But he's also the co-creator of Metroid and has been very influential, even with the Prime games. In a way, he's like George Lucas. He has a lot of good ideas, but you never want to give him too much control.

Rating is not the issue with Metroid. The "problem" is a lack of online mp. Im not saying turn Metroid into Halo or whatever FPS, but maybe take a page out of splatoon and make it more fleshed out. So Nintendo has a rated "E" TPS in Splatoon, why not add a T or M rated FPS (whether new ip or Metroid )?

With Nintendo now charging for online, they have to bring the online games to justify the subscription.

A 16 rating would be a good compromise, given it's Nintendo. As far as dark sci-fi and horror themes go, a 16 and 18 rating give you functionally the same amount of freedom. The latter is aimed more at sex, drugs, and heavy violence rather than tone and the like. I believe both 12+ and 16 are grouped as 'Teen' in the US too, so there wouldn't be any change over there.

SOMA is a good example of how far you can push out the horror, sci-fi, and "oh lord that's fucked" train with a 16.

I don't understand how any Metroid experience would be improved because the game is "M".

Thinking that an M-Rating is a sign of Nintendo growing up is a sign of immaturity. Additionally, Nintendo has no obligation of "growing up" when both their fans and their detractors throw tantrums over every little thing. Making it have excessive blood, gore and nudity is pointless to the gameplay and exploration.

One of the problems I see from this lust of M-Rated games, is that many of these games over value an edgy story over gameplay and exploration based stories found in Metroid. I remember I made a XCX about voice acting, and someone mentioned a rated M Metroid, which I was mulling over until I came to the right conclusion and that person mentioned sex scenes.

Also I'm not sure if you ever played a Prime game, much less any Metroid, but they don't drain bodily fluids they drain life energy. This is specifically stated. It's why they can drain energy from from the Varia Suit as well as mostly mechanical. Due to that, they can also transfer that energy. It approaches concepts of energy that is the very basis of the plot of Metroid games with Metroids in them (which is basically all of them). Something that couldn't happen if they were merely M-Rated blood suckers.

He is also the guy who made Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission. 

Slight rant, but it kind of annoys me the attitude a lot of Nintendo fans seem to have that M-rated = bad/immature. Some of the best games out there are M rated. An M rating allows games to explore themes, tones, and experiences you just can't get with an E or T rating. You couldn't have made Bioshock, Silent Hill, or Resident Evil 4 as great as they are without an M rating. And the lack of these kind of experiences on Nintendo platforms means a less diverse and more monotonous library, which is never a good thing. Variety is the spice of life.

Easy; it could enhance the feeling of dread and creepiness that already a cornerstone of the series. Games like Prime already have content that would probably get an M if rendered with the detail and realism of modern graphics. You wouldn't need to diverge from the franchise's established tropes at all.

I don't get what the deal is with making certain games M rated... The rating has nothing to do with the quailty of the game. The reason a certain game gets an M rating is because the game is designed that way. Forcing a certain series to go M rated just for the lulz (I mean to make them more "Mature") will do nothing for the series. Developers don't go in and think, geee, lets make a game that is within this rating and build our game around it... Developers make their vision in the concept stage, make their game and then they get the rating from ESRB and what not during later stages. If the developer/publisher feels like they can convey the original vision by censoring a few things, then they will censor it to get a lower rating but if the game has soo much content that censoring it will not convey what the developers intended in the first place, the game will get a rated M rating.

For Metroid, developers shouldn't target a rated M rating cause that is nonsense. They should do whatever they can to show their vision and then think about the rating near the end of the development of the game. Having half-baked mature themes that doesn't actually add anything to the quailty of the game and it's only there to make the game feel like it's "Mature" is pure and utter nonsense.

If they want to go for some disturbing visuals and story-telling, do it... just make sure the gameplay is great, that unique "Metroid" look and feel is present, and don't feel obligated to shoehorn sex scenes into the game like so many others seem to feel pressured to do these days just to get that "M".

Gameplay is paramount; it's perfectly possible to make a superb Metroid game while sticking to a Teen rating.

Why? What would adding blood, sex, and/or gore add to the series?