I actually discovered the franchise pretty recently, in 2021. It was around the time I got myself a switch, which was the first Nintendo console I played since the Gameboy color. I didn't know almost anything about Metroid and Nintendo games in general (except of course Pokémon).
One day when I was back at my parents' house for the weekend I found my brother's 3DS and took it with me. I started playing and browsing through the games he had installed and, I don't know why, Metroid Fusion caught my attention. For me it was just a random game I thought I could try, but I was instantly mesmerized by it. I started looking up all the other games and then I played Super Metroid on NSO. I was in awe, that game was absolutely incredible and aged impeccably. Truly one of the best games ever designed.
When I was in full force with my Metroid hype, I watched my first ever Nintendo Direct and.... Yes, it was the one where Dread was announced. It felt magical to me, my head exploded. In the months leading up to Dread I played all the other games in the franchise, mostly on the 3DS after I hacked it (actually the need to play Zero Mission was the main reason I decided to hack it). I was constantly on r/metroid and read up every Dread report. When it finally came out I wasn't disappointed.
Let's leave it at that right now, I feel like I'm gonna write a whole book otherwise lol.
Thanks for the post! Let's try to make this space something special!