is this the first time that a lot of fuss has been made over console menu icons? Is it something Nintendo did wrong with the UI or is is something they did right that makes people want for only the best icons?
The Switch UI puts a huge emphasis on the icons, they are larger and more prominent than any other system I have seen, to the point that I think 'game cover' is a much more accurate description of them than 'icon'. The entire main portion of the system UI is a cover flow of your game library, kind of like the NES/SNES Mini but even larger.
So yeah, they are more prominent and have a clear design purpose - as the covers of your game library. Essentially digital box art. The system assumes this and does not show the game title in text unless the title is highlighted.
Therefore bad and good ones stick out more than in systems that don't emphasise the cover/icon as much. This is likely why some developers are delivering not fit for purpose art here, because they haven't adapted it for this system and have just made an iPhone style icon without thinking that this is a cover flow environment, not a desktop style environment.
That said, if it were not for Snake Pass changing from a game cover style tile to a phone icon style tile, this issue may not have come up as hard or as quickly.