever. But, Nintendo's output has been dry for a while. From last July to this April, there's been I believe one full original retail game. That's really not good. 

I agree Zelda is new content, I'm essentially saying either way Switch's first half of 2017 might look good in retrospect because it has a lot of factors going for it, the most obvious being it could just flat out ignore two months of the year. But really, a port and Arms do not add much value onto that Breath of the Wild package if we're going to be dismissive of ports (which is your criteria). So it's really only better than 2020 and 2018 in that regard, debatably as good as 2019 and 2021 (I'd disagree here). 

"Then you had ARMs in June, Splatoon in July, and Mario+Rabbids in August. Right now we only know what's coming through April, so if they announce great games for May and June, I'll revise my opinion accordingly."

Ok ... July and August is not first half of a year. Maybe you're adjusting it to reflect the fact that Switch didn't launch till March 2017, and thus it's "first half of a year" would run from March - August? That's a very slippery slope though, because we'd have to adjust all metrics accordingly with that. If that were the case Switch's first year would end in March of 2018, which is just a bit silly if we're talking about regular non-fiscal years, and then there is all the other year comparisons to follow. Unless you're just saying the fact that they had consistent releases after the first half made the somewhat peckish first half OK, in which case I understand, but it's hard to tell when you compare it to "them announcing great games for May and June". 

"It doesn't make sense to just compare January through April or whatever in given years."

Right but even when we use a metric that's well agreed upon and that's fairly set in stone, like for example first half of a year, we're already getting more consistent major releases now than we have before. Which is a point that hasn't really been addressed, no? 

"There should be a relatively consistent flow of games over time. If they're bunched up at particular parts of the year, whatever. But, Nintendo's output has been dry for a while. From last July to this April, there's been I believe one full original retail game. That's really not good. "

I don't disagree with this, but honestly what more is there to put on this front. You feel that there hasn't been enough consistent big releases to create a "new" backlog. I agree. But that doesn't really detract from my point that the new titles in this first quarter of the year are more stacked than they are in pretty much any other year. I get what you're saying, in a time of attrition you feel you should be compensated even more. I don't disagree, it doesn't mean this isn't the best first quarter Switch has had for releases, though. 

Edit: Meant march, not may, lol. 

First off, Arms adds a shit ton of value. Arms is awesome. 

If we extend it 6 months, then Splatoon and Mario and Rabbids squeak in, and those are pretty awesome too. So in terms of 6 months, I'd say 2017 crushes this year based on what we know, but maybe they'll add something.

I'm just looking at everything in context. I don't see the point in comparing individual quarters in isolation. You can do that if you want, but I don't really see the purpose. Like... saying "well this is the best February 12th Nintendo had in years" would be kind of dumb right? Expanding that to a month is less dumb, but still kind of dumb. 3 months is better still, and so on. The more time you're comparing the more sense it makes. You have to drawn the line somewhere obviously, but a quarter is too short to be meaningful imo.

So, if you're point is that the first 4 months of the year look good to you, that's fine (we don't know anything beyond Snap to my knowledge so you can't say anything about 6 months). But, what I'm saying is that Nintendo's overall software output of late has been pretty bad. I think we generally agree and are talking past one another.

I just hope we get a direct soon, I'm not starved for games at all (or at least definitely won't be in the next few months) but I really want to see what they can confirm for this year. "

But it's really not that odd of a comparison because again, I'm fine with extending the comparison to 6 months. So just continuously saying 4 months is too odd of a comparison is missing the point. Especially when a 3rd of the year is not anywhere near as irrelevant a comparison as a single day would be (I know you are being hyperbolic, but it's particularly bad hyperbole). 

The issue with extending it to 6 months AND discounting January and February to account for Switch launching in March is that it means the only fair comparison is (because then Switch's first year would end in March 2018 then) with 2021's March - 2022's March. And the problem then is, we don't know enough about the schedule post April to make that comparison. Which was the entire point of what I said originally 

Either way, this is going in circles. I don't think I disagree with anything you're saying though, to be fair. I just think the output for the first few months/first 6 months (whichever criteria you pick) non-fiscally, is much better than that of 2018, 2019, 2020, even 2017. But I don't disagree that they could have compensated for the lack of games that came out last year better by being more immediate with gaming news, or even releasing more big titles in the first half of 2021. 

I do really wish I could buy Bowser's Fury without re-purchasing a Wii U port, and I'm going to skip it rather than support Nintendo's policy of regurgitation, but I can't complain about a lack of games personally, I still have to finish Immortals Fenyx Rising, and after that there's the Outer Worlds DLC next week, Sniper Elite 4 and Ori Will of the Wisps which I haven't had the chance to play yet, Monster Hunter Rise coming in less than two months, (which I will probably sink over a thousand hours into) and Trine 4's DLC this Spring. Plus Subnautica is supposedly releasing soon.

Even if nothing unnannounced comes out, I have enough games to last me another 4 months easily. If June rolls around and there's nothing I want on the horizon, then I'll start to panic, but for the moment I'm well fed.

You're in the Australian region right? If so I'd like to get your Friend ID sometime soon. If you know anyone else from the Australia/NZ region that might be active in the game, that'd help too.