Metroid is one of my favorite gaming franchises ever. It is, in my opinion, correctly praised by critics and gamers alike. Well, those who actually play the games. I wish more people bought and played them. I think Super Metroid and the Prime trilogy both deserved more sales than they got. But what are you going to do?

Completely agree on the first point but as for whether we include the Trilogy, his point never stated anything about original Metroid titles. You could also exclude the pinball title because it's not a real Metroid game, I know a bunch of people would be happy to exclude Other M on the same basis and I'm sure if we think hard enough we could find reasons to exclude a couple more, but no matter what you do there is still more than just one game,which was the point that i initially took exception to.

Anyway pedantry aside, even if we exclude the pinball game (fair enough), the Trilogy (fair enough) and the titles released the year Iwata became President (fair enough), that flurry of Metroid love still produced 5 titles in a six year period under Iwata versus 5 titles in a 19 year period, not under Iwata. How that equates to proof that Iwata doesn't care for Metroid is beyond me.

As for why we haven't seen anything since 2010, it could just have something to do with the fact that Metroid Other M was the worst reviewed and worst selling home console Metroid game in franchise history, or it could just be that the studio that made the previous 4 home console Metroid titles have been busy with other things.

It gets good critical acclaim, but by gamers at large, which is what really matters, it is underrated. That is to say there is a huge discrepancy between the quality of the game and how much gamers seem to understand that quality. It's one of the best franchises in the industry, but aside from a portion of the hardcore gaming community, few people even know about it, much less played a game from it.

In terms of sales, yes. In terms of critical/consumer reception, no.

Underrated by the consumer masses... absolutely.

Underrated by the company that produces the franchise... To a painful degree

Underrated in general... eh, can't really say that. Most that know of it by all rights should be right up there with Mario, Zelda and Kirby as a tent pole franchise. Sadly sales, the number of titles produced and the push most of its games get don't reflect this.

Super Metroid is the 2nd best game ever made. But its genius is widely known, and most people like the other newer entries a lot as well. I wouldn't say it is underrated at all.  Hearing someone say "Metroid series sucks" is something I am pretty sure I have never heard said in 25ish years of gaming.