Nintendo have said it themselves. The Switch is a hybrid. They have admitted it is a replacement for the Wii u but not for the 3ds. However, they are not gonna let the 2 cannibalise each others' sales indefinitely.

So far the Switch seems to  have been marketed towards young adults/20+ and older. Seems like a departure from the family and child friendly Nintendo consoles from the past. The 1st party releases seem to back this up too. Blockbuster AAA home console on-the-go type titles. However, there is no way Nintendo is going to give up on a large part of its potential audience.

My prediction is simple. They will quietly drop the 3ds in late 2018 and then we will start to see more "handheld-like" game releases. Such as:- Mario and Luigi, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Paper Mario and..... Animal Crossing. Also it will be around the time that Pokemon lands on a "home" console for the first time. These 2 handheld behemoths will be among the first, sometime in 2019 to go after the handheld crowd who will be searching for something to  replace their 3ds's with. Of course, among that crowd will be children and family-orientated gamers. Slam dunk Nintendo! Get the hardcore on board first, then chase all the others once you have discontinued the 3ds. Now i know the 3ds is considerably cheaper but i believe part of Nintendo's strategy to catch all of the hanheld crowd too will coincide with either a price cut or a different/cheaper Switch Sku.

Just my opinion so please don't bash. (Too hard, anyway!)

They've already confirmed a core Pokemon and Fire Emblem game for the Switch, and Octopath Traveler is the next game being made by the Bravely Default team. So the transition of their "handheld-like" titles to Switch has already begun.

Then I was right that Nintendo has nothing against Sony in 2018. Thank you for the ammo.

Well i knew about Pokemon but it's more about the timing. I won't argue the transition has already begun but my point is, it will start out in earnest in 2018 but will gain more traction once the 3ds has been discontinued. I see Nintendo actively courting 3ds owners who haven't transitioned over to the Switch in that timeframe. I see Pokemon as coming holidays 2018/early 2019 and Animal Crossing not long afterwards.

If Nintendo cares about my well being it'll be 2018. I expected Animal Crossing on Wii U to be announced E3 2015 and instead got Amiibo Festival, they owe me. But in all serious I think if Pokémon comes out in 2018 they'll have Animal Crossing in 2019 or vice versa and have Animal Crossing in 2018 and Pokemon in 2019.

They need one of their 10 million+ sellers for Switch next year.

If that is the case then I won't be getting a Switch till 2019.

I feel Animal Crossing Switch is a 2018 title. Given Metroid is not a 2018 bound title and Pokemon is questionable, that would be a way to sell 2018.

Heck it might be quiet and delayed simply to try and worldwide release with translations. Plus the Splatoon team is also the Animal Crossing team and Splatoon 2 is a finished thing now

They could always release AC in Japan Winter 2018 and then bring it to NA and Europe Spring 2019.  That's is what happened to New Leaf on the 3DS.

Erm... None of us have any idea what Nintendo has up their sleeves apart from Kirby, FE and Yoshi. I already stated this was an opinion but even if Nintendo did use some 3ds-type franchises in 2018 there are still some big-hitters available. Plus there is a chance either Pokemon, Metroid or both will come in 2018. Personally i think Nintendo may shock us with a brand new, 3D HD Earthbound with the potential to be huge!

There's also no way a Smash title isn't coming to Switch next year.

Seeing MK8DX and Splatoon1.5 and how they've performed this year, they'll almost certainly want to have either Smash4/Smash4.5 to try and keep those same sort of results for the system in 2018.