I played these way out of order, starting with dread and quickly fell in love with these games.
Haven’t played 2/Samus returns but I have AM2R locked and loaded
Fusion 6/10: I know people really like this one but I don’t really see the appeal, feels more linear than even dread did. The SA-X is a cool gimmick and adds to the atmosphere but the game is too short for it to matter, and after playing zero mission I can’t help but feel like this is just a worse version of that game mechanically.
Zero Mission 8/10: what an improvement, feels like I’m actually in a world rather than stuck on a spaceship for the whole game. Feels great to play and I always know where to go without feeling like I’m being TOLD where to go like in fusion. All around fantastic and was the second game I played.
Super Metroid 8.5/10: this would probably be my #1 if it hadn’t aged the way it has. The controls are unbearable to the point it feels unfair and it’s so janky. But with that aside just WOW, the world, the atmosphere, the music, the design of the areas is unlike any game I’ve ever played, such a shame it feels awful to play.
Dread 9.5/10: I adore this game, it is so close to being perfect. The parrying feels amazing, the emmis add such an amazing sense of dread (ha), it controls like a dream, the moves feel great and suit the world, the bosses are awesome and nice and difficult. My only problems are the lackluster music and it’s just a tad too linear, blocking off paths it doesn’t want you to go on quite yet.
All in all an awesome set of games, I recently played prime remastered in ultrawide at 240fps and it honestly might be my new favorite game, I’ll give a ranking of those when I play the rest (I started 4 and I can’t say I’m loving the structure).