Did we really need damage control? Honestly, announcing Dark Souls for the Switch could have been the entire show and hundreds of thousands of people would have been just as ecstatic.

Dooomed. ;P

Yeah, I personally expecting around March, but I wouldn't surprise if is earlier.

So you basicly saying that Nintendo dont have big or more new announcements for 2018., and that they don't exist and that Nintendo dont holding them back!? :D    This was Mini Direct and thats a clear fact, not regular Direct.

We will see, I just saying that its almost certain that Nintendo didn't announced hole Switch 1H 2018. lineup, and that espacily goes for 3rd party games.

Even if maybe there are some differences, fact is that this was Mini Direct not regular Direct.  We will definitely have another regular Direct in around March, maybe even sooner.

Doubt it, I expect almost everything coming from Nintendo before July is already announced. Only a few months to find out.

I dont talk only about Nintendo announcements, but I definitely expecting at least 1-2 Nintendo's announcements and more 3rd party for 1H 2018.

The current line-up is decent, but definitely not like 2017

I don't expect 2018 to be a stellar year, but good enough to keep things moving, which is what I'm seeing so far

Anyone with half a brain know that a mini direct isnt the place to show huge annoucments..

No, i'm saying that they didn't announce big or more new games for the first half, because they might not exist.
And i use "might" instead of "they don't exist", because there's a chance for a surprise announcement.

"Almost certain"? Why do you say that when Nintendo has pretty much 1 "big" game per month from now 'til June?
If you place Mario Tennis in April and Hyrule Warriors in June, that's it: one big game per month.
Exactly why do you expect more announcements? Hasn't Nintendo live to their 1 big game per month mantra?

Could more 3rd parties come our way? Probably. Will it change anything? No.

It doesn't matter if this was a Mini Direct or if history says that a regular Direct comes a month after a Mini. That is irrelevant: Nintendo broke their tradition and handled this presentation pretty much like they handle their regular Directs: news/more footage of announced games and new announcements. 

I can agree on term maybe they dont have big or big new game for first half of 2018, but thats not same thing like "dont have big or more new announcements for 2018, and that they don't exist and that Nintendo dont holding them back", beacuse we already saw that Nintendo intend to hold back annucments. I stil expecting one bigger game for May-June, maybe Smash Bros.

Beacuse Nintendo is holding backs some of their annucments, we saw couple of times until now that with Switch. Also this was Direct Mini, they didn't mention big or new games (except one smaller game), they holding announcements like those for normal Direct or E3.

Of Course it will change, more good or strong 3rd party games means stronger is Switch lineup. For instance even if Dark Souls is remaster, its big thing that Dark Souls franchise is coming on Switch and will playible in full handheld mode.

But why they used Mini Direct format instead regular Direct on first place, why Koizuma or Reggie didnt were part of this Mini Direct like they are in regular Directs, why Nintendo didn't announced this Mini Direct two days before Direct like they are doing with regular directs, instead just upload video after announcements, why we didnt had big or new games, online informations, or expected Switch features!? Simple beacuse this was Mini Direct not regular Direct, and they didnt had big or important news in it, biggest news was basically Dark Souls Remaster, and Nintendo used this Direct to announced Dark Souls firstly on Switch. In other words, we yet need to have normal Direct.

No one was talking about the whole line-up for 2018.
My "they don't exist" or "holding back" was just related to the first half.

There's a chance that something (big) might yet be revealed, but, honestly, they already have 1 big game until June - assuming that Mario Tennis and Hyrule Warriors don't come out in the same month.

A Smash port? To be honest, i don't think it will happen. I see Nintendo bringing a new one next year.
Might be wrong, but i think 2019 is a really good time to release it... alongside MK9!

Being a Mini or regular Direct doesn't change what happened.
They used the Mini as if it was a regular Direct.
And the pace and style of presentation is something that a lot of people praised Nintendo for in that other ND. Maybe Nintendo just went with that approach because they thought it would be good for them.

I'm not saying that a normal ND won't happen in February or March. I just think it's clear that, whenever it comes, it won't really change the release schedule for the first half.
Probably, it will focus on smaller Indie or 3rd party games and even games coming out in the second half.