Retro had a hand in Metroid because Miyamoto gave it to them because they were drowning under 5 different projects that were going nowhere quickly.
I fail to see the relevance of the reason that they were given it. Fact remains, they WERE given it, and you basically just said that the first had the least supervision...it was also the best. In fact, I'll go as far to say that Metroid Prime is the best title out of the big 3 (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) since Ocarina of Time. It was also the only one that came out and felt ahead of its time.
Corruption and Other M both had a lot more influence from Nintendo than Prime did. Both were exponentially worse.
Retro is an 'internal' studio, they are not 'outside' Nintendo. What do you mean by 'stuck in the past'?
I think you know what I mean. Nintendo has still yet to accept some things about where gaming has gone. Stuff like 'gamers don't want online', etc. Most of their braintrust has refused to come into the HD generation. If they REALLY want to modernize Zelda, then it's all or nothing...and there's no way we're getting 'all' directly from Nintendo.
Metroid was also a first-person shooter because their was an inability for Retro Studios to get the game working in third-person to the Japanese producers liking. The pinnacle of development talent is probably the Mario Galaxy team if you are proclaiming the series need a savior.
Okay. And that was for the better. Was Other M up to the third person standards of the Japanese? Because that was a horrible game. Again, Metroid Prime is the best game with a Nintendo label on it since Ocarina of Time. It also did far more for the Metroid series than Galaxy did for Mario.
As far as "modernizing" Zelda. That is up to the GM and producers to come to an agreement. It is a matter of budget and authorizing these things. What do you think a Retro Studios Zelda game on the Wii would have had over Skyward Swords?'
I don't know what it would have had. I don't work for Retro. My point is that if they want to modernize it then they need to get some fresh minds on it, and actually give them some freedom (which is apparently what happened with Metroid Prime, whether or not it was because Nintendo couldn't find time to do it themselves). Otherwise they'll continually be stuck in a world where half the game is trying to be something new, and the other half is trying to be Ocarina of Time.