The original creators were producer Gunpei Yokoi, and directors Satoru Okada and Masao Yamamoto. Near the end of development, the project had yet to cohere well, so Yoshio Sakamoto was brought on to help reorganize and complete the project, but most of the ideas in it, from Samus being a woman to the Metroids to the general structure, predated his involvement.

Metroid II was Gunpei Yokoi's project, directed by Hiroji Kiyotake and Hiroyuki Kimura, and designed by Makoto Kano.

Yoshio Sakamoto returned to write and direct Super Metroid, (with Makoto Kano in the producer's seat this time) and from that point onward he became the defacto steward of the 2D Metroid series, especially after original creator Gunpei Yokoi passed away three years later.

Sakamoto went on to oversee Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid: Other M, Metroid: Samus Returns, and Metroid Dread.

Sakamoto, together with Shigiero Miyamoto, provided guidance and insight to Retro Studios as they were working on Metroid Prime 1. Given how terrible Prime 1's actual development was, despite the great game that came out of it, the studio head was replaced for the next game and the work culture adjusted. Prime 2 was overseen mainly by Brian Walker, but with input from newcomer Kensuke Tanabe for his past experience on Legend Of Zelda.

Tanabe became the defacto japanese producer of the Prime series from that point going forward, with a much more significant role in creating Metroid Prime Pinball, and shaping Hunters, Prime 3, Federation Force, and Prime 4.

So to lay this out more clearly and fill in a few more blanks:

The original creator of Metroid has very little to do with the current direction of the series, he died after Super and the last game he worked on was Metroid II

Sakamoto is responsible for Other M, but he's also responsible for Super Metroid and Dread, games with Samus at her most badass. He also categorically didn't ragequit the series after Other M; he took a break to consider and internalize the criticism he recieved, before resuming in a new direction.

Other M is still genuinely awful and I won't defend it, but to say it was a response to Prime is also incorrect, as by all accounts Tanabe and Sakamoto communicate often and are generally on the same page about the series, even if they try to keep the events of each side of it from intruding on each other. The myth that Other M somehow decanonized Prime was more a consequence of a lot of its general plot holes and continuity issues, when it's worth noting that it also impedes on some of the 2D games and spinoffs, particularly Fusion and the Zero Mission manga, in a similar way.

Other M was created as an earnest attempt to explore Samus as a character more... something spurred by failed hollywood movie talks in the early-mid 00s that prompted a desire to flesh out Samus more in general, particularly in the Zero Mission manga and other spinoff materials created around that time. It was still bad, but again, the issue was abysmal execution and unintended/unexamined sexism, not underlying creative intent.

Samus being as feminine as she is badass is not something Other M created; it over-emphasized the idea of her in connection to motherhood specifically, which has only rarely been suggested in relation to her. However, her love of cute animals is long-established, and her compelling mix of compassion and violence is a core to her character dating back to Metroid II. Everything since has arguably simply been elaborating further on the context and consequences of that single most pivotal game.

Samus IS cool as fuck, but she's not really all that similar to Master Chief or Doom Guy, and that comparison is both very surface-level reductive and betrays a fundamental misreading of her character type, let alone personality.

There is a lot of genuine reason to criticize both Sakamoto and Tanabe and various decisions they've made around Metroid over the years, but making shit up about them wholesale isn't the way to do it.

i really don't have the words for how things have escalated to outright race riots in the last few weeks. just to collect a few of the stories the bbc is reporting in their live thread:

Families led to safety through flames (Dan Johnson) Homes were targeted and burned. Families had to be led to safety through the flames - rescued by emergency services risking their lives in the most dangerous situation. It’s what the authorities feared all day. What they warned against and pleaded not to see. The condemnation came quickly and was widespread. It wasn’t just homes, cars were also torched by young masked man in these predominantly unionist streets but the target here was immigrants and the message to entirely innocent families was: "You’re not welcome". In the north of the city, more people were forced to flee including an African family who’ve lived here for 20 years.

People being put out 'because they're black' - pastor A pastor who has been helping those in houses targeted in tonight's violence says people were being put out of their homes "because they're black". Pastor Jack McKee was at the scene where multiple houses were on fire around the Crumlin Road in north Belfast - he says some members of his church "who have been with us for 20 years" were "getting put out of their home, had their house attacked, windows smashed, houses beside them burned". "They're good Christian people and they're getting put out just because they're black," he says. "I'm doing my best to help them, it's as simple as that." [...]

Masked men shouting 'foreigners out' (Kelly Bonner) Last night on the Lower Newtownards Road in Belfast hundreds of masked men walked down the street carrying bottles, bricks and masonry. They set bins on fire and shouted "foreigners out". As they walked street to street, they were banging on doors, kicking doors down and breaking windows. Masked man set cars alight and at one point I witnessed them trying to burn a car until a woman came out of her home and told them it belonged to a "local and not a foreigner" and they stopped. A young family had to be moved from their home by police. The scenes of this young family fleeing their home were really quite shocking.