I do see team cherry more in their own element with a revision of the zelda 2 concept.It's certainly a competent reapplication of what made the original Metroid II so interesting, I just dare to dream bigger.
That being said, if I were CEO of Nintendo and had the ability to bring Team Cherry on for anything, it would be for Zelda not Metroid. William Pellen and Ari Gibson famously love Zelda II so maybe they can finally make a sequel, a Zelda III if you will.
I have to say that while I enjoyed hollow knight, as im not as big of a fan as most of era of games like darksouls and bloodborne, thats the part that i enjoyed less of hollow knight, while i did enjoy exploration and the art a lot.
And yeah, i suppose Mercury steams work couldnt be greater beacause they were somewhat restrained by the metroid 2 formula, though it was a really well remade game with all the new stuff being welcomed.
I think that with a metroid 5, on a console were a 2.5d game could really shine with a good artsyle and lighting we could be near another 2d metroid masterpiece.
And I think sakamoto actually learned from his mistakes, he even was incredibly good at catching the good members from mercury steam and not letting the shitty Enric Alvarez, the main guy there, near the project (putting a better guy in the director chair instead of him).
Like in Spain Enric Alvarez is legendary and not in a good way, im thankful every day that Sakamoto could see that.