BOTW didn’t become the best selling Zelda by being Zelda, it became the best and the most critically acclaimed title from Nintendo by abandoning convention and remixing the whole formula.
I didn’t want to comment on the Metroid Prime 4 discussion, but y’all, Zelda of old is not like Zelda of new. Most people who bought BOTW dgaf about the old Zelda. Most
don’t even know what Twilight Princess or even Wind Waker is. Many don’t even know what an Ocarina of Time is and that was a critical darling for a decade.
If Nintendo chooses to take Metroid Prime 4 into a new direction for the series that catapults its popularity and changes the formula for it in a way that is more digestible to the wider market, then so be it. But no one here can honestly say “oh they def aren’t going to use this game series as a launch title because of X Y and Z reason”
My final note is this: you are have to abandon conventional thinking when it comes to a Nintendo, what to expect and what their plans are for the next platform. Relying on traditional data for determining every action that they do is a fools errand and you end up on the “losing”(dooming?) side. If you told someone six years ago that 3D Zelda would be out selling 3D Mario, and by a decent margin, they would laugh at you because Zelda has
historically sold worse than 3D Mario. Hell 2D Mario used to be the better seller until recently.
The times are changing, you cannot be stuck in 2009 Nintendo Wii era, the year is 2023 and we are already halfway through the year, things change, and so do the people. Plans change
and what they decide is unknown.