We had Metroid, Punch-Out, Paper Mario RPG games last gen, so certainly we cant say that are dormant/dead franchise because we dont have them this gen till now. I think game need to consider dormant/dead only if we didn't see them at least 2 gens.
If we don't get Metroid or Paper Mario RPG on current hardware I am certain we will see them on next hardware (NX).
I want to see successor to Pilotwings 64.