The thing is, games like Metroid are very, very rare. If there was some oversaturation of these type of games in the market you may have a point, but the only other game who emulates (and not that well) the metroid formula is castlevania, I'm only asking for more because there isn't really a lot of it.
The problem isn't related to the status of hunters as a main stay of the metroid series, is related to the fact that the DS hasn't seen a real Metroid game and there's no hope for the near or even distant future. At this point Mario and Zelda already have great games, but not Metroid, and theres no plans for it, I would love to see what a touch screen would bring to a real Metroid game, but apparently Nintendo doesn't want to do it.
And the even funnier thing is, I have no nostalgia for metroid, my first metroid game was Prime, and I played Super Metroid around the same time, and it blew me away like few games have done it, it had nothing to do with some past experience when I was younger.
You do have a point, with or without complains pinball and hunters would have probably happened, its just that... the whole situation just pisses me off.