I know that in terms of quantity, Switch is in a better place than 2017. But it's not quantity that actually sells HW, now or tomorrow.
And in that regard, the quality in 2018 has, so far, really dipped.
I know that 2017 is almost impossible to beat (new concept (unrepeatable), revised Zelda and Mario, Splatoon sequel and MK 8 (a port, but really loved by gamers), but what we are seeing is a result of Nintendo's planning, which was frontload the console in 2017 and have smaller franchises and one (Smash) or more (unconfirmed at this point) pick up the slack... towards the end of the year.

To me, that bad planning resulted in 2018, being a bad year in terms of great, system selling titles. It's really unbalanced.

I understand that Pokémon isn't ready to show, but Fire Emblem? The game was announced early last year and is releasing this year. I think it's fair to expect something concrete by now.
But that's not even the main point. My point is that, if you look objectively at it, the best way to create hype, is to leave the big surprises for last and not reveal them way before because after that you risk lowering the hype for your system.

I get what you are saying. No worries.

But the thing is, my concerns, ever since the January reveal have been proven almost always right.
After the presentation i questioned why we weren't seeing more and bigger 3rd parties on stage/announcing games; i also wondered why Nintendo weren't revealing more of their 2018 plans. After the Wii U fiasco, i really felt that was a huge point they failed at during the reveal.
I was told to expect them later. Nintendo wasn't going to reveal their cards just like that.
So i waited for E3 and what i saw still wasn't good: why reveal non-2018 titles like MP4 and Pokémon and not more 2018 games?
Again, i was told to wait - 2017 wasn't over. So, i waited again.

2017 was over and no big game was announced for 2018 and the release schedule for the first half was bare.
The January Direct only brought us ports and Mario Tennis and with that, pretty much the full line-up for the first half.
This recent Direct didn't bring a system seller for the first half as i hoped. Smash was unexpectedly revealed, though.
To be honest, i find odd that they revealed Smash now. I would expect some other big title and Smash for E3.

So you see, i was right in being concerned for 2018, despite hearing some criticism on my "pessimism".
What we have right now is a single system seller for 2018. With that i'm not saying that more stuff can't be announced, to go along Smash as another system seller, but, i have my doubts. Specially when Nintendo's actions haven't really filled me with confidence that their 2018 planning was good.

I don't want to really write a whole lot about this - i could - but if 2018 turns out to be just about Smash, 2019 will have to rely heavily on it when that shouldn't be the case. We should be seeing a different Nintendo by now (streamlining SW production).
Yes, Switch is selling great right now, but if you look at sales of all 3 consoles for 2017, you'll see that Switch didn't make a dent on Sony and MS' consoles sales. So, what i think we should be seeing now is Nintendo doing more to really start stealing consumers from MS and Sony.
Sony might wait longer for a new generation, but MS won't wait and we know that when they want, they can succeed.

Sorry for the long text. That was to show that my concerns have reasons behind them.

I'm saying it's bad because when i look at games that can sell a system i only find Smash. And to me that's the most important aspect of a release Schedule for any console manufacturer.

My comment on Labo was made in regards to the actual games it provides. Which, to be honest, they feel like tech demos, to me.
My personal opinion on Labo is that i don't see it being successful in the long run. It will be fun at first but the constant need to build and be paid with a "tech demo" will eventually put people off. Not to mention that replacing broken parts probably won't be easy to do so (mostly due to logistics).

From your list, on your thread, the new games are Kirby and Mario Tennis Aces... with Labo, three, if you add it.
Everything else is a port.
But even if we overlooked the above, how is it good planning to frontload the console in a year and leave the smaller franchises/non system selling titles for the next year? Again, to me, that's not good planning, both in terms of quantity and quality.

Yes, i have been concerned about Switch and with good reason, if you ask me.
2018's calendar, so far, has proven my concerns to be true.

I'll stop being concerned when i see two things:
Nintendo stops being so reliant on ports to sell the system and when we start seeing a flow of new IPs.
Nintendo has had enough time (since 2015!) to show that concentrating the bulk of your SW development efforts on single device would result in a better, improved Nintendo.

If you are only looking at Nintendo's offerings and you hate Smash and Mario sports this is probably going to be a bad year.

But so far there are several interesting games that have or going to drop in 2018. Frankly a better topic would be 2019, after Smash and with the belief that we will get a Fire Emblem this year as well along with the Yoshi title and the soon to be released Kirby title, what does Nintendo even have to highlight 2019 when that rolls around?

But 2018, looks solid and the potential quality 3rd party games albeit many ports plus mostly single player content such as South Park, Valykria Chronicles 4, Wolfenstien 2 and Pillars of Eternity coming I can't fathom saying that the year will be hurting in terms of quality.

Well, it's almost certain now that Nintendo won't be getting good third-party support from the BIG western studios this year and probably never, since games from now on will only demand more power, it'll either be old ports like Dark Souls and South Park or pixel art indies which are just meh.

Also seeing that the Switch barely makes it out alive when running Doom (612p 20fps??) doesn't really help its third-party, AAA game capable case.

Definitely an underwhelming start to the second year.

RIP Switch 3rd party support

Are you speaking from a personal standpoint or a general/business one? If the latter, then the only thing you should need to see to realize Nintendo is making good decisions are the sales. So far they are correct to think that because they front-loaded the Switch with major sellers, they wont need to drop another big hitter so soon, though they might have one in Labo. They are also clearly correct about relying on ports, with MK8D being the second best selling Switch game and Pokken Tournament crossing a million, and of course, PS4/XB1 already proving that ports can be just as significant as new games.

You dont need a 5 or 10 million seller every quarter to sell a console. Those smaller games you are talking about are all capable of selling ~2 million. A steady flow of small-medium sized sellers is enough to maintain momentum.

Labo reception has been very good from people who have tried it and interest is high so your personal opinion on it doesnt really matter. It also doesnt need to be a success in the long run since you are specifically talking about 2018.

You cleary havent looked much into Labo because Nintendo literally said you could get replacement parts for free.

Its 4, Kirby, Mario Tennis, Labo Variety & Labo Robot. Yes, Labo counts and yes they are 2 seperate games.

Again, you are underestimating the games of this year.

Bayonetta, Celeste, Fe, Payday, DQ Builders, Owlboy, Kirby, Labo, South Park, Outlast, Attack on Titan, Donkey Kong, Naruto, Hyrule Warriors, Little Nightmares, One Piece, Dark Souls, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Sushi Striker, Crash, Captain Toad, Octopath, Okami, Undertale, Valkaria Chronicles, Ys, Wolfenstein, SNK Heroines, Fire Emblem, Yoshi, No More Heroes, Pillars of Eternity, Smash Bros.

All of that and a whole bunch of games still getting announced.

It might not appeal to you personally but thats irrelevent, Switch is going to continue to sell very well throughout the rest of the year.

Your concerns have not proven to be true because you have continuously underestimated Switch and been proven wrong each time. Its selling over 200k each week with no big games so far this year so thinking its sales will go down in Spring/Summer when it has a steady flow of small-medium sized hits makes no sense.

It seems clear to me that hes flip flopping between the two whenever it suits his argument.

Ports sell consoles.

Look no further than the GBA; http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/13/game-boy-advance/

Sorry, your pessimism has not proven anything so far. You keep your eyes and ears shut really tightly when it comes to good things related to the Switch. Instead, you keep repeating the same lines over and over again like a mantra (being front loaded, having no big games besides Smash, ports don't count, the smaller games don't count), no matter how many times people correct you. And you keep bringing your personal taste into this and state it as universal.

Here, have my opinion. 2018 alone brings me 7 games I will buy for the Switch, and we're only in march so far. I am very satisfied so far and my satisfaction will keep rising as more games will be announced.

In the end it's all a matter of taste and not everyone has to be excited for the same games