Nintendo Switch 2019 First party Lineup speculation

[Asriel]

January: New Super Mario Bros DX
February: Metroid Prime Trilogy HD
March: Yoshi's Crafted World
April: Labo Kit, Vanquish Switch Edition
May: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
June: Luigi's Mansion 3
July: Town (GameFreak, eShop only), Star Fox: Grand Prix
August: Daemon X Machina
September: Bayonetta 3
October: Animal Crossing
November: Pokemon Generation 8
December: Metroid Prime 4

The biggest question marks are Bayonetta 3 and Prime 4 - they could easily be 2020, but I'm hoping for next year for both of them. Similarly, I'm hoping Prime Trilogy gets a HD remaster. My big hope is a Prime 4 gameplay reveal and Prime Trilogy HD announcement at the Game Awards.

Rumours flying around suggest Platinum have as many as three Switch games in the works - my assumption is Bayonetta 3 plus a port plus another new title. My guess is the port is either Wonderful 101 (quite likely) or Vanquish (less likely, but I'd prefer to see Vanquish next year). As for the other games, Yoshi in March makes sense, Fire Emblem has launched in May in the West for each 3DS iteration, Town strikes me as a self-published digital game from GameFreak (doesn't appear on Nintendo's own release lists, so maybe shouldn't be on my list), I'm guessing Daemon X Machina isn't launching in the first half of the year but will launch in a traditionally quiet period.

I also think we'll see Luigi release before Animal Crossing - we actually saw gameplay footage of Luigi, whereas the Animal Crossing reveal was not in-game footage. Nintendo will have released Smash Ultimate 9 months after the initial reveal, my guess is something similar happens with Luigi. It also gives them a stronger release slate than 2018, where-in Nintendo went most of the year without launching a bigger game. Mario DX plus Luigi should mean two 5 million plus sellers launch in the first half of 2019. Fire Emblem should land in the 2 to 3 million range. Animal Crossing I think will get the October slot - like Super Mario Party, it's a family friendly franchise. Pokemon gen 8 occupies Pokemon's usual November slot, and Nintendo's December release will hopefully be Prime 4. Bayonetta 3 is down as September, which has had smaller titles launch in the past (Torna - the Golden Country this year, for example).

I've put Star Fox: Grand Prix down for July as a wild-card option. I hope/expect we'll see something from Retro Studios next year, but I'm really not sure when to expect it. Primarily sticking it in July was a way of balancing out the release list. Nintendo have launched some high-profile games in that June/July window - Arms and Splatoon 2 in 2017; less high-profile this year with Sushi Striker and Octopath Traveler. I think we'll see at least one more Labo Kit, but it really doesn't seem to have caught on the way Nintendo wanted.

Basically 2019 should be a strong year for Nintendo. With Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Luigi's Mansion 3, Daemon x Machina, Yoshi, Mario Bros U DX and Fire Emblem: Three Houses 'confirmed' for the year so far, and with Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3 and Retro Studio's game being other potential 2019 games, I think we have an exciting year coming for original, Nintendo-published games.