The year Nintendo had in 2017 in terms of the quality of releases was probably the best year the video game company has ever had. First off, they finally released their newest home console, the Nintendo Switch. The console was a rousing success, breaking all sorts of records, and Nintendo also released titles like “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “Super Mario Odyssey” to widespread critical acclaim. However, 2018 has looked less than satisfactory for the company.

So far this year, Nintendo has only released one brand new game and that is “Kirby: Star Allies.” All of the other games the company has released this year have been ports of old games. Fans have complained about these releases, due to them not being new and also people having already bought them. The months have been a bit barren for those who want new, and big, AAA titles.

I think it’s alright. Of course, it’s not ideal. I would prefer to have brand new releases every other month, with ports in between each of those months, but it can never work out like that when a company is trying to release games for a console all by themselves. The Nintendo Switch is still trying to get a foothold with third-parties, and that means the releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One aren’t always going to release for the Switch, leaving a bit of a gap for the console.

These gaps are the reason indie developers and small releases by big companies exist. Games like “Celeste” or “Fe” wouldn’t exist if big budget games were released every single month.

I’m completely fine with having big game releases only every few months, not just because it gives the other titles on the console a chance to get some sales, but it also spaces out the releases, allowing people to actually play the games they buy. I have so many games I want to play, but because of the number of games I buy, I keep pushing back the games I need to play. I know what you’re going to say, and yes, I really just need to stop buying video games.

The year Nintendo has had so far is not great, and they should have seen this coming. Maybe they should have delayed “Xenoblade Chronicles 2” to have another new game available for people to play, but their lineup is looking decent for the rest of the year, with Super Smash Bros., the new Yoshi game, “Fire Emblem Warriors” and possibly the new main series Fire Emblem game. Their year isn’t great, but video game releases don’t need to be in the beginning of the year, spacing out releases is key to success.