This is my first Nintendo system since the NES. I've never been a big fan of their first-party properties when I've played on others' consoles, although I am interested in the Switch Zelda games.
We got Mario Kart 8 and Let's Go Pikachu for my son (the Switch is for his birthday). I might try Let's Go Pikachu but don't really care for Mario Kart. I'm keeping an eye on the Ori games too.
What I'm mainly interested in is Switch games that you can't play on the PS5 (which is my main platform). I don't really do mobile gaming so the Switch will pretty much be a home console for all intents and purposes, so I'm also not really affected by games that are "good for Switch mobility" like Hades (as an example--I already own that on PS5).
Pretty much first-party Nintendo games and a handful of independent games. I had the same desires as you, so all I really had and played and liked was:
Animal Crossing
Tears of the Kingdom (Breath of the Wild was good but TOTK is basically the same game but 1000x better and after playing it I have no desire to go back to BOTW)
Super Mario Odyssey
Clubhouse Games
And if I had known it existed while I still had the thing, I would have gotten Switch Sports.
I hear ya, but I think that's why I'd like to try them both, in order. More game, without tarnishing the experience of the first.
I've never particularly cared for Mario, but in retrospect it's always felt somehow alien when I've tried playing them, like they all have this particular identity, and I'm not in its clique. Maybe I should actually sit down with one on my own and give it a solid try (rather than just sampling at someone else's place).
Same, although to be fair I think the reason TotK got boring was because it was so similar to BotW. Both of them are incredible games but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing.